Keep losing torches

[stxgb15]

tank is 9 months old. Mixed corals. Everything in the tank is growing and beautiful colors. Added a torch 3 months ago and it died. I waited till a week ago and added another. This time one of the two heads died. Not sure how the second head will fare. I took it out and dipped it again. Not sure as to why just this one type of coral dies and of course it has to be my favorite type of coral.

76.5 to 78 temp throughout the day
1.025 salinity
495 calcium
9.8 dkh
1350 mag
.1 phosphates
2 ppm nitrates

 

[Troylee]

Higher nitrates wouldn’t hurt! What kinda flow and lighting also?

 

[stxgb15]

Prime 16
Jaebo sow 4

 

[Cell]

Torches are tough. Aside from optimal elements and lighting, I've found proper flow to be just as or more important for survivability. Maybe more so than any other coral.

 

[stxgb15]

Torches are tough. Aside from optimal elements and lighting, I've found proper flow to be just as or more important for survivability. Maybe more so than any other coral.

I had it in a mid flow area but i moved it to an area with a bit more flow. Seems to be doing a bit better.

 

[Duffer]

i also find that torches and hammers like high magnesium...

 

[Fishyfish22]

raise your nitrates. Torches like higher nutrient water, and if your phosphates are really 1 your ratio is entirely off. try getting nitrates to around 5-7

 

[Troylee]

My tank is pretty dirty “high nitrates” and my torch is super happy! I have it in a flow where it pulses all day and it’s stretched and fully puffed up loving it… even my Sps are happy so I quit trying to bring them down.. and when I say high I mean really high! 80-100 lol… it’s working so I’m not changing a thing! I have a whole different approach this go around when I got back in vs running a ulns and zeovit etc.. way too much work and money.. I’m just letting the tank do it’s thang and listening to the corals this time..

 

[Troylee]

Dirty water haha!

 

[ninjamyst]

Honestly try again. Sometimes you just get unlucky and there's nothing wrong with your tank if all other corals are good. Corals are individuals. Maybe you just got two unhealthy torches. Don't go chasing numbers or making big changes because one coral die.

 

[ninjamyst]

For example I have over 10+ gold torches. Last month, two heads died overnight. No idea why. Rest of the heads are all perfectly fine. Corals just sometimes...like all living things....get sick or get stressed and just die.

 

[stxgb15]

Thanks for the advice. I wont be chasing any numbers. 36 gallon tank and i do a 5 gallon change each week. Maybe doing one water change every two weeks might help a bit with the higher nutrients?

 

[stxgb15]

For example I have over 10+ gold torches. Last month, two heads died overnight. No idea why. Rest of the heads are all perfectly fine. Corals just sometimes...like all living things....get sick or get stressed and just die.

Thanks for the advice. Won't get too discouraged

 

[Troylee]

Thanks for the advice. I wont be chasing any numbers. 36 gallon tank and i do a 5 gallon change each week. Maybe doing one water change every two weeks might help a bit with the higher nutrients?

I change 5 gallons every 2 weeks on my 70gallon system.. I’m lazy lol

 

[AV corals]

tank is 9 months old. Mixed corals. Everything in the tank is growing and beautiful colors. Added a torch 3 months ago and it died. I waited till a week ago and added another. This time one of the two heads died. Not sure how the second head will fare. I took it out and dipped it again. Not sure as to why just this one type of coral dies and of course it has to be my favorite type of coral.

76.5 to 78 temp throughout the day
1.025 salinity
495 calcium
9.8 dkh
1350 mag
.1 phosphates
2 ppm nitrates

kick your mag up to 1600. Slowly of course. Also you need some nitrates in your tank... Corals reallly need nitrates to survive whereas 2. nitrate is not enough. For the flow, make sure its like "swooshing" and not being blasted by flow.. You'll know if it looks too aggressive, move it. Torches can handle a lot, if this is a consistent thing, then something is off in the tank and I would suggest doing a ICP lab water test.

 

[stxgb15]

kick your mag up to 1600. Slowly of course. Also you need some nitrates in your tank... Corals reallly need nitrates to survive whereas 2. nitrate is not enough. For the flow, make sure its like "swooshing" and not being blasted by flow.. You'll know if it looks too aggressive, move it. Torches can handle a lot, if this is a consistent thing, then something is off in the tank and I would suggest doing a ICP lab water test.

Hanna low tester.
I will retest my nitrates but they usually sit at 5ppm. Which i know is still on the lower end but i will let the nutrients build up just a bit.

 

[Rowboman]

tank is 9 months old. Mixed corals. Everything in the tank is growing and beautiful colors. Added a torch 3 months ago and it died. I waited till a week ago and added another. This time one of the two heads died. Not sure how the second head will fare. I took it out and dipped it again. Not sure as to why just this one type of coral dies and of course it has to be my favorite type of coral.

76.5 to 78 temp throughout the day
1.025 salinity
495 calcium
9.8 dkh
1350 mag
.1 phosphates
2 ppm nitrates

As others said, I wouldn’t chase numbers too much. The nitrates are a little low for torches, but not low enough to cause multiples to die. I’ve had double zeros when dealing with Dino outbreaks and my torches still didn’t recede much at all. Flow seems like the most likely culprit. It’s hard to get it perfect since it’s not a measurable metric like nitrate/phosphate levels but torches like slower randomized flow. Can you attach a video of your second head?

 

[Bucs20fan]

Torches love nitrate rich water. I mean literally, like they will thrive in 100ppm plus nitrate. Moderate random flow, some nutrients in the water and good light and youll be fragging heads in no time.

 

[Bucs20fan]

Here’s my torch garden, high nitrates at the time like 90ppm or so.

 

[Alexopora]

Torches are tough. Aside from optimal elements and lighting, I've found proper flow to be just as or more important for survivability. Maybe more so than any other coral.

Agreed. I find that with Euphyllia flow is extremely important. It isnt easy to get the right flow but my advise is trust your eyes. You have to tweak until you get this nice gentle swaying motion or a gentle bouncing motion. Your coral will let you know when it likes the flow by puffing up real nice and you basically cant see its skeleton. If you see its teeth on the sides, thats prob too much flow hitting it from that angle. I have given up housing torches and euphyllia in general with most other corals since its a hassle trying to keep everyone happy in terms of flow so I just decided to have my euphyllia garden in a tank by itself.