new stuff...

[sogreene]

this morning everything looks quite a bit better. The other polyps that are on the other 8 heads are almost fully expanded. I caught the damsel, and it is on it's way to the lfs now. I trapped him by filling his hole in with sand, so he had nowhere to hide, and scooped him out with my hand. He looks no worse for wear. I am leaving the little blue guy in there for now. I'll catch him later if he becomes an aggressor. Thanks for the advice with the torch! I'll let you know how it does.

[MsBeanCtr]

How's the torch doing?

[sogreene]

it did really well for about 2 days...then we lost one head at a time until today. I pondered the idea of removing the torch when the 2nd to last head was deteriorating, but thought I'd give it another chance...now I am kicking myself, b/c the hammer has started to go, as well. I'm on google right now to see how to fix whatever is wrong...if possible.
I am thinking I will go back to mushrooms, zoas and such, and just give the tank another 6 mos to cnotinue to mature before trying another hard coral.
I feel sick to my stomach, not only did I lose the one coral I REALLY have always wanted (the hammer), but I've also lost a whole month's Nano-Reef allowance b/t the xenia, torch, and hammer.
My water parameters are A1, tip top...I've used my kit here, and the lfs used his kit, and opened a new Sera kit that looks like a laboratory, and used it.
Any ideas and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[sogreene]

ok...so the rock that the xenia had been on, is suddenly sprouting xenia heads, so that is good news. The hammer is totally gone.

[Kurt_Nelson]

Just noticed this thread - sorry to hear about the torch and hammer. Definintely sounds like the dreaded "brown jelly disease/infection". One thing just to stick in the back of your head is that if you ever encounter that again, this is one time where doing something as quick as possible in a SW tank is a good thing. Normally we say "patience, patience... " but in this case you want to get that stuff out of your tank ASAP. It can jump from coral to coral pretty quick in the right environment.

I'll also comment that I don't think it's necessarily "normal" to lose a head of torch coral when you introduce it to your tank. If it's come to you via mail order, that's probably true, but if you bought it locally and it was handled well, you shouldn't have any issues.

My guess is that the corals were diseased when you brought them home, and you really had no chance. It's tough in the beginning to look at a coral and understand what a "healthy" one is supposed to look like. But we've all learned (unfortunately) through experiences like yours. Don't kick yourself too much about it - just learn and move on!

Oh... also for future use: A good thing to have in cases like yours is one of those mini hand hacksaws - a new one that doesn't have all sorts of contamination on it from the shop! Using one of those underwater on torch corals, etc makes for a nice clean cut in the place that you want it... not where it decides to break!

[MsBeanCtr]

Sorry to hear about that......Kurt is right tho (don't tell him I said that)...as soon as you see signs of it, get it out!

I think I'd tell the lfs that you got it from that your coral croaked. It might not do anything but then again they might give you a partial credit. I had a similar experience and they took half off another coral purchase.

Don't give up on the hammer coral.....they really are a beautiful coral and easy to keep.

[sogreene]

I told him what happened. He's given us so many good deals, on top of freebies, that I turned the store credit down. I know turning it down won't matter, b/c the next trip will be cheap anyway...
The torch and hammer looked amazing in his tank--the polyps were fully extended (they never really got as full in our tank), and they were bright as can be. He'd had them for almost a month each.
He and David are looking for a 90-110gal for me for xmas. The biocube will go in our room and just have the fish we've got and lr. I am hoping with the larger tank, and some stronger lighting, as well as a wavemaker for differing currents, things will go better.
The lfs said one problem may be the "laminar" current (don't know if I used the right word) may have been part of the problem. He said they didn't like a steady current, but differing ones.

[MsBeanCtr]

That's COOL! You'll love that larger tank. It's true what they say about larger tanks.....they really are easier to keep. Kudos to you about looking into the lighting for the new upcoming tank. I wish I would have before I got my first tank.....I ended up upgrading my lighting after a year.

Whoohoo! gotta do the picture thing when you get that new tank!

[sogreene]

oh, i will! I'm just trying to decide what I'm going to shoot for...hard/soft/lps/sps...soooo much stuff.

I am really wanting to do a reef community, so I guess my options are pretty open. I don't know if I want to do metal halides...I'm thinking of sticking with t5's...any advice? Like I said...tank size minimum will be 90gal, max 125gal to go next to the a.cichlid tank, but it really depends on what we get a deal on.

[MsBeanCtr]

I have the nova extreme fixture and I really, really like it....I'm sure others will chime in with additional info. Just make sure you get individual reflectors to make the most of the t5 ho (ho=high output) fixture.