Torch Coral

[chrisfont23]

To round out my tank, I purchased a torch coral with three heads. I have indirect lighting on it from my T5s, placed in the substrate in an area that gives it adequate space for it's tentacles to move. It's a little oddly shaped, with one of the branches extending further than the other three (like holding up your fingers to denote "3" with one finger being straight out rather than straight up...sorry - no pics, so hopefully everyone is doing this

I have researched and read many opinions on light. Unfortunately, I can only place this so one of the heads in the shadows (partially under a ledge) and the other two fully exposed to the light. This branch looks unhappy.

Without risking my investment, I was wondering if anyone had experience with a torch and which approach I should take with lighting.

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Hi Chris. I don't have a torch coral but I do have a frogspawn and hammer coral which are from the same family (Euphyilla). Neither of mine are shaded from my 6 bulb t5 fixture and I haven't had any problems. What kind of lighting was it under at the LFS? Maybe it needs some light acclimation?
By the way, both of my corals are in the sand bed, in low/ medium flow areas.

[chrisfont23]

Yeah, my hammer is in the sand bed too. Two heads - no problems. Success. Which is why I tried the torch. So get this - I called the LFS I bought the torch at. Turns out he had him IN FRONT OF a power head for the previous day b/c one of the heads looked a little "cloo-gee" - exact words. So who knows.

I came home and sure enough... one of the heads is showing recession....some of the skeleton is visible. I rotated it so the bad head is out of direct light.

Any ideas?

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Not sure about that. I know that family doesn't like too much flow. You can always Frag the questionable head and shade it if it gets worse. Maybe try an iodine dip?

[chrisfont23]

I have never fragged anything. A little nervous. Will leaving it cause stress to the healthy heads? The other two are in AWESOME shape. I thought it was a two head until I got in the car. And naturally then everything recedes.

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Hard to say if leaving it would do harm. I'd probably give it an iodine dip to be safe and watch for it to get better or worse. I know things like red slime disease can spread and take out healthy heads.

[Jessie Nicoletti]

i say frag off the odd head and atach it to a rock or put in sand. the way you described it sounds like the coral didnt get the issue from the lfs but either in the tank it was grown or in the wild. now if i understand what you said corectly one is growing e-w while the others grow n-s. try to see if u can place it angled a bit so the 3 heads are even with the water or themselves ( like a V or whatever)

[chrisfont23]

Thx Jessie. I am going to leave it for a few days. I basically put it in a position where the e-w head is not in as much light as the other two. If it goes south by next Sat, I will start a new thread on fragging since I am not sure how to do that :thinking and would not want to kill the poor coral

[chrisfont23]

Today, noticed the third irregular head (that sounds funny) completely closed up. So, alas, he was fragged. I just hope I did it right. Used pliers to snip the gimpy arm as close to the base as possible. Never fragged before. Suppose time will tell.

[Original Fin]

From what I'm told Chris, you got it right. FS is supposed to be pretty easy to do, with high success rates. If you haven't already, you might consider a coral disinfectant/antibiotic dip like Lugols.

Hope it makes it. Frogspawn is so cool!

[chrisfont23]

From what I'm told Chris, you got it right. FS is supposed to be pretty easy to do, with high success rates. If you haven't already, you might consider a coral disinfectant/antibiotic dip like Lugols.

Hope it makes it. Frogspawn is so cool!

Thx Fin! Me too. You don't think that will stress it too much? It was a clean break but still... a little tissue was unfortunately exposed. I googled as much as I could before I did this.

I will check in a few days - I suppose if it expels any zooxanthellae I know I might be in for a long(er) road.