HELP, my euphyllia are all slowly dying...

[michael_in_nc]

I have or had several euphyllia (torch, hammer, frogspawn, hybrid frogspawn) and they are all slowly dying. I have already lost the hammer and torch. They died over about a month or two. The torch was my first in the family and did great for about a year, then started to have this problem.

Tank setup:
75gal; 200W actinic, 2x150W MH; MDQ-3 Little Giant Pump main pump; RS-100 Euro-Reef skimmer, (2) Tunze circulation pumps, Kalk on drip, C-balance via dosing pump.

Parameters:
pH - 8.3; dKh - 8.1; Temp - 79-80; Nitrate - <5ppm, Ca - 350+ppm

I haven't fed them directly very much. Usually have alot of food in the tank when I feed the fish. Got rid of a pygmy angel recently which saved my clam and zooanthids, but didn't seem to help the euphyllia.

Any trace elements that I should check? I have an iodine kit and PO4 kit. Both test in normal levels.

any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[72olds455]

What other corals/critters in the tank

 

[tmz]

Your parameters look ok. I doubt a trace element deficiency would be the culprit. Could another fish or invert be picking on them? Did you look for brown jelly infection possibly from an earlier wound?Have you tried any dips?

 

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Do you have pics? What type of flow do you have? Any clown(s) that might be harassing them?

 

[michael_in_nc]

Other stuff in the tank:
Pac. Blue Tang; Sailfin Tang; Kole Tang; Mated Pair of Maroon Clowns; snails, blue leg crabs, a strawberry crab (hardly ever see him); blue linkia starfish

Der_Iron_Chef, clowns can harass them? The female maroon clown is very aggressive. Not to other fish, but attacks my hand anytime it gets in the water. Haven't caught her nipping at the corals, though. The male stays back, mainly hanging out in the candy cane coral.

What is brown jelly infection and how can I tell if I have a problem with it or what do I do about it?

I do have alot of flow. I have to throttle back my main pump b/c the overflow can't handle it. I have a Tunze and a Koralia 3 circulation pumps.

Thanks for the help, guys.

 

[Sk8r]

Params: alk 8.3-9.3; cal 400-420; mg 3x cal for stability.

If you're dripping kalk, use buffer and cal additives until you achieve desired levels, plus mg if needed. Kalk can maintain a set level, but you need to use additives to get there. You're low in calcium, that's one thing that leaps out.

Move them upstream in the water flow, so they they're upstream and any zoas are downstream.

Run carbon: zoas emit chemicals to try to discourage encroachment by other corals. Carbon will calm things down.

HTH.

 

[chromafi]

How old are your bulbs?

 

[michael_in_nc]

bulbs are pretty new. about 3 months or so.

I do run carbon and phosban but don't change them as often as I probably should. I wasn't running either initially when I got the euphyllia and everything seemed fine, but I have add zoos since. I will look at the zoo placement relative to the euphyllia.

The hybrid frogspawn is doing great and hasn't been subject to the recent issues. (yet) It's one of my nicest pieces so I'm trying to head it off. My frogspawn used to look great but is now starting to show signs of the problem. One of the heads isn't fully out now. that is usually the first sign based on my experience.

Thanks again for everyone's inputs....

 

[ihopss]

Do you have starfish.

 

[blange3]

Keep an eye on your Tangs and see if they are hunting for food.

Just my frogspawns were closing up, all my other Euphyllias were fine. Then I noticed that my purple tang was annoying them looking for food. I always fed right over the frogspawn to make sure my firefish got enough to eat as his hiding hole was right under the frogspawn. I moved the feeding spot and they are opening again.

Now the firefish works harder!

Did you shift flow patterns recently? 2 Tunzes can produce a lot more flow than Euohyllias would be comfortable with.

 

[airinhere]

What time of day do you test for ph? With a low dKH reading like you have your ph swing from morning to evening could be as much as half a point or more. If you have algae problems in your tank, the ph shift can be even worse.

Try to keep your dKH a little bit higher. (around 10) That will help minimize your ph shift from day to night.

This is a common cause of 'unexplained' issues with corals and is especially hard on LPS.

 

[Aquarist007]

how close are the torch , hammer and frogspawn to each other--check at night to see if their stinging tentacles can reach each other--they can really stretch them out.

 

[coralite]

Your calcium is kinda low. IME Euphyllids seem to be particularly sensitive to reduced calcium levels. Try to get it up, double check your magnesium to help it rise.

 

[tmz]

Glad everything seems to be working out. To answer your questions about brown jelly. It is a protozoan infection that looks like brown jelly on the tissue of lps.It is thought to ocuur after a coral suffers a wound via sting, bite, fallen rock ,etc. The wound becomes infected initialy by bacteria, the protozoans then move in creating and consuming necrotic tissue. It can spread quickly from coral to coral. To treat it you siphon off what you can and provide a fresh water dip and/ or a dip with and iodide solution such as lugols solution.
By the way it is my understanding that euphylias don't usually sting each other because their nematocysts are so similar that the recepient of any transfer of these stining cells simply adds them to its own arsenal without ill effect.I have a glabrescens and an anchor in continuous contact. I have read forums on this to find a definitative answer but haven"t found one. I would obviously be interested in other's experience or research on this.