Inflated plate coral

[gaboon]

Is this normal for plates to inflate like this?

The exposed skeleton is courtesy of my clowns. It's been in my sump for the last few weeks and has fed.

 

[viper357]

I have no idea but it does look a bit abnormal.

 

[Warr7207]

I have no idea but it does look a bit abnormal.

A bit abnormal, that a little under-stated

 

[Mekaeel]

has he always been like this after being moved to the sump?but defniatley looking a bit off beat

 

[lanzo]

gaga, throw that out, it looks like it can nuke your tank dude.........run away:leaving:

just joking
very very very strange

 

[jacquesb]

No gaboon - it is definitely NOT normal. BUT, since we don't know so much about these wonderful creatures in any ways - please check this coral as much as you can, and document with pics, as much as you can.... That we can see what happens. It could possibly be that the coral is preparing for some event? Perhaps preparing for e.g. releasing sperm or something other strange happening?

 

[lanzo]

more pics please

 

[gaboon]

It did the same thing last night, not as big though. Goes back to normal after 2 hours or so. Could it be from the damage done by the clowns?

 

[jacquesb]

No gaboon - not likely...

 

[Alfie]

Plate corals die with wedge shaped blocks like that and that is an indication that that plate is dying. I doubt if their is enough flow and light in your sump to justify keeping the plate there and it will surely die. Clowns trying to nest it it will not cause damage like that. Give it good light and moderate flow, feed regularly and get it to recover.

 

[gaz19]

you could build a cage out of egg crate

 

[Mike]

LPS do inflate to expel old water from their system, but i think Alfie is right, there is insufficient flow/light in a sump to keep it housed, move it back to the display tank, the clowns would have probably forgotten about it by now.

 

[amalick]

Mine just puffed up the same way

 

[leslie hempel]

has this not got mething to do with the strange lunar activity we are experiencing at the moment? just a thought..

 

[amalick]

Wo thats deep! - I guess anythings possible. He has returned to normal just as fast as he puffed up. So i'm not too worried.

 

[Alan]

Plates do puff up like that from time to time, as Mike says thay kind of flushing the system and is actually a good sign.

 

[mantisfreak]

Heliofungia actiniformis (long-tentacled plate coral) will indeed puff up like this.

Interesting factoid.....it's the only known coral that can "walk". By controlling where they puff up, and when, they can move across your tank.

The polyp of Heliofungia has the ability to swell dramatically with water, a feature that enables it literally to walk across the substrate, or turn itself back over if it is overturned. This feature also enables the coral to escape from being buried by sediment that may settle on it during stormy weather conditions, and it allows the coral to live and remain on top of soft bottom habitats where other corals would simply sink into the mud and suffocate (Hoeksema,1988).

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2003/invert.htm