If you’re a first-time torch coral owner, don’t be surprised if a day or two after getting it, your torch suddenly looks all shriveled up and starts letting out some brown stringy/sludgy stuff. Don’t panic. A lot of new reefers think their coral is dying, but a lot of times this is actually normal.
What you’re seeing is usually the coral expelling waste, sometimes called defecation or waste expulsion. Corals will also sometimes get rid of excess mucus, trapped food, or other material they don’t want sitting inside them. It can look nasty, but it does not automatically mean something is wrong.
The best thing you can do is leave it alone and avoid messing with it. This can last anywhere from about 1 to 2 hours, and then the torch usually puffs back up like normal.
If you watch your corals closely, you may even notice they do this around the same time of day. My generic torch, for example, usually starts doing it around 4 PM and is back to normal around 5:45-ish. What’s even crazier is once one of my torches starts, sometimes the others do it too.
So yeah, if your torch looks ugly for a bit and starts putting out brown stuff, don’t instantly assume brown jelly disease. Sometimes your coral is just doing normal coral stuff and taking a dump lol.
