Corals require high maintenance, indeed. When torch coral starts looking very ill, you know something is wrong.
It could either be infected with a disease. Or, the aquarium conditions aren’t healthy.
What can cause your torch coral to die?
A slight up and down in the aquarium condition can push your torch coral towards fatality. So we must keep conditions like water parameters, water quality, and pests in check.
Torch corals also catch brown slime disease often. Hence, we need to identify first what is bothering the coral correctly.
So, are you intrigued to know how to do everything right? Take a few minutes and read the whole thing through.
Why Is Your Torch Coral Dying?
Corals generally get a lot of diseases. The brown jelly syndrome is most common in the case of torch corals.
If your coral starts looking ill, check if it got this disease first. The coral may start giving off brown slimy stuff from its smelly surface.
This is not good for the aquarium as it may infect other fishes. This disease makes the coral melt and dissolves in the water. So, if the symptoms match, take out the coral immediately.
Also, we need to give our aquarium a good wash.
However, if we are sure that it’s not infected, we need to check the tank. We need to check 4 crucial conditions of the tank.
Know about these factors. Also, learn to set these factors right in the next section to save your torch corals.
4 Factors To Check Immediately When Torch Coral Is Dying
Corals are super sensitive to any slight change in the climate. This can bring about fatalities.
So, let us dig deeper into the topic!
Factor 1 of 1: Water Parameters
Water parameters are the most important factor to keep in check. They change continuously, so we need to ensure that they remain constant.
So, let’s see which components of water parameters are crucial for us to keep in check.
Alkalinity is very important. Make sure that the alkalinity is within 8.3-9.3 at all times.
Use an alkalinity test kit to measure the level. Checking for alkalinity is checking for the pH.
If the alkalinity is below the stated range, we need to increase it by adding baking soda. Other relevant products from pet shops also work.
Add about 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the tank and wait for a day.
If the alkalinity is higher than the range, we can reduce it in many ways. The easiest way is by adding low mineral water to the tank and diluting the solution.
After that, check the salinity by using relevant test kits. The optimum range for salinity is 1.024-1.026.
Calcium should be within 390-430. Using the best calcium test kit can come in handy to measure the level.
Then we can just add supplements if calcium is in low quantity. Or we can use calcium removers when it is in high amounts.
The most optimum level for Magnesium is 1300. Get a test kit to measure it. And add supplements to reach the optimum level of magnesium. Or use magnesium remover if otherwise.
Factor 2 of 2: Lighting
Lighting should not be too intense or too low. We can understand that the light is bothering the torch coral by just looking at it.
Sometimes, the coral may be awkwardly bending more towards the light. That’s when it is not getting enough light. Hence, it tries more to reach the light.
If the coral seems to be shrinking away from the light source, the intensity is too high.
The usage of good-quality t5 bulbs helps solve the problem a great deal. It also enhances the growth of the corals.
Factor 3 of 3: Water Quality
To keep the water quality in check, keep the phosphate and nitrate levels constant.
A healthy water tank should have its phosphate level at 0.03 and nitrate level at 10.
Check the phosphate levels using a test kit. There are many phosphate test kits in the market that work best. So you will get a wide collection to choose from.
There are also some nitrate test kits specifically to check the nitrate levels.
Just bring those home and check using the test kits. And lower or higher them as per the optimum level for a healthy tank.
When the phosphate level is too low, add supplementary phosphates to compensate for it. It works the same way for nitrates as well. Add supplementary nitrates when the level gets too low.
Besides these, there are pro tips for maintaining water quality. Our hands may contain potential contaminants such as lotion, oil, soap, etc.
At such times, we should not bring our hands into the tank water. Don’t use insecticides in the tank or even near it.
Besides that, we could also lower phosphate levels with the help of some of the best phosphate removers.
Factor 4 of 4: Pest Control
Carry out pest or fungal control to prevent infection in the water tank. Germs are everywhere, so they can attack anytime.
They breed even better in water tanks. Dipping the coral in iodine would help in this case. But make sure not to do any dips other than the iodine one.
Keep your aquarium pest-free and healthy!
FAQs
Question: Is my torch coral dead?
Answer: Even if a torch coral has a single polyp left, it is not dead. It may revive its polyps and come back to life at any time.
So don’t lose hope, please. Hang in there. The coral may or may not revive. However, don’t hang onto it if it shows symptoms of brown jelly syndrome.
Question: Is torch coral easy to keep?
Answer: Torch corals are also long polyp stony or LPS corals. They are considered beginner kinds of corals.
They are not that difficult to maintain. Just keep the water parameters right at all times.
Maintain a healthy water tank for the healthy life of the torch coral. And you’d be good.
However, keeping water parameters constant every day does require a constant level of effort.
Question: Do torch corals need to be fed?
Answer: Feeding them would not cause any problems. However, they go fine without food as well. So we don’t need to stress too much about feeding them.
We have the flexibility to do as we like. However, if you feed them, get the right kind of food.
Conclusion
So, the only key to having healthy torch corals is a healthy water tank. However, they also get caught with diseases sometimes which are out of our control.
But we hope you are now all set to save your torch coral dying!