LOVE my softies, but... are they killing my LPS?

[SandyPup]

Hi all!

I recently lost a beloved Atomic Torch Coral which mysteriously and quite suddenly took a turn for the worse and died. I was completely baffled since all my parameters had been and remained good and stable. The only thing that had changed just prior to the Torch's demise was the addition of two small new soft corals (Colt Coral and Yellow Toadstool Leather). Neither was in contact range of the Torch but both were "upstream" in the water column.

Today I read an article about the toxicity of soft corals and I'm thinking that this is what killed the Torch. And now I'm really worried because my beloved LTA who has been doing SO well for the past two months started looking really sad after I added the two softies as well.

Could the soft corals be poisoning my Nem? Any ideas or feedback from the soft coral community would be very much appreciated :clown:

 

[bull shark]

Yes, the colt coral and leather are likely releasing toxins in a process called allelopathy. Usually the toxins affect other softies, but probably can affect everything in the tank.

I would suggest running carbon and changing it often.

Or, a larger tank? (dilution is the solution to pollution)

 

[SandyPup]

Thanks, Bull Shark. I started out my tank with several soft corals. I absolutely love the motion and texture they add to the tank. But there are a couple of gorgeous LPS that I would also love to add.

A bigger system??? Pleeeeeze don't tempt me! :bounce3: lol I promised myself to give the Nano Reef two years before jumping into the deep end of the reef junkie pool

Right now in my 28gal Nano Cube I run carbon 24/7 and change it out every two weeks, and do weekly 10% water changes. I have 25lbs of live rock & 30lbs of live sand. As much as I love them all, I'm thinking I might have to take a couple of the softies out so that I can have a healthy mixed reef system. Maybe you guys can advise which, if any, should go. Right now I have the following:

1) Yellow Toadstool Leather
1) Colt Coral
1) Pulsing Xenia
1) Red Goniapora
1) Neon Green Spaghetti Leather
1) Small colony of Yellow Polyps
3) Small colonies of Zoas
Plus...
1) Bubble Coral
1) Frog Spawn
1) Small colony of Sun Polyps
:fish2:
1) Ocellaris Clown
1) Purple Firefish
1) Blue Green Chromis
1) Tailspot Blenny
1) Randall's Goby

Update: I lost my poor LTA last night. He pulled his foot out of his little cave, shriveled up, and passed away

 

[cloak]

I don't think your soft corals killed your torch coral. The amount of toxins being released in the water would have to be through the roof for this to happen IMO. It was something else... (Brown Jelly Disease/Syndrome?)
Here's a picture of my old 60 gallon tank. I had this for 9 years and never ran any carbon on it. Just efficient skimming and regular water changes. These all seemed to get along.

 

[SandyPup]

Nice tank, cloak. And I'm really hoping you're right about the soft corals not being responsible for the Torch's demise. The torch could have had other issues that I wasn't aware of. I just know that it looked fine and healthy until I added the new Colt and Toadstool and then it closed up and never reopened. At the same time my LTA became really wilty and died two days later. All the other fish and corals look fine. Oh, and btw I am running a stock JBJ Nano protein skimmer on the system. Not the best out there, but it seems to do the job.

I don't know how much toxin soft corals release when they are stressed, and I'm sure they were stressed having just been shipped overnight all the way from CA. I would really love to keep all my soft corals, but I'd also like to add a Neon Green Trumpet Coral and a really nice Favia I have my eye on without the constant worry that they will die a slow death from terpene poisoning :worried:

Thanks so much for your feedback. If anyone else out there has had any experiences with coral chemical warfare Id really appreciate the benefit of your experiences.

 

[Potsy]

Torch corals can be more finicky then their hammer and frogspawn cousins. I've had them die for no obvious reason. Right now I have a small torch coral frag within inches of a pretty big green sinularia, one of the most potentially toxic corals, and I've seen no adverse effects. There's even a second pink sinularia downstream. However, it is possible that they'd grow faster if the soft corals weren't in the tank.

The toxins are actually directed toward stony corals and/or their larvae that attempt to settle near them on the reef. It's why you rarely see a them cohabitating near each other.