Bubble Coral Emergency

[Straydum]

i just got back to find my bubble in the worst state. the bubbles are all shriveled and there's a couple of brown strings attached too. i searched online to find that they are expelling their zooxanthellae but in cases as such the bubbles should still be inflated but mine's not. the skeleton is completely visible too.

all the other corals are fine and opened. the hammer, zoos, mushroom etc.

help!

 

[rabbut]

Mine was (and still is this morning) doing this also. It's usualy down to water quality. Can you give stats for;

Magnesium
Calsium
Alkalinity (KH)
pH
Ammonia
NitrIte
NitrAte

please. Is it in an area of high flow, or low flow? Is it getting enough light?

Finally, are you having any algea blooms ATM?

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Straydum]

magnesium: -
calsium: -
alkalinity (KH): ~300ppm
pH: 8.3
ammonia: 0.0ppm
nitrite: 0.0ppm
nitrate ~20ppm

i haven't got test kits for the first two at the moment. flow is low, the bubbles when inflated are swaying a little every now and then. it's the second highest after my hammer coral in placement. nope no algae blooms.

my heart stopped for a second just now but it seems better already. phew. the bubbles are coming back up this picture shows half and hour after i turned off the lights during the crisis moment and after turning it on again for around a minute or two.

compared to when it was totally deflated just now. i was too in panic to take a picture.

thanks for the quick reply rabbut!

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Yeah most likely its ok. Mine expelled a lot of zooxanthellae when I first got it and wasnt as inflated as it normally is (though it wasnt completely closed either).

 

[Straydum]

should have gotten a picture of it. it almost looked dead to me. now its tentacles are all over the place cheers guys

 

[Crazy fishes]

Many corals do this type of thing soon after transferring to a new tank; I think all my LPS except the fungia did this when I first got them. Like you I also thought death was imminent, but how wrong we are. They are ridding themselves of the non-beneficial zooxanthelle to expand the useful subtype/Clades. It is really scary to watch but very interesting once you reaslise the coral isn't going to die. Keep an eye on all the corals as they are the sensors of water chemistry and will tell you early when things are going wrong.

Hope this helps with a little explanation. The other guys were on the money nothing to worry about.

Regards

 

[Straydum]

It is really scary to watch but very interesting once you reaslise the coral isn't going to die.

very true indeed. the salty side is so much fun thankfully my other corals didn't do this at the same time or i would have fainted

 

[SkiFletch]

Heh, good explaination there by CF. Just to add, its most often a change in lighting which yields this zooxanthellae expulsion response. As mentinoed, common with new LPS, or when you change lamps