hi there i havent been on the site for a while due to being in hospital but anyway i bought a torch coral a few weeks ago and it was doing great in my tank. When i woke up yesterday it looked as if had started to rot and was covered in brown gunge. My last night it had totally desintegrated and when i took it out the smell was awful. I tested the water last night and again this morning and it is fine. Does anyone know what could have happened. My clowns also quite liked it and often swam through it but I have read that they can usually withstand this. Any help would be great thanks!

The brown gunge you describe sounds like 'brown jelly'. Has the salinity drastically changed or have you changed the flow patterns or the amount of flow in the tank (eg powerheads blasting right on the coral) or has the lighting been changed? Being in hospital, i doubt it is anything to do with your equipment but has the tank been regularly topped up due to evaporation. If it hasnt, the salinity maybe have climbed to much.
If it is neither of the above, i dont know what to suggest over than the clowns may have beeen aggravating it too much (ive had torches die in the past aswell as Gonioporas due to clowns).
Glad to hear your well btw

i read they can "melt" if certain nutrients aren't available. Fish can tolerate this but corals/inverts have a harder time.
I know you've been ill, but have you been able to keep up w/normal water changes? That replaces nutrients that are used up by the inhabitants.

Yup, that sounds like 'brown jelly' to me. Its technically a self-killing immune response related to either infection OR stress. Sadly torch corals are prone to brown jelly especially if they are in water of low light, poor flow, or bad chemistry. Any one of these troubles can often set off a brown jelly infection lik you describe. Sorry for your loss

thanks for the replies. I have been in crutches for 5 weeks so it has been hard to keep up with my tank although my husband has been doing his best under my watchful eye Tank has been kept topped up regularly and lighting is 2 250w halides and water chemistry is fine. I do wonder if the water flow was to strong though as it was near one of my powerheads. i really liked this coral and was pretty gutted when it died. My clowns have now taken place in my hammer coral hope they dont kill it. I have also noticed that my clown has been swimming about with his mouth constantly open and it is as if he is sucking on things like coral etc a bit like a freshwater plec. I have had them for 5 years and he has never done this before. Any ideas? Thanks again!

Its a hosting behavior. Nobody really knows why they do this, but especially when searching for a new host, they grab things with their mouths. The theories out there are that the clownfish are trying to get the potential host used to their touch in some biochemical manner, but nobody's ever proved that.

that is really interesting. I was a little bit worried he was sick or something. it makes sense though as he has only started doing it since my torch coral died. I had an anemone years ago with a pair of clowns i had him for about 7 years and have thought lately about getting another one. Maybe this will make my clowns a litle happier and leave my corals alone. Thanks for all your help!