Torch Coral disappeared

[CrayolaViolence]

I've had a new torch coral for about a week now. It's been doing wonderful. blooming nicely, seemingly happy. Went to bed last night and woke up this AM and it was gone right down to the skeleton.
Do I have something in my tank capable of eating it. I thought I had only reef safe animals. 2 mandarin, peppermint shrimp, feather duster, 2 yellow tangs, and ghost shrimp, emerald crabs, a mated pair of coral banded shrimp and blue and red legged hermit crabs, astra snails, narcissus snails, a turbo snail and one brittle sea star a few tiny sand sifting sea stars.
Any idea as to what could have happened? I have several duncans which have not been touched, goniporia, windpipe coral, even candy canes and mushrooms. This was the first time I've ever had a torch and the first time I've had a coral just disappear.
I've seen in a few places peppermint shrimp could be to blame but many insist only if it was dying which it wasn't. If it is the peppermint shrimp they will be flushed (or most likely moved to a non coral tank). My tank is VERY well fed so there is no reason for them to eat a torch coral of all things. Any ideas? I really don't want to have to tear apart my tank and go on a critter hunt but I will if need be.
Thanks.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

Two things to add. I recently had a green ridge leather just up and die. It looked like it had been chewed up from the bottom but in all honestly it looked more bacterial than predation. Dipping did not help and it continued to necrosis so I removed it from the isolation tank. The frags I clipped from the unaffected area also began disintegrating. Those two were disposed of. Older frags from the same coral are fine.

Second thing, i had a feather duster begin behaving oddly as if it were trying to escape its tube. It came completely out of the tube and low and behold it looked as if something had rated on it's side. now, it could have been dying and the scavengers could have gotten it while it was extended, but this is the second one I've had do this but have since changed tanks. It was my oldest feather duster as well.

If there is something in my tank eating my corals I want to find it and kill it asap.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

P.s. I also have a lot of Anthelia and Xenia and it has never been touched. Also that was supposed to be pipe organ not wind pipe…sorry…I am just really upset about this as I've been looking forward to having a different kind of coral in my tank and then this happens!

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Need to see all of your tank parameters as well as some pictures of the torch. You do have some potential critters that can and will eat corals emerald crabs, a mated pair of coral banded shrimp. It more than likely was the Emerald crab and should not be in your tank. Emerald crabs as with any crabs are opportunistic feeders and will eat anything they can get a hold of, especially once there is no algae for them to eat.

The ONLY crab I allow in my tank is the scarlet legged hermit, IMO and IME all other crabs do mostly what crabs do... they eat anything and everything they can.

There are other things that could be wrong with your torch but need your parameters and pictures to properly help

 

[CrayolaViolence]

My water parameters are within normal ranges. I'm surprised to hear that about emerald crabs considering my LRS uses them in his frag tank all the time. I've never had them bother corals before and like I said, I keep my tank very well fed (alga dried and disks for the crabs, mysis shrimp, ghost shrimp (live), pellets for the banded coral shrimp. They have no need to eat the corals and if they were going to eat one, why the torch? Why not something less toxic like the xenia or anthelia which is growing like kudzu in my tank. Or even the duncans which are also untouched.
There really isn't anything to show of the coral except an empty skeleton. Nothing, nada, not even a piece of tissue left. In less than 8 hours it went from normal and healthy to nothing at all.

 

[killinit123]

My water parameters are within normal ranges.

We need actual readings of your tank parameters not just that "they are within normal ranges" this does absolutely nothing for the people who are trying to help you.

I too don't agree that the emerald did this.. it sounds like your torch just detached from its skeleton which is either a nutrient or flow issue.. or both. I would check your overflow and your power heads for any traces of the flesh of the torch coral.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Parameters within normal ranges is not the actual parameters that we need in order to help you. I find that usually when someone gives an answer like within normal range, their perfect etc haven't tested them. That's OK, but we need to know current parameters as in today's readings, as well as pictures of when healthy and maybe one as they started receding and a current picture.

There are many people myself included that have had emerald crabs go rogue and kill fish and eat corals, I highly suggest that you do some searching here on RC or Google and you will find all you want to read about them. What I told you in my earlier post is from my personal experience and all of my blue legged hermits as well as my very large Emerald crab live in my sump. I only will allow the scarlet legged hermit to live in my DT.

So lets see some pictures and see what exactly your parameters are.

With your statement that they went to empty skeleton in a matter of hours they could have done a polyp bailout. See if you see them anywhere else in your system.

 

[sde1500]

Had a emerald crab rip my blood shrimp to pieces in my last tank. Will not have one ever again.

 

[Sk8r]

The most common cause of a vanished euphyllia is polyp bailout, which is related to light or to water...often to nitrate level, but also to low calcium, or nuisance from a neighbor. When they don't like where they are, they bail.

 

[morpheas]

The most common cause of a vanished euphyllia is polyp bailout, which is related to light or to water...often to nitrate level, but also to low calcium, or nuisance from a neighbor. When they don't like where they are, they bail.

I've actually lost two torches like that (in a night). In my case I had bought another torch and put it close and for some reason they didn't like each other so the other two were gone in a night.

To add insult to injury, while pulling one of dead ones out of the tank, one small (dead I guess) polyp that was inside the skeleton got lose and blown by the power head and it landed on my beautiful toadstool which immediately retracted and was dead in a day or two.

This has been my experience with dead torches (still love them, still have two of them next to each other).

 

[Sk8r]

If you can find and confine the bailed polyp in a glass dish it can regrow new skeleton. In the wild such bailouts have a chance at relocation, just a dice throw for the coral. In our tanks they get swept under the rockwork and die for want of light.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

Well I did a tank tear down to get out all the emerald crabs, hermit crabs, and peppermint shrimp. In the process I uncovered a bristle worm about 6 inches in length which happened to be in the same location I had recently had a leather that mysteriously died over night. Went from plump and healthy to flat and "chew up" looking. I thought at first it was an infection, dipped it but the damage was too extreme and it did not survive. Frags taken from the leather before the incident are healthy. Hopefully the bristle worm was the issues.
There was never any sign of the torch top. Nada. Nothing. And I combed the tank so throughly I found mushrooms that had detached and set up house else where along with a missing scallop who was thought to be dead for sure because it had been gone so long.

Amazingly I had WAY more peppermint shrimp than I ever imagined. I do not remember buying that many, and gads almost all of them were pregnant.

As for my water parameters.

Salt level is 1.024-1.025
Calcium 450-500
Magnesium 1400
Phosphate .25
nitrates 0
ALK hardness 12
PH 8.0-8.2

My light is 2 kessil 360W tuna blue with controller set 15 inches above my tank at 40% intensity max during mid day. The color ramps up from blue to white (mid day for about 3-4 hours) then down again. Lights come on at 5 am go off at 8pm. My water depth is 12 inches. Tank is 48x24 length and width. We did the acclimation period for the lights and after watching the corals found 50% has too much with my shallow tank. Honestly I probably should have gotten the smaller lights but everyone insisted I needed the 360. Yet the max I can run them is 40% or my corals will retract.

I think from here on out I'll just stick with ghost shrimp. They're harmless, eat more than the hermit crabs and peppermint shrimp and will eat everything from diatoms to brown algae. They even do a better job than the snails with cleaning algae. Most of them have migrated to the sump (they seem to enjoy shooting down the tube) and the sump has never looked so spotless. My serpent stars (most of them) are down there too.

Now I just have to figure out how to clean up all the "dust" left behind from moving rocks around. As bad as moving furniture and accumulating dust bunnies.