Bubble Coral Help

[WeirdBeard]

I recently "inherited" this tank. When I did, the entire coral looked terrible, with each head/mouth receded. Over time I got the coral to look quite a bit healthier, with maximum inflation and flesh seeming to expand on the skeleton. Until this morning all the heads looked like the two inflated ones in the background.
Suddenly, since yesterday the front head/mouth looks like it has severe damage. It looks like it is torn or ripped and separating near the mouth in the very center of the head. You can see the part of the area I'm talking about just to the left of the mouth.

This is some major and unexpected tissue damage. What do you think is happening?

I have a Tilefish that ate some acans, but it seems odd that he would eat it from the center first, but it could be him.
Or maybe sand from a careless water-change vacuum job? Or maybe the coral tried to eat a little hermit crab or something?

I don't know much about how Bubble corals grow. I suppose it's too much to hope that this is part of some splitting growth process.

 

[MoshJosh]

I'm not sure I am seeing the rip/tissue damage you are describing, that said, that particular head looks quite unhappy. Could definitely be caused by a fish with a taste for LPS or an injury from a vacuum, though not sure that would be my first assumption/it is hard to say without knowing your parameters. Also, have you make any changes to the tank recently?

Good news is these corals seem to be pretty resilient so it can probably recover.

 

[WeirdBeard]

I'm not sure I am seeing the rip/tissue damage you are describing, that said, that particular head looks quite unhappy. Could definitely be caused by a fish with a taste for LPS or an injury from a vacuum, though not sure that would be my first assumption/it is hard to say without knowing your parameters. Also, have you make any changes to the tank recently?

Good news is these corals seem to be pretty resilient so it can probably recover.

"Changes recently" is the understatement of the century. Totally neglected tank that was moved and set back up at my place about 6 weeks ago. Lots of hardware was missing or broken. No tank flow except for return pumps. Inadequate lighting. Water changes only once every couple months, etc. So, not only was it all torn down and put back, but I've been adding lighting and slowly ramping it up, adding flow, more frequent small water changes, some light dosing, etc. etc. Everything is changing. Which had, up to this point, turned the coral around, or so I thought.

 

[MoshJosh]

"Changes recently" is the understatement of the century. Totally neglected tank that was moved and set back up at my place about 6 weeks ago. Lots of hardware was missing or broken. No tank flow except for return pumps. Inadequate lighting. Water changes only once every couple months, etc. So, not only was it all torn down and put back, but I've been adding lighting and slowly ramping it up, adding flow, more frequent small water changes, some light dosing, etc. etc. Everything is changing. Which had, up to this point, turned the coral around, or so I thought.

Well it sounds like you are doing a lot of good, especially considering you saw the corals bounce back, that said, it is always a balancing act and it is always easy to go to far in either direction. What are your current parameters? What are you dosing? Lighting?

 

[WeirdBeard]

Well it sounds like you are doing a lot of good, especially considering you saw the corals bounce back, that said, it is always a balancing act and it is always easy to go to far in either direction. What are your current parameters? What are you dosing? Lighting?

Sorry for the very late reply.
I was target feeding/dosing it a mix of Brightwell Restor, Vitamarin C, and Reef Roids.
I hadn't tested PO/NI recently, but it's always stable (but detectable) when I test for it.
dkH 9, Calc 400 (a little low).

But...I'm reporting back to say that almost immediately after I posted before it started forming the 2nd head. I believe it actually was splitting on purpose and just separating. And I think it's about to do it again on the back right. I think it's just part of the process of retaking it's previous retreated skeleton real estate.