question about my brain coral

[epleeds]

In the past few weeks, my brain coral seems to be spawning off one of its pieces....it is holding on by a little part of the coral. is this normal? if so, do i wait for it to fall off, or do i cut it so as not to lose it in the rear of my tank. And if i should cut it, what is the best way to attach to a piece of rock...

 

any help would be appreciated it.

 

i have some photos....

 

[amos]

I've had the same thing occur on my favia. For me, its happening when the coral grows over a tiny tube worm. As the tube worms grow upward to escape the coral, the coral continues to grow over it. At some point, the worm loses this battle, and the case breaks, thus causing the growth to flop over. When one broke off, I used some epoxy to secure the tiny frag to a frag square (the shown frag now has 5 mouths). As long as the frag has a mouth, it'll be ok. Hope this helps.

 

Jon

 

[DDiver]

interesting...never seen that before

[epleeds]

I've had the same thing occur on my favia. For me, its happening when the coral grows over a tiny tube worm. As the tube worms grow upward to escape the coral, the coral continues to grow over it. At some point, the worm loses this battle, and the case breaks, thus causing the growth to flop over. When one broke off, I used some epoxy to secure the tiny frag to a frag square (the shown frag now has 5 mouths). As long as the frag has a mouth, it'll be ok. Hope this helps.

 

Jon

 

 

did you cut it off, or were you able to grab it when it fell off?

[zygote2k]

This process is called "polyp bailout". It was detailed in the "Aquarium Frontiers" magazines about 10 years ago. It happens frequently with LPS. After reading about it, I witnessed it in my friends' 24" Elegance coral. It had even formed a small skeletal base before it left the mother colony.

[ctenophore]

Polyp bailout is an emergency reaction to poor conditions where the coral "bails out" from it's current location to attempt to find a better home. This is just normal growth and subsequent asexual division.

[Larry Grenier]

I looked at his tank last night. Looks healthy. I don't think he's asking what's going on but rather, how to save the frag. The piece is loose and looks like it will fall under or behind his rockwork. Would you folks recommend that he snip it and attach to a rock before it falls?

[amos]

did you cut it off, or were you able to grab it when it fell off?

 

I let mine fall off naturally, then grabbed it. It had been waving in the current like a loose tooth and then just fell off one day. I don't think it would hurt to cut the piece off, as long as it has a mouth.

 

Jon

[ctenophore]

You should be able to cut it. They can survive a tile saw; a clean cut with a razor shouldn't matter much. If there is no skeleton to glue, you might need to use plastic mesh to keep it in place on a frag plug.

[zygote2k]

Let it fall naturally- It will form a skeleton of its' own before it seperates.

Edited January 5, 2009 by zygote2k