Help! Sick euphyllia?

eva

eva

Large Fish
#1
Oct 18, 2006
168
0
0
burnaby, bc
#1
Hello all. I woke up this morning to find that one of my branching euphyllia hammer is not opening up fully and has a white cottony substance on it. Half of it is coming out and the other half that has the white substance on it is just staying inside the branch (? don't know what to call this).

I know this picture doesn't show very much at all, I'm having a hard time getting a clear shot of what this growth looks like but at least you can kind of see the spot that I am talking about. The circled area is where the euphyllia should be coming out from but its not :(
Euphyllia

If anyone knows what this is and how to rectify it, please let me know!
 

Last edited:
eva

eva

Large Fish
#3
Oct 18, 2006
168
0
0
burnaby, bc
#3
Slightly stringy but it more resembles the frozen mysis shrimp when you melt it down in warm aquarium water, as you are feeding it to the tank. You know how some pieces of the shrimp are bigger and may float around, that is what it looks like.

It is stuck to the head of the euphyllia and the euphyllia underneath is not coming out. All the other branches are fine and the part of that particular branch that doesn't have the white stuff on it, is coming out as it normally does. I was thinking about removing it but my dad thinks that we should leave it for now.

During feeding just now, the powerheads were off and I found a small bristleworm, I think! lol it was kinda creepy but from my understanding, it will not be harmful to my tank inhabitants?
 

1979camaro

1979camaro

Ultimate Fish
#4
Oct 22, 2002
5,862
2
0
42
San Ramon, CA
#4
bristleworm shouldn't be harmful

if you think it is just some sort of gunk caught on top of the euphyllia (as you seem to indicate in your second post) you could try using a turkey baster to gently blow it off
 

eva

eva

Large Fish
#5
Oct 18, 2006
168
0
0
burnaby, bc
#5
Okay so I took your advice and used a baster to see what would happen. Some of it came off but not very easily. I didn't use any excessive force though. However NOW its looks like stringy stuff is coming out of it. Why is this happening and is it bad?

Thanks
 

eva

eva

Large Fish
#7
Oct 18, 2006
168
0
0
burnaby, bc
#7
Oh no, that is sad. Thanks for your help camaro. What should I do, once and if it actually dies? Do I need to cut off the dead head or leave it? Do they ever regenerate?
Thanks again
 

1979camaro

1979camaro

Ultimate Fish
#10
Oct 22, 2002
5,862
2
0
42
San Ramon, CA
#10
generally once the head is dead, it is dead...no reason necessarily to cut it off or anything. i would check water parameters and see if you can determine why it is dying; i would also do frequent water changes to help it heal Iif possible) and remove any toxins it might be releasing from the water
 

eva

eva

Large Fish
#11
Oct 18, 2006
168
0
0
burnaby, bc
#11
A water change was done two days before the mysterious white stuff came about. However, I am pleased to report that it seems to be recovering quite well, and no longer appears to be dying! Yay!
 

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