Forever blowing bubbles....

[laserted]

My bubble coral (Plerogyra sinuosa) has well, jumped. Right off it's skeleton. The polyps seem to be doing fine. I placed it on an old brain coral skeleton and it's bubbled over, and eating, tentacles expanding and all. It doesn't seem to "want" to sit in its old skeleton, either. Are there any recomendations at this point? Will it reattach itself to something? Would this be a good time to frag it (if so, how?) - it's still small - only about 3" across when puffed up.

Thanks for any advice,

Ted.

 

[Len]

There are a few possibilities that the coral detached from its skeleton. Lately, I've been hearing reports of a small shrimp that actually induces some stony corals to detach from their base. There are other possible causative organisms such as bacteria, algae, protozoan, etc., or it could be detaching due to inorganic agents (something in the water or lack thereof). Could also be a location and/or reproductive response. In other words, it's hard to diagnose.

I would keep the Bubble in a secure location, away from intense water movement, and hopefully it'll lay down a new base. Make sure the water parameters are fine (alk, ca, and pH in particular), and you may consider dosing iodine regularly for a while (not sure if this will do anything, but it's been historically suggested).

And no, it is not a good time to frag it. Plerogyra sp are hard to frag in the first place, and it's not a good idea to induce additional stress on a (presumably) already stressed coral.

HTH.