Can 250watt MH's hurt Mother Torch Coral

[chuck78]

Two months ago, I bought an 11 head torch coral for $200. For some reason about 11 days ago 5 of the larger heads began to recede. My water params were good & all of my dosing is right on point. It was placed in an upper middle spot of the tank. None of my fish bother it. I do however have a toadstool leather in the tank. For the 1st 5 weeks, I watched for any signs of stress from either one of these guys & there was'nt any so I relaxed. 4 days into the recession, I removed the torch, treated it with lugols dip for 3 days & kept it in the QT. 2 days after the dip, the polyps began to extend so I acclimated & placed it back in the DT. Since then, those 5 heads are nothing but skeleton now. Should I place the the torch back in the DT (under the MH's) or leave it in the QT which is a biocube. Any input will be greatly appreciated

 

[Brian_G]

well make sure you dont have copper in your water or anything, make sure the torch isnt too high in the tank, the 250s will make it bleach and die if exposed to high and too fast.

 

[Smitty]

If it's too high in the tank, the halides could kill it eventually...but, I recently lost mine also, and it was showing the same signs yours...it was healthy for few months, and then one day it started staying closed and eventually started to recede. Upon further research, many of my coral books state that they don't have a great survival rate in our tanks. They don't ship well, and they are very finicky compared to hammers and frog spawns. So I don't think it was anything you didwrong, our could have done to help it's survival.

 

[chuck78]

No copper what so ever & I did start it off @ the bottom of the tank n moved it up every 4 days. This torch was 18" wide when it would fully expand...damn this is breakin my heart man. It was my fiancee's fav also...just an "eyecatcher"...it was beautiful

 

[Smitty]

Sorry to hear that bro...

 

[irensing]

In the future I would say less is more. When a coral is stressed or dying I wouldn't start moving it back and forth between tanks and dosing it. Next time just lower it back down and/or adjust the flow and say a prayer. I have a torch that started as 1 head and now has 5 heads (not fully branched) in only 2 months. It sits directly under a 250W MH in the middle of the tank, about 16" below. I just moved it away from the light and to a lower flow and he is not as happy, but still seems ok. Also, my MH lamp is a little old so the intensity is down some.

 

[irensing]

Also, my little clownfish sleeps in the torch heads at night. Not sure what kind of affect this may have.

 

[chuck78]

I once had a clown that hosted a branch hammer...all it seem to do was irritate the hammer. IMO, those silly clowns should only host anemones, but they always seem to host exactly what u don't want them to :(

 

[irensing]

Yea I can't get my clown to go in an anemone. he hosts the trumpet coral during the day and then torch at night.