Torch Coral Losing Its Heads

[paul09jo]

Hi all, I've had a torch coral in my tank for 6 months, it was all going well until a few days ago. It started to not open fully which i thought was ok cause it does it sometimes then its back to normal, then last night both heads had gone, first i thought it had gone inside itself completely but i noticed that one of the heads is sitting on the rock underneath the branch. The water conditions are fine, lighting is LEDS which i change to about 2 months ago. The only thing that i've had a problem with is the water level dropped low because the frost broke my RO unit last week and its taken until yesterday to get the new part.

Any ideas will help loads, Thanks

 

[ben1987]

could the level of salt have shot up been as you couldnt top up?

 

[paul09jo]

The salt level went abit high.
I've left the head sitting on the rock it looks ok for the moment, but who know what will happen. I think its only a matter of time before it dies completely!!

 

[Colin_T]

it is usually water quality issue that causes them to leave the coral skeleton and float away. Often if the conditions are corrected immediately and are kept good, the coral polyp will settle down somewhere and grow a new skeleton.

 

[paul09jo]

I hope so! That would be really good, cause its landed in a really good place.

Cheers

 

[SkiFletch]

Agree with Colin, water quality is the number one reason for polyp bailout. Since you didn't mention any numbers, try and achieve all of the following:

Salinity 35ppt or 1.026sg - make SURE you calibrate your measuring device, many can drift over time
pH 8.0-8.4
Temp 74-83F
Alkalinity 7-11dKH
Calcium 390-450ppm
Magnesium 1200-1400ppm
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0

If some or all of these are beyond those ranges you'll have problems perhaps leading to polyp bailout. The only other two causes are improper flowrate (usually not enough), or aggression by other tank mates.

 

[Crazy fishes]

Hey Ski, I was reading a book by Ronald Shimek and he was saying that while we should try to keep the nitrate down levels of 50ppm are really not going to bother corals all that much. It is the phosphate that is the big killer!!

Just wanted to see your view on that.

Paul09jo, I would say follow the old mantra of nitrate 0 and phosphate 0 and you know that you are doing the right thing. Just seemed like an appropriate thread to raise the point.

Regards

 

[Colin_T]

I have had tanks with nitrates around 40ppm and no phosphates and the shrimp and coral looked really unwell. Corals come from a really clean environment (in regards to ammonia, nitrite, nitrtae & phosphate). Therefore we should try to mimic that and keep the levels as low as possible.

 

[SkiFletch]

Hey Ski, I was reading a book by Ronald Shimek and he was saying that while we should try to keep the nitrate down levels of 50ppm are really not going to bother corals all that much. It is the phosphate that is the big killer!!

Just wanted to see your view on that.

Paul09jo, I would say follow the old mantra of nitrate 0 and phosphate 0 and you know that you are doing the right thing. Just seemed like an appropriate thread to raise the point.

Regards

Yeah, 50ppm of nitrate (when measured accurately) is rarely a problem for MOST corals. Shrimp do NOT tolerate that level well at all, and typically the deeper water corals also are intolerant at around 50. Two troubles arise from that level of nitrate. First is that nitrate test kits at the hobby level are woefully inaccurate, so the "50" could be anything from 10 to 100ppm. Even repeat testing might not really get to the bottom of it. There's something about the chemistry of the test that just isn't the best.

Second trouble is if you have 50ppm nitrate, how did you get there? It indicates at least a nitrate problem in the past and a tank that's operating near the nutrient "edge". That's not really the best way to run a tank, hence I always reccomend striving for 0. In reality, if you make it to zero nitrate without a sump, refugium, or tridacnid clam as part of your system bravo, it's really tough. A level ~20ppm is more easily attainable for a majority of aquarists.

You're right to say that for hard corals, phosphate is an absoloute killer. Since free phosphates inhibit calcification, it prevents them from making skeleton to repair themselves and they suffer quickly and badly. Also remember that polyp bailout is usually a severe response to poor water quality and is likely a summation of problems instead of jus one.

HTH

 

[rabbut]

Sorry to butt in, but at what level does Phosphate become a concern? When I tested my tanks phosphate at work the otehr week, I got a reading of 0.03ppm, and my bubble coral is still looking a bit sorry for itself after the other day when it started to close up...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[paul09jo]

Thank you all for the information, RO unit is running and ive done a good water change. The water test perfect on my home test kit but i will find out if that right when I get to my local fish shop on sunday.

Thanks again

 

[SkiFletch]

Sorry to butt in, but at what level does Phosphate become a concern? When I tested my tanks phosphate at work the otehr week, I got a reading of 0.03ppm, and my bubble coral is still looking a bit sorry for itself after the other day when it started to close up...

All the best
Rabbut

0.03 is a fine value for phosphate, that's the point to strive for so that's not your problem.