Coral Hyperinflation (1 Viewer)

[ReefNoob]

No,I'm not talking about Tyree's new expensive Limited edition frag.

Take a look at my pic below :

Any ideas on what's happening to my pineapple coral?
nothing changed in my water/tank settings to initiate that behavior.

 

[tdmiata]

I don't know what it is but, it is cool looking though.

 

[goby1kanobi]

Maybe Brandon will chime in soon.
It looks like it hurts??

 

[ReefNoob]

It was a pretty bad shape coral that was covered only at a third I got for real cheap.
A year of TLC brought it back but now THAT happens.
Go figure...Waiting for the pros to chime in

 

[CBBSteve]

Hi, ReefNoob.
Why don't you post that picture in Eric Borneman's forum at Marine Depot. That might be your best bet.

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Forum9-1.aspx

good luck,
Steve

 

[AquaNerd]

few questions...

-how long have you had it?
-what are your tank's parameters?
-any corals nearby that could sting it?
-what kind of equipment (mostly lighting) are you running?
-do you feed your corals (how much, how often, and with what)?


i have a couple of possible reasons in mind...
-coral is trying to reproduce by budding/self fragmentation
-coral is not receiving enough light and has expanded to compensate
-coral has a bacterial infection

 

[ReefNoob]

Steve,that looks like a very interesting forum;I'll try my luck there too.
Thanks for the pointer.


Brandon,
great set of questions.
See answers in insert :

few questions...

-how long have you had it?
about 10 to 12 months,pretty bad shape when I got it but it's(was?) doing much better now and has almost covered back its structure

-what are your tank's parameters?
No nitrates,nitritre or ammonia.
pH 8.3,Salinity 1.023(yeah a bit low maybe)
Ca is 400mg/L
temp is constant at 81;fuge in alternate cycle with macro and monthly prunning;AquaC 180 skimmer

-any corals nearby that could sting it?
I can't imagine any corals that would extend to reach it.
-what kind of equipment (mostly lighting) are you running?
T5 4-54W, two actinics 420nm and two 18k Marine Glo (replaced my 10k with these 2 months ago)
I dose Kalk BTW
-do you feed your corals (how much, how often, and with what)?
feed corals with a dose of reef chili weekly;magnesium and strontium supplementation

i have a couple of possible reasons in mind...
-coral is trying to reproduce by budding/self fragmentation
-coral is not receiving enough light and has expanded to compensate
-coral has a bacterial infection

Thanks!

 

[tas5tas]

My hammer coral does the same thing whenever it's going through a big growth(3+ heads) stage.

 

[hank]

The picture doesn't work for me, but I have seen hyperinflation on favia and favities before. One piece that we had at the company I worked for in Omaha had been in the shop for a long time I was told, and it consistantly would be bubbled up in one small area up to about 2" above the coralite structure in maybe a 2" diameter. It was perfectly healthy and never shed any offspring like a goniopora would as Brandon suggested, though that certainly sounds like a reasonable thought. My fear was the separation of the tissue from the coralite. I actually would wonder if the tissue is not disturbed and it is indeed separated from the coralite, if it would recalcify underneath? It obviously can survive for a time because the one spicifically that I am talking about exhibited this condition the entire 6 months I worked there.

Do keep us updated on what happens with it long term!

 

[crvz]

usually that's a form of reproduction (inflates, then drops and settles elsewhere), though the reasoning behind it may not be a positive. It could be a result of just perfectly healthy specimen trying to reproduce, or it could be a result of being unhappy and trying to establish its genes in a more favorable location. Eric Borneman has studied it before, it's more common on LPS, but I've seen it on Pavona and other small polyped corals as well. I don't recall the terminology of it, but Borneman should be able to get you in the right direction.

 

[ReefNoob]

crvz and brando were definitely pointing in the right direction.

Here's the answer from Eric Borneman :
That is a really good example of coral polyp extrusion. I first discussed this at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Bali, then published in ReefKeeping, then got a peer reviewed publication for the ICRS in Okinawa and have continued documenting these on my forums over the years. Would love to add your photos to my collection. You may wind up with daughter colonies - sometimes the extrusisions calcify and detach and sometimes they are absorbed. I have documented hundreds of these - in many genera and many families - but are most common in Faviidae.

Thanks to all