Brown Jelly

[Vermonter]

My 90 gal reef tank has been up for about 7 months or so and in the last 2 weeks I have lost 4 corals to brown jelly. My first loss was a hammer. I cut off the infected head...but no joy, it spread and took out some really beautiful pieces....

What is this stuff?

How do I get rid of it?

How do I provent it from returning?

I check my water weekly and have the LFS double check it. All the normal indicators are at zero. My PH is 8.3 and I have 4.3 watts per gal.

Thoughts?

 

[steve-s]

Brown jelly infection are common in LPS corals where the water paramaters are less than par. Elevated nitrate being a major source of the problem. If the coral becomes damaged in any way, even if casual (crab/fish/shrimp et al), it can lead to these problems.

Brown jelly should not set in so readily unless the water quality is off some. Are you 100% sure all nitrogens (NH3/NO2/NO3) read zero? Do you know your alk/Ca levels?

What fish inverts are in the tank, do you use a skimmer, how often are water changes performed, do you use carbon and how old is the tank?

Cheers
Steve