Bubble coral all of a sudden unhappy

[Ribo15]

Hey guys, looking for some insight here. I have a reef that’s been running for about 2 years now. It has its ups and downs but one thing that’s been with me through it all is my huge bubble coral. When inflated fully it’s about 10” across. For the last 2 days it has been gaping like crazy and deflated to almost nothing. My parameters haven’t changed enough to cause this. No new additions. Nothing I can see on it that looks like a disease. No fish or inverts bothering it. It did expel some waste yesterday but is still flat today. It’s been 3 days I think. I’m wondering if anyone has had a bubble coral do this for no apparent reason and then spring back to life or should I be very concerned? Or could this be a very lengthy water change it’s going through?

 

[MnFish1]

1. It could be a lengthy change
2. Its hard to say - since we cant see the 'before pictures'.
3. You said the parameters didnt change 'enough' to make a difference. What changed?
4, What does 'expelling waste mean'?

 

[Ribo15]

I don’t have a recent picture this one is about a year old. But it’s only grown since then. My phosphate dropped down from 0.04 to 0.01 on my Hanna checker. It took a “poop” when they expel that brown stuff.

 

[attiland]

I don’t have a recent picture this one is about a year old. But it’s only grown since then. My phosphate dropped down from 0.04 to 0.01 on my Hanna checker. It took a “poop” when they expel that brown stuff.

This is a big change for phosphate. 0.01 is just not enough for some LPS while 0.04 is kind of low end. This is just based on my experience not with the same LPS

 

[Ribo15]

Well I dumped some mysis unrinsed, reef roids and pellets. Time to get that PO4 up I guess!

 

[HuduVudu]

Well I dumped some mysis unrinsed, reef roids and pellets. Time to get that PO4 up I guess!

Do you feed it directly?

 

[Ribo15]

Sometimes I do yeah not very often though. I’ll give it some mysis with my feeding tongs but maybe once a month or so.

 

[HuduVudu]

Sometimes I do yeah not very often though. I’ll give it some mysis with my feeding tongs but maybe once a month or so.

IME LPS need to fed regularly. Everyone says you don't need to but after a time you will have problems. How long that time is depends on your tank, but it seems always they start to fail if you don't get them fed.

Because that coral is weak, you need to babysit it and make sure that it takes the food all the way in. It could take quite some time just be patient.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Mine deflates occasionally. They are very picky when it comes to water flow and lighting which should be moderate. Other causes will be:

Increase in Phos
low calcium
High Mag
Low salinity
temperature too warm
Inadequate light intensity will decrease the production of zooxanthellae which they depend on for energy

 

[Poriferabob]

What was the outcome here? I have a green bubble that is doing the same thing.