frogspawn polyp bailout????

[alliecat]

Hi- I have 2 heads of multicolored frogspawn i got from a friend and have had them for about 6 months or so, perfectly healthy (as with the rest of my corals) i had to move them somewhat under a powerhead (about 9 inches down, but in nearly direct current) because i had to rearrange to make room for some acans. for the past couple days they seemed perfectly fine, actually they looked happy to have the increased flow. this morning they were fine and then i came home about 20 minutes ago and half of the flesh looks like it is ripped off one of the heads!!!! the other one is totally normal, and honestly the tissue looks normal on the one thats coming off!! is this polyp bailout? im thinking one of the heads maybe didnt like the flow (because they were in a mid-low flow zone before)? I broke the stalk off and moved it to another low flow zone where the stalk is laying on a rock and the bottom of the polyp is perpendicular to the rock so it should be able to just attach to the rock (if thats whats going on). Has anyone had this happen???? what is the survival rate???

 

[alliecat]

 

[Dtech07]

You can take them out the tank, dry them on their bottom and glue them to a frag plug. They will do this for several reasons some are:
To high of flow
Not enough light
Just want to move
Ect........
I had on once and 10 of the 15 heads popped of and I reglued them and all of them survived and grew nicely (I had a lot of frags for sell then). Hope this helped.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[alliecat]

Good idea! The only thing is the polyp is only halfway off... I don't want to damage it further... Should I wait?

 

[Dtech07]

If you have some bone cutters cut a half inch below the flesh (ensures you done crack the skeleton in the freshly area) the dry base and glue. They'll look really small and dying but once reglued and mounted they'll open right back up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[alliecat]

Took your advice... Hope it works!

 

[Dtech07]

Great just keep a eye on it and move it around if needed. They like mid flow low to mid light. Mid flow or oscillating pulse allows particulates to flow through their tentacles.
Keep us updated on the long term results.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[alliecat]

Yea generally that's how they like it in my tank anyway. Except my hammer that likes absolutely no flow at all. I moved this frag near the hammer figure they won't bother each other anyway and it's a quieter area of the tank. They were in another lower flow area initially and I really think moving it to a high flow spot is what made it mad. The other head doesn't seem to mind though... Will definitely keep updates!

 

[Dtech07]

It's funny how that is.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[Ninjapotamus]

I have a theory on this... keep an eye on the skeleton of the bailed out polyp. It will likely sprout numerous babies.

 

[alliecat]

Really....? I don't know if this one will when I cut the rest off the stalk it crumbled. The skeleton was very weak on these my friend got his colony off one of his friends who had a much larger colony and gave me the pieces that fell off his. There's some left but its all broken so well see

 

[alliecat]

Just checked it this morning looks like the polyp bailed from the frag plug lol I reglued it but where the mouth was there's a gaping hole... Don't think this ones gonna be viable...

 

[Dtech07]

Yah their funny like that. I had one crammed into a corner of a rock, it looked dead for the longest (2 months) but I still could see a little green. Then one day I look its all out and happy and open.
I realized that just because it looks dead doesn't mean it is.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[alliecat]

Yea it's still somewhat open maybe it will be ok

 

[Dtech07]

It's their slim coat that makes it pop off from the glue.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[alliecat]

Yea it's like trying to glue down a mushroom lol I ditched the frag plug idea and did what I do with mushrooms- found a little crevice in a rock in a low flow area and put it there. Hopefully it will attach. It's still alive. Do you think I should increase my calcium levels for the skeleton to grow? I never dose/monitor my calcium I usually just add kent trace elements once a week and haven't had an issue with any other growth and my coralline has been taking off. Wondering if I should supplements calcium separately on this occasion though...

 

[shred5]

Yea it's like trying to glue down a mushroom lol I ditched the frag plug idea and did what I do with mushrooms- found a little crevice in a rock in a low flow area and put it there. Hopefully it will attach. It's still alive. Do you think I should increase my calcium levels for the skeleton to grow? I never dose/monitor my calcium I usually just add kent trace elements once a week and haven't had an issue with any other growth and my coralline has been taking off. Wondering if I should supplements calcium separately on this occasion though...

Only if you measure the calcium levels. You should be doing this anyway. How else do you know if it needs to be added?

At minimum you should be measuring alk and calcium levels.

 

[alliecat]

Well the trace elements only have a very small amount of calcium and I maybe add it once a week if I remember. Alkalinity I check sparingly and it's usually fine because I add buffer every other wk. If I were to dose calcium I'd test for it. I don't dose for it now because I haven't felt a need to growth is beautiful on everything and my tank has been running this way 2 yrs

 

[Dtech07]

I wouldn't increase you ALK, Ca, or Mag till you test and see what your current levels are. But increasing your over all levels just to promote skeleton growth isn't needed if your levels are where they should be already?
Check them adjust not increase then maintain those parameters. A balanced tank that doesn't go through large swings will allow for fast growth rather than large increase and decrease in your tanks parameters which will slow down coral growth overall.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[alliecat]

Alright just checking. I'm surprised this thing is still alive