Reef Discussion

Fmxchick

Member
Mar 9, 2017
113
51
What Happened To My Chalice?
Hi guys,

Can any1 tell wtf has happened to my chalice. All looked ok this morning b4 heading out to work yet I've come home to what I think may be brown jelly on my chalice.

Sunday looking beautiful
IMG_0991.JPG

And today looking mangled
IMG_1080.JPG
 

Fmxchick

Member
Mar 9, 2017
113
51
hard to say from that pic, anything else look affected? Did anything fall on it?
Nothing at all. I had moved it about 2 inches the night before but that's it. Only thing remotely close to it is an acan but even that is at least 3 inches away from this. I took it out of the tank and sucked everything off it and in amongst all this was some brown stringy stuff which is why I thought of brown jelly. At the moment nothing else seems to be affected. Took a good look at all my hammers and torches but they seem to be fine.
Night before all I did was clean the filter socks and skimmer cup and added a couple new frags to which I had dipped and acclimated but they seem to be doing great.
IMG_1082.JPG
 

Sam Parker

Moderator
May 6, 2013
4,802
2,397
Geelong
yeah ok odd. It'd definitely killed it's flesh. Not sure what would kill it overnight like that without some sort of chemical warfare :(
 

Fmxchick

Member
Mar 9, 2017
113
51
Hopefully I get home and everything is alright tonight.
I had the tip of a torch land on a scolly the other week, luckily I saw it as it happened. Put a little hole in it's flesh by the time I got it off and out of the tank. Scolly looks ok now though.
Possibly this may have happened again. I have them on total opposite ends of the tank but I have found that with this particular torch, it looks like it grows a tentacle on top of another and then at times detaches. (if that makes sense)
 

shaidas

Member
Jan 30, 2017
105
37
The same thing happened to a lobo of mine which was on the sand bed. I took it out dipped it and 2-3 small shrimp like critters fell off along with a lot of black tiny moving spots.That didn't save it though cannot find any info on the pest type. It may be too late to save that chalice but try dipping it. If it was not near any other coral then it has to be a pest or a bacterial infection of some sort. I dip every new coral but dips will not get eggs which can hatch later
 

Fmxchick

Member
Mar 9, 2017
113
51
The same thing happened to a lobo of mine which was on the sand bed. I took it out dipped it and 2-3 small shrimp like critters fell off along with a lot of black tiny moving spots.That didn't save it though cannot find any info on the pest type. It may be too late to save that chalice but try dipping it. If it was not near any other coral then it has to be a pest or a bacterial infection of some sort. I dip every new coral but dips will not get eggs which can hatch later
I dip everything before they go in also. Dipped the Chalice the night it happened but found nothing out of the ordinary.This particular piece had been thriving for the last few months but unfortunately not much that I could have done. Crazy how quick things can go sour in this hobby. Thing the worst is not knowing what the cause was.
 

ReeferRob

Solidarité
Oct 22, 2014
2,661
931
Bel Air
I've never seen an Acan send out super long sweepers. Now a Favia or Favites will whack anything within 5-7 cm and don't get me started on Galaxea or Merulina, those are stone cold killers.
 

Fmxchick

Member
Mar 9, 2017
113
51
I've never seen an Acan send out super long sweepers. Now a Favia or Favites will whack anything within 5-7 cm and don't get me started on Galaxea or Merulina, those are stone cold killers.
I have a Favia approx 5 inches away from where the chalice was so I'm sure it wasn't the culprit although thank you for bringing that to my attention as I have another chalice frag a lot closer to the Favia than it probably should be.
 

ReeferRob

Solidarité
Oct 22, 2014
2,661
931
Bel Air
I had a piece of Galaxea that would throw out 15cm long sweepers. Search coral wars on YouTube and watch what happens to some of the corals, it's frightening the amount of aggression there is between different species. Hydnophora is another bastard coral.
 

Fmxchick

Member
Mar 9, 2017
113
51
I had a piece of Galaxea that would throw out 15cm long sweepers. Search coral wars on YouTube and watch what happens to some of the corals, it's frightening the amount of aggression there is between different species. Hydnophora is another bastard coral.
So fascinating to watch. Only been into marine 6 months and as a newbie I still question myself on where I need to place everything, not only so it's pleasing to the eye but also to what will be peaceful to its neighbor. I see so many beautiful tanks, some that look so jam packed and think how on earth are they all so close together and peaceful...Think I need to study a little more on each coral before adding anything else to the tank.
 

ReeferRob

Solidarité
Oct 22, 2014
2,661
931
Bel Air
If you look at those tanks that are packed, they're mostly from one genus of corals such as Acropora with SPS on the bottom where they can't damage each other. It takes time and if you have a question, ask, we're here to help. I'm 14 hours behind you so I'm usually late to post. When in doubt, keep them separated until someone can answer. I keep a few small pieces of acrylic around to keep corals separated to see how they react to their neighbors. We were all new to the hobby at one time.
 

Savage Henry

Member
Feb 2, 2015
653
254
The same thing happened to a lobo of mine which was on the sand bed. I took it out dipped it and 2-3 small shrimp like critters fell off along with a lot of black tiny moving spots.That didn't save it though cannot find any info on the pest type. It may be too late to save that chalice but try dipping it. If it was not near any other coral then it has to be a pest or a bacterial infection of some sort. I dip every new coral but dips will not get eggs which can hatch later
Always got to be careful with blaming bugs and worms for killings corals as they may just have turned up to dine on the tasty dying coral flesh and they may be what actually killed the coral.

Also many shrimp like things are actually beneficial.

Sorrry to see your coral die. I found that moving corals about too often, as well as other kinds of disturbances, can cause them to deteriorate and then it takes one event too many and the whole damned thing just dies.