Help!! Euphillya problems!

[LynnCeeBee]

First, the essentials: 125gal mixed reef with ~180lbs live rock, 30lbs of which are in the wet/dry filter as rubble. Sg 1.026, pH 8.4, Nitrites 0, Ammonia 0, Nitrates 1, Ca 440-460 (I hate Ca tests!), KH/Alkalinity 8.6/3.09 (Salifert tests). I've had this tank set up for about 2.5-3 years. I'm running 3 units of ChemPure, and when this problem came up, I put in another bag of regular carbon just in case there was coral warfare going on.

The problem: My frogspawn started dying off about 2 weeks ago. I watched three heads die off (in anguish!) last week. I thought it might be in too high of a flow, so I moved it to a spot with lesser flow. Now, two other branches (four heads) quit extending out as much as they normally do. My LFS recommended cutting off the dead branches, which I did yesterday. Today, I came home to find that the remaining three heads (the original frag I started with!) is also starting extend its arms much less.

There is a hammer coral less than six inches away from this same frogspawn that is doing fabulously, and has doubled in size in the last month. Tonight however, on the other side of the tank, I also discovered that my torch coral, normally a showpiece, has one head that looks like its shedding and is pulling away from its skeleton. It also does not look like it's extension is as far as usual.

Help! I really don't want to think about losing more Euphillya heads, but I'm not sure what else to do.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Do you see any brown jelly-like substance on the dead/dying heads? If so, it could be the dreaded "brown jelly disease" which seems to focus on Euphyllia species. Brown jelly disease is highly contagious.

If no brown jelly, then I'd agree with you... some type of chemical warfare going on. Any leathers in the tank? What other corals do you have in there?

 

[divedeep1689]

kurt wat does leathers have to do with this sorry to interupt this thread but i lost a torch unexplained and a leather that got sick the next few weeks after.....

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Leathers can just be really mean when it comes to chemical warfare.

 

[LynnCeeBee]

No brown jelly disease. I did add a colt coral about three weeks ago.... but I've also had a small polyp leather in there for years. The colt is very far from both Euphyllia corals. I have mushrooms, xenia, zoos and palys, dendros, a duncan, two small acans, open brain, blastos.... they all seem to be doing okay.

I thought running carbon would alleviate any chemical warfare going on. Was I wrong? Will I have to take out the leathers???

 

[thincat]

" I'm running 3 units of ChemPure," when did you add the Chempure to your tank?

 

[LynnCeeBee]

Two units I added maybe six weeks ago; the third, about four weeks ago. They are supposed to be changed every four or five months, no? I have the changes scheduled into my computer's calendar so I will remember to change them out, and I change them one or two at a time. ....does that make a difference?

The regular carbon I'll only leave in for about a week or two.

 

[thincat]

I read somewhere and I can't find it now that chempure had some ill affects on corals at higher doses. You might want to remove it for a while to see if that helps. and carbon is only good for at the most 1 week also, then it starts to leach elements back into the tank water.

 

[LynnCeeBee]

Higher doses????? What do you consider higher doses of ChermiPure? I'm only using the bare minimum required for a 125g tank. And I thought these 'units' were highly researched and proven to last at least the 3mo period that I've been using them.

I know you shouldn't leave carbon in too long, but is there such a thing as using too much? Will more alleviate any coral warfare going on?

 

[thincat]

Well, you went from 1 unit to 3 units, you do the math. and no I don't think you can use to much carbon.

 

[LynnCeeBee]

"Use 1 package for aquariums up to 40 gallons, 2 packages for 40- to 100-gallon aquariums. Aquariums above 100 gallons require 2 packages plus one package for every additional 25 gallons." (From Drs. F&S info) The math seems right to me (she said anxiously) 125g = 3units

Since I didn't want to throw in 3 packages all at once, I started with two, then added the last one two weeks later, and weaned out the carbon I was using in the meantime.

When you say take it out for "a while" how long does a "while" mean?

I know I sound just a little frantic, but I love my corals, and don't really like to lose them. ...and here I thought I was doing them such good using ChemiPure. Does anyone else use this product? Have you experienced this ill effect at 'higher doses'?

 

[thincat]

Take it out for a weeka and if you don't see any improvements then something else is causing it to decline. You have to weed out the problems one at a time or you won't know what caused the problem. I know it's hard when an animal in your care declines and I feel for you. I am just trying to think outside the box and help you.

 

[LynnCeeBee]

.....and I thank you for that.