Soooo…. Something I’ve never seen happen

[ElderMillennial]

I bought a Green Tip Torch (along with some other corals). Had all of them in Quarantine for 6 weeks.
I transferred them to the display tank last night. (125 Gal with 4 T5s). After the lights went out I did my normal acclimation process: Drip acclimate for an hour draining water out and dripping tank water in. And place them all on the bottom of the tank under rock shelves out of direct light.

I look into the tank about 11:00 this morning. The zoas are fine. Duncan is a little unhappy. But the torch’s polyps have literally disintegrated. Nothing left of the polyps at all.

anybody have any idea what things can cause this?
coral was extremely healthy, as were are the corals in the Q tank.

 

[Gtinnel]

If it died overnight (which is very unlikely) then there would have to still be the skeleton left. Since you said there was nothing there it had to have gotten moved either by the flow in your tank or some animal moved it. I'd start looking around your rock work for it.

 

[footgal]

Drip acclimation can be very hard on corals, especially if it’s a long drip. Corals are unlike fish because they use osmosis to balance their inner salinity with the outer salinity so having to constantly spit out/suck in water to balance is very stressful. It’s better to just have one switch then let them balance that themselves. I’ve always just floated for 10-15 mins and dumped, never lost a coral .

I’d also look at other factors like possible predation, temperature shock (dripping can sometimes create the correct salinity but colder temp), and bad flow

 

[Jekyl]

Sounds like something in the acclimation process

 

[Jekyl]

Drip acclimation can be very hard on corals, especially if it’s a long drip. Corals are unlike fish because they use osmosis to balance their inner salinity with the outer salinity so having to constantly spit out/suck in water to balance is very stressful. It’s better to just have one switch then let them balance that themselves. I’ve always just floated for 10-15 mins and dumped, never lost a coral .

I’d also look at other factors like possible predation, temperature shock (dripping can sometimes create the correct salinity but colder temp), and bad flow

Agree, I've never quarantined or drip acclimated a coral. Never lost one until much later and due to my own fault.

 

[MnFish1]

I bought a Green Tip Torch (along with some other corals). Had all of them in Quarantine for 6 weeks.
I transferred them to the display tank last night. (125 Gal with 4 T5s). After the lights went out I did my normal acclimation process: Drip acclimate for an hour draining water out and dripping tank water in. And place them all on the bottom of the tank under rock shelves out of direct light.

I look into the tank about 11:00 this morning. The zoas are fine. Duncan is a little unhappy. But the torch has literally disintegrated from existence. Like Thanos style.

anybody have any idea what things can cause this?
coral was extremely healthy, as were are the corals in the Q tank.

Yes. And it seems to relate to a variety of things. I would wonder about toxicity from surrounding corals. or rapid change in oxygenation - OR - a chemical mismatch (perhaps a chemical in your display tank - that you aren't measuring (i.e. not one of the big parameters everyone measures). I personally do not drip acclimate when I'm moving a coral from one tank to another in my own house, instead - just try to make sure that the temp, alkalinity, pH, etc are as close as possible. Sorry about your coral

 

[Gtinnel]

Why do you guys assume it's dead? There would still be the skeleton left. I assume that when he said like Thanos style he means the skeleton and plug (assuming it was on a plug) are all completely missing.

 

[Gtinnel]

If the skeleton disintegrated over night he has much bigger problems with the tank than loosing a coral.

 

[MnFish1]

Why do you guys assume it's dead? There would still be the skeleton left. I assume that when he said like Thanos style he means the skeleton and plug (assuming it was on a plug) are all completely missing.

I assumed he meant that there was no coral tissue left. And that there were pieces of dead coral laying around. Normally that type of disentegration does not 'come back'. But - When something like that does happen - there is an easy test - lift the coral just to the surface of the water and sniff. If it smells like 'death' - 99.9 percent of the time - its best to remove it.

 

[Gtinnel]

I assumed he meant that there was no coral tissue left. And that there were pieces of dead coral laying around. Normally that type of disentegration does not 'come back'. But - When something like that does happen - there is an easy test - lift the coral just to the surface of the water and sniff. If it smells like 'death' - 99.9 percent of the time - its best to remove it.

I assume he meant there was absolutely nothing left (tissue, skeleton, plug). I guess the OP will get a more thorough answer when he clears that little critical piece of information up. I only assumed nothing at all left because of the Thanos reference.

 

[Cell]

But the torch’s polyps have literally disintegrated. Nothing left of the polyps at all.

Specifies polyps here. It was edited 30 min ago though, maybe he added that.

 

[Gtinnel]

Specifies polyps here. It was edited 30 min ago though, maybe he added that.

Ah thanks. It either didn't say polyps when I read it or I missed it (I am getting old LOL). Then I agree with everyone else in that it bailed probably from acclimation.

 

[ElderMillennial]

If it died overnight (which is very unlikely) then there would have to still be the skeleton left. Since you said there was nothing there it had to have gotten moved either by the flow in your tank or some animal moved it. I'd start looking around your rock work for it.

The skeleton was left. All the polyps are gone. Only thing that was left was some of the mucus.
sorry for the confusion. When i said Thanos style I meant no tissue left whatsoever. And no sign of it.
In my experience when corals go… there is at least some part of the polyps or tissue left on the skeleton or at least near by. But this has nothing but a minute amount of mucus.
When it was in Q tank. It was looking good. Opening fully. “Eating.” Color was good.

when I transferred them (3 other corals) to the new tank all of them opened within 1 hour. ….. def at a loss. Never seen this before.

I have since pulled it out the tank.
Is there a disease? Parasite?
Just as a precaution… since I found the coral I’ve done daily small water changes. Just in case.
Thanks for your help….

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

The skeleton was left. All the polyps are gone. Only thing that was left was some of the mucus.
sorry for the confusion. When i said Thanos style I meant no tissue left whatsoever. And no sign of it.
In my experience when corals go… there is at least some part of the polyps or tissue left on the skeleton or at least near by. But this has nothing but a minute amount of mucus.
When it was in Q tank. It was looking good. Opening fully. “Eating.” Color was good.

when I transferred them (3 other corals) to the new tank all of them opened within 1 hour. ….. def at a loss. Never seen this before.

I have since pulled it out the tank.
Is there a disease? Parasite?
Just as a precaution… since I found the coral I’ve done daily small water changes. Just in case.
Thanks for your help….

View attachment 2286955

Wow ok so that was a full on polyp bailout. I'm sorry for the loss.
Torches are fickle shippers. When you received it, how was it packaged? Was it suspended to not allow the head to get banged around in transport?

I'm thinking this torch may have just had a very stressful packing, shipping, unpacking series of events, and as a result, hit the eject button.

 

[ElderMillennial]

If it died overnight (which is very unlikely) then there would have to still be the skeleton left. Since you said there was nothing there it had to have gotten moved either by the flow in your tank or some animal moved it. I'd start looking around your rock work for it.

The skeleton was left. All the polyps are gone. Only thing that was left was some of the mucus.

 

[ElderMillennial]

Wow ok so that was a full on polyp bailout. I'm sorry for the loss.
Torches are fickle shippers. When you received it, how was it packaged? Was it suspended to not allow the head to get banged around in transport?

I'm thinking this torch may have just had a very stressful packing, shipping, unpacking series of events, and as a result, hit the eject button.

really sorry about the delayed responses. This new COVID breakout has all of us working mandatory 15 hour shifts 6 days per week.

I got it from my LFS out of one of their tanks.
it’s had been there for a month

 

[Gtinnel]

I've had a torch that bailed on me, and it leaves no tissue in the head. Although for me it was not happy looking for a week or so leading up to it, so it wasn't a shock when the head was empty.

 

[ElderMillennial]

I've had a torch that bailed on me, and it leaves no tissue in the head. Although for me it was not happy looking for a week or so leading up to it, so it wasn't a shock when the head was empty.

Did you see any other corals in the tank get affected? Or just that one?

 

[Gtinnel]

Did you see any other corals in the tank get affected? Or just that one?

When my torch head bailed it was the only thing effected in my tank. Sadly sometimes these things happen even if your parameters are good.