poor poor torch

[Scyre]

Well, I'm just confirmed that my torch is bleached. I wish I would have realized something was up sooner. Two of the heads are even starting to receed, not too bad though.

I just went out and talked to a guy at the LFS and he suggested that I use phytoplankton as well rather than using mysis.. . I'll give it a shot I guess.

Any other thoughts or methods you guys know of to help bring this guy back to life??!!

Thanks

Luke

[Wiskey]

Torches don't eat phyto. If he is bleached try moving him somewhere where he is shaded and feed him mysis if he will take it.

HTH,
Whiskey

[Scyre]

Why would you put him in a spot where he is shaded?

[jenajet]

He may be getting too much light.

[seaham358]

It may also not be getting enough.. try moving it down for a week or 2 and if nothing happens try it up high for a few.
Good luck..

[Wiskey]

Good point. Can we get a picture of the tank, picture of the coral, and a rundown on the tank perams/lighting and filtration?

This will help us give you better advice.

Whiskey

[Scyre]

So I moved it down like you suggested. I circled it in red where it is now, and where it used to be. It's tentacles are still sticky, and will take mysis. I thought I got rid of the problem of stealing food from him by getting rid of the shrimp, but now the sixline is stealing food, there is no way for me to feed him without it being stolen.

Tank parameters are all normal except nitrates are around 9 or so. I have two 65W PC 50/50 in there, but the tank is only 18 in. tall.

He never shot out all the zooanthe all at once, it was a little here and a little there over the 2 months. The first two months he was with me he never did that.

The third pic is what he looked like yesterday when he wasn't pissed off.

I have no idea what to do now. I can't feed him, I don't know what lighting he wants, fish steal food, and he's begging to receed on two of the four heads. He is darker near the base where the tissue meets the skeleton and a few of the out arms are a bit darker, I don't know.

[jenajet]

If they are stealing his food take a 2 liter cut the bottom off and shoot the food thru the little end, no fish will get to it. Once he get the zoo stuff back his sting will be much stronger and will take care of itself.

[leveldrummer]

thats lower light than i thought you had, you should try moving him up in the tank, it probably needs more light that what its gettin on the bottom, also, how old are your light bulbs, they might need some replacing.

[seaham358]

Give it a little time to adjust to the new home and if nothing happes a move to the top may be the answer.
Watch the coral next to it, you don't want any stinging between corals, that will set the torch back more if its stung. It still has good polyp extension so thats a good sign..

[skeety]

wow...you have it awefully close to that Trachy...hard to believe, but BOTH of those corals can form much longer sweeper's than you'd think.

IME, Torches like light, but are tolerant of varying degrees of it.
Flow, however...they are QUITE picky about. You'll need a medium flow that's random. Not too strong, and not barely moving either...but can't be laminar (one directional).

There is ALSO the possiblility that the coral is "resetting" itself so to speak. the new tank, environment, etc...can cause a coral to expell it's zooxanthella and start all over again.

But no matter WHAT the cause, one fact remains....it will not get the food it needs from light during this time, so your spot feeding it will be it's main means of regeneration.

That said, your top three goals are now:

1: Get it away from that brain...and any other coral for that matter.
2: Find a spot with a decent flow, but one that sways/alternates/etc to keep the coral clean.
3: Practice the spot feeding technique Jena sugested. Put the top 1/3 of a 2-liter bottle over it. Squirt a small amount of food into it. Give it 10-15 minutes, then remove the lid and let the flow clean it off.

Don't be suprised if the first few times it doesn't appear to take much. Just keep doing it and only in small amounts (i.e. Don't squirt more in to force feed it).

Good luck!

[tashier]

Man, I've never fed my torch, should I be? Looks great after several months and getting bigger. He's about 10" away from a 400w 14k Hamilton and not complaining.

[skeety]

If the coral has all it's zooxanthella (symbiotic algae), then feeding (directly) isn't really necessary. The coral will get most of it's energy from the lighting.

In the case of Scyre, his coral is bleached. When bleached, the coral can ONLY get nutrition via food. Until it builds back up it's population of Zooxanthella.