Tiger Torch not doing so hot. What should I do?

[disaster999]

Bought this about half a year ago. It never really grew much. Color was alright at first but it kinda just slowly faded. Im not sure if its polyps is suppose to be this short or not, it never really extended out that much even at the shop.

Around 2 months ago my tank crashed. I saved this along with some other LPS corals and it was doing quite well in his temporary tank until I got my main tank up and running. After my tank finished cycled I introduced everything back in and all my other softie and LPS corals (hammer, plate coral, clam, toadstool leather) all are doing well. I even was able to bring this frogspawn on the brink of death back to life, but my tiger torch never really bounced back and its slowly bleaching more and more.

Tank parameters is pretty normal I would think. Alk is always low and been trying to up it with kalk and baking soda
Calc: ~430ppm
Alk: 7.5+
Mag: ~1300ppm
NH3: 0ppm
Nitrate: <1ppm
Phosphate : <0.05ppm
Salinity: 35ppt
Temp: 26-27c
AB+ light cycle 10hrs with blue, 8 with whites and others
I used to put it at almost center of the tank but it seemed like it was getting too much flow, so I relocated it more to the side where theres less flow and doesnt seem like its half shriveled up.

What else could I do to color it up, and make it grow? Target feed it? more light? less light? Any help would be grateful

 

[Manpeckz]

I would start by carefully removing the vermetid tube snails from the base of the skeleton. They are most likely irritating it.

Specifically the one near the flesh.

 

[twentyleagues]

Any idea of the par numbers? Your nutrients are really low for most corals. Run really low nutrient is not good for most corals. You can try target feeding. My current tank is euphilia dom and they are picky eaters compared to my euphilia from the past. All the hammers frogspawn and torches I had years ago would pretty much eat anything I gave them and some would try to eat stuff I didnt give them (lol). These "new breed" euphilia dont seem to want anything but light. I would guess par was to high to see that kind of reaction though.

 

[disaster999]

I would start by carefully removing the vermetid tube snails from the base of the skeleton. They are most likely irritating it.

Specifically the one near the flesh.

yeah I need to get them under control, Some LFS carry bumblebee snails so I might get some to eat them.

 

[Troylee]

Your numbers say it’s starving, your picture says too much light.. I’d say it’s both of those.. lower light and get nitrates up!

 

[disaster999]

Any idea of the par numbers? Your nutrients are really low for most corals. Run really low nutrient is not good for most corals. You can try target feeding. My current tank is euphilia dom and they are picky eaters compared to my euphilia from the past. All the hammers frogspawn and torches I had years ago would pretty much eat anything I gave them and some would try to eat stuff I didnt give them (lol). These "new breed" euphilia dont seem to want anything but light. I would guess par was to high to see that kind of reaction though.

Before the change the torch was sitting at around 100-150par. After the crash I took the opportunity to upgrade a bunch of stuff include the lights and I havent gotten around borrowing a par meter from my friend again. But sorta eyeballed the intensity to be similar to before and kinda hoping my corals will tell me if they need more or less light.

Ill try target feeding, something I been trying to do as well. I do kinda broadcast feed rotifers and frozen copepods every now and then and starting to add vitamins and amino to the tank hoping it would do something

 

[kevgib67]

Ya, get your nitrates up to 10-15. Your magnesium is a little low, I try to keep mine at about 1400 and my torches, frogspawn and hammers thrive at that level.

 

[VintageReefer]

I would guess this is more of a nutrition and lighting situation

I run almost identical parameters.
Alk 8-8.5
Nitrate - 2-5
Phosphate - 0-.02

And these have been my parameters for over 2 years. My torches are all in approx 150 par also

What light are you using and what are your channel values?

I would decrease par or move lower - things don’t typically bleach from less light. And I would feed 2x weekly - there is a food soak for bleached LPS corals. The name is “Restor”. I would soak mysis or pellets or even flake in it (my torches love PE Mysis brand flake food), and turn off flow, and slowly feed the torch 2x a week for a few weeks in lower lighting and monitor

 

[disaster999]

I would guess this is more of a nutrition and lighting situation

I run almost identical parameters.
Alk 8-8.5
Nitrate - 2-5
Phosphate - 0-.02

And these have been my parameters for over 2 years. My torches are all in approx 150 par also

What light are you using and what are your channel values?

I would decrease par or move lower - things don’t typically bleach from less light. And I would feed 2x weekly - there is a food soak for bleached LPS corals. The name is “Restor”. I would soak mysis or pellets or even flake in it (my torches love PE Mysis brand flake food), and turn off flow, and slowly feed the torch 2x a week for a few weeks in lower lighting and monitor

The lights I have are the Radion blue knockoffs. running a modified AB+ schedule where I run a bit more whites as I dont like it too blue.

Funny thing is all my other hammers or frogspawns placed at the same height, or higher dont seem to mind the intensity, but somehow this tiger torch is bleaching. I moved it to a place with more shading so hopefully it would "recover" and target feed it more.

 

[disaster999]

Ya, get your nitrates up to 10-15. Your magnesium is a little low, I try to keep mine at about 1400 and my torches, frogspawn and hammers thrive at that level.

Ill try and bump up the nitrate, but 10-15 seems a bit too high esp my plans for this tank is mainly a SPS tank with some lps and softies at the bottom.

 

[VintageReefer]

The lights I have are the Radion blue knockoffs. running a modified AB+ schedule where I run a bit more whites as I dont like it too blue.

Funny thing is all my other hammers or frogspawns placed at the same height, or higher dont seem to mind the intensity, but somehow this tiger torch is bleaching. I moved it to a place with more shading so hopefully it would "recover" and target feed it more.

This intensity might be fine for healthy coral, but this tiger at some point became stressed and began the bleaching process. My understanding is the pigmentation is almost like sunblock and without it they are more sensitive to light. Typically bleached coral needs special treatment and lower light to recover then they can be acclimated back into the desired area.

 

[disaster999]

This intensity might be fine for healthy coral, but this tiger at some point became stressed and began the bleaching process. My understanding is the pigmentation is almost like sunblock and without it they are more sensitive to light. Typically bleached coral needs special treatment and lower light to recover then they can be acclimated back into the desired area.

I moved it to a more shaded area and less flow now and will observe it more. Will move it around again if no improvements.

 

[steveschuerger]

Tigers in my experience like a bit less par than other torches. My Tiger was up in the same spot as the others and it started to shrink. It’s a few inches lower and starting to look better. And it doesn’t help that there’s nothing to feed the coral. I keep my nitrate level at least 10-15 now and everything is happier for it.
Torches and Frogspawn/Hammers

Tiger is just right of the stylos