Help Identify Brown Film on Base of Torch Coral

[Moe K]

It is aggressive and killing the torch. It appears to be greenish brown film. Looks to be bacterial? I hit it with hydrogen peroxide yesterday but it is back again the next day. I also put in the first dose of cipro 2 days ago and due for another today. I am not sure if it is the same as brown jelly disease because it is only on the base. Thanks.

p.s. Disregard the bubble algae. I'm working on that.

After Hydrogen Peroxide

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

That torch dosent look happy.

Anyway maybe a sponge?

 

[Moe K]

That torch dosent look happy.

Anyway maybe a sponge?

It is for sure killing the coral. Could be a sponge but kind of looks more like slime and it is only on the base of this torch coral and I can not find it anywhere else in the tank.

 

[Moe K]

Just to note. All my other torches are pretty happy.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

It is for sure killing the coral. Could be a sponge but kind of looks more like slime and it is only on the base of this torch coral and I can not find it anywhere else in the tank.

Could be BJD (brown jelly disease) take the coral out and smell it, if it smells bad/rotting than it's probably BJD

 

[JGT]

Looks like green cyano or sponge. Not BJD. You’d see that on the heads of the torch. Does it blow off with a Turkey baster? If not , then sponge.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Looks like green cyano or sponge. Not BJD. You’d see that on the heads of the torch. Does it blow off with a Turkey baster? If not , then sponge.

I don't think it's cyanno. Looks like it's in a high flow spot

 

[JGT]

Do the Turkey baster test. Cyano can be stubborn. If it doesn’t blow off then it’s sponge.

 

[Moe K]

I am now leaning towards sponge. I found it in a few more spots in the tank on the underside of rock. I have been target spraying 3% hydrogen peroxide to keep it at bay for the last couple of days. I have 6% arriving today to hopefully do more damage. The 3% is just holding it back but not killing it. I also stopped all coral feeding and amino dosing. Heavy cipro dose is doing nothing but make the other torches pretty happy.

This stuff seems like it could be a tank killer by what it is doing to my torch.

A search did not do much good other then people mentioning H202 and I believe some said it did not work. I will try a full dip of the effected coral soon. Might have to throw away all the rock and start over on this tank if I can not destroy this stuff.

 

[Moe K]

Update: I ordered a Tank DNA test from aquabiomics. Still being shipped and will be a while before I get results.

I dipped the frag in more H2O2 and scrubbed all the brown substance off. The brown mat stuff is still present on the frag 3 days later and now the torch is really starting to pack its bags and check out.

The odd thing is that the spot where the frag used to be now has no brown mat substance on it anymore at all but still growing on the torch base. This kind of makes me think the substance is attacking the coral itself and might not just be your typical sponge. Or it is the fact that the brown substance was exposed to more light (possible sponge IDK). I think it is my responsibility to find out what this is as long as we have the means to do so.

I will update here or to a new thread (which I will also link here) when I get the results back.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

@ISpeakForTheSeas , what was the name of the killer black sponge?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

@ISpeakForTheSeas , what was the name of the killer black sponge?

Terpios hoshinota:

Terpios hoshinota is the sponge. Apparently it can be beaten back/smothered by some corals/coralline algaes.

I have no idea if this sponge is T. hoshinota or not (see the quote about sponge ID below), but in case it is, I've posted some info about it below as well.

I don't know (though it theoretically should be). If it is T. hoshinota overtaking your corals though, it can be killed by shading it* (they shaded it at like 30% natural sunlight for 10 days and found it died and didn't grow back). So, I'd imagine that either reducing your lights or doing a multiday blackout period should be able to kill it.

*The study:
https://www.researchgate.net/public...ion_of_coral-killing_sponge_Terpios_hoshinota

https://www.researchgate.net/public...e_Terpios_hoshinota_sponge_kills_stony_corals
http://zoolstud.sinica.edu.tw/Journals/51.2/150.pdf
http://miseryukyu.com/[email protected]_List_files/Reimeretal2011Terpios.pdf

 

[Moe K]

UPDATE
The results are in and it does appear to be a sponge. I am not 100% sure it was the cause of death but super suspicious by the way it was covering the base.
When I took the DNA sample I removed the coral from the tank and placed in a small tub of tank water. I then scratched off as much of the substance in the water and pulled the sample and sent it off.

The tests show 43% to be Mycale sanguinea. Class Demospongiae (Sponges)

A google search showed mycale sanguinea to be an orange sponge. What I observed did not look the same but that is what the DNA results say so then I guess it is.

An update on the the tank: It has been a couple of months and I did not observe any more coral to be effected by any sponges so that is good news. Everything looks very healthy and growing. It might be the coral was just unhealthy and more susceptible to the attack.