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Brown jelly (1 Viewer)

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mitchell77546

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I lost an octo today it was healthy and full yesterday. Does this just happen sometimes?


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webster1234

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sometimes, yes. I lose one every now and then. I try and get it asap and cut it off as it can jump to other heads if left alone too long.
 

BigRick

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Brown jelly is viral ... itll spread and kill all your euphyllia/LPS.... act fast.....
 
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mitchell77546

mitchell77546

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Brown jelly is viral ... itll spread and kill all your euphyllia/LPS.... act fast.....

I pulled it out last night as soon as I saw it. Is it in the water column now? Is there some kind of treatment I can do for the entire tank? I should have just stuck with all softies ugh this hobby can be so frustrating...


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Tstew32

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Weirdly I had this happen to a torch last night too...never seen it in my 6 years of feeding.


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webster1234

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Repost of a PM I sent to @Tstew32:

Hey there, when I see that, I usually try to take a siphon hose and suck the junk straight out of the head. That is always the best option because it can spread to other heads. I understand that you didn't know what it was in the beginning so you blasted it off and it is floating around your tank now. In my experience, as long as it doesn't land on other heads somewhere as it is blowing around, it'll probably be ok. I think it only affects other euphyllias. I have had it on a head that was in the flow pattern of my return pump and not get to it for a few days. Then see it pop up on an entirely different colony 12"-14" away a week later that was in the direct line of flow. My only conclusion was that the flow carried it from one colony to the next one. But I think it has to be physically carried there by the current. I don't think it contaminates the water per se.

Its common for that to happen, in fact I sucked the junk off of one just this morning. NO one knows why it happens. I run a UV too so who knows. Biggest thing is that you catch it early. If you have other euphyllias nearby and they are easy to remove, you could always do an iodine dip just for peace of mind. That usually saves anything that might have a potential infection on it. And after you're done with all of that, then just chop of the dead skeleton so that new stuff can expand in its place. At one time, I had a few hundred euphyllia heads of varying kinds so I'm no stranger to brown jelly.

You can also take a turkey baster and lightly blow the other heads off to make sure nothing is settling on them. It seems to me that since the heads will grab food, they will also grab any BJ particulates that happen to be floating by as well. Some extra flow on them won't hurt.
 

BigRick

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Yes most likely in the water column.... started happening a couple years ago in a lot of Indonesia corals..... Dip Dip Dip QT everything
 

BigRick

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Repost of a PM I sent to @Tstew32:

Hey there, when I see that, I usually try to take a siphon hose and suck the junk straight out of the head. That is always the best option because it can spread to other heads. I understand that you didn't know what it was in the beginning so you blasted it off and it is floating around your tank now. In my experience, as long as it doesn't land on other heads somewhere as it is blowing around, it'll probably be ok. I think it only affects other euphyllias. I have had it on a head that was in the flow pattern of my return pump and not get to it for a few days. Then see it pop up on an entirely different colony 12"-14" away a week later that was in the direct line of flow. My only conclusion was that the flow carried it from one colony to the next one. But I think it has to be physically carried there by the current. I don't think it contaminates the water per se.

Its common for that to happen, in fact I sucked the junk off of one just this morning. NO one knows why it happens. I run a UV too so who knows. Biggest thing is that you catch it early. If you have other euphyllias nearby and they are easy to remove, you could always do an iodine dip just for peace of mind. That usually saves anything that might have a potential infection on it. And after you're done with all of that, then just chop of the dead skeleton so that new stuff can expand in its place. At one time, I had a few hundred euphyllia heads of varying kinds so I'm no stranger to brown jelly.

You can also take a turkey baster and lightly blow the other heads off to make sure nothing is settling on them. It seems to me that since the heads will grab food, they will also grab any BJ particulates that happen to be floating by as well. Some extra flow on them won't hurt.
No flow, pull out infected coral with zip lock bag. Don't let any slime come off and get onto other coral. They be goners... brown jelly is a serious infectious disease i thought I was over it. Thrrew away about 25 heads candy cane and one elegance today.
 

Tstew32

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No flow, pull out infected coral with zip lock bag. Don't let any slime come off and get onto other coral. They be goners... brown jelly is a serious infectious disease i thought I was over it. Thrrew away about 25 heads candy cane and one elegance today.

Didn’t see any after I basted it all off but no idea where it may be. Didn’t see any jelly on any of my corals...


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Erin

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I did a lot of research on this several years ago and again last year.
It’s true that no one has proven a specific cause, and there may be more than one thing that causes brown jelly, but:
1. You cannot kill it by the usual means of dipping coral, although using iodide and/or some antibiotics do seem to help
* HERE is a good article suggesting that a particular bacterial family is responsible for at least some cases -read the
article and the comments that follow - very cool videos
2. It is generally accepted that it is not viral,
3. Corals become susceptible to it when injured or stressed by poor water conditions - it’s basically to euphyllia what ich is to fish,
4. The actual “brown jelly” and melting of the coral IS caused by ciliates (GOOD ARTICLE) that are probably present in most tanks,
5. As mentioned above regarding cause(s), it’s not clear whether the coral becomes infected by bacteria, etc. and the ciliates are just opportunistic, or if the ciliates themselves attack weak or injured coral. People have looked at brown jelly under a microscope and sometimes they only find paramecia and sometimes bacteria are present as well; there could be other root causes or several types of bacteria that weaken the coral but there have not been enough scientific studies to determine this.

This is not an exhaustive write up, as others (in the links above and elsewhere) have already done that work, but hopefully helps narrow down your course of action.

Edited to add: corals in low flow areas do seem more susceptible
 

webster1234

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No flow, pull out infected coral with zip lock bag. Don't let any slime come off and get onto other coral. They be goners... brown jelly is a serious infectious disease i thought I was over it. Thrrew away about 25 heads candy cane and one elegance today.
Wow, you got brown jelly on a candy cane? I've never seen that one before. I agree with getting the coral out with the least amount of material getting away. That's why I hit the infected head with the siphon. I don't even want to move it around to put it in a bag.
 

BigRick

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Wow, you got brown jelly on a candy cane? I've never seen that one before. I agree with getting the coral out with the least amount of material getting away. That's why I hit the infected head with the siphon. I don't even want to move it around to put it in a bag.
I think it came in on a scoly..... I lost a war coral the other day too.. itll attack any lps/soft coral.
 
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