My Duncan Is Possessed!

Marco S · Jul 9, 2019

I feed my corals BRS Reef Chile and Reef-Roids about twice a week. The consistency seems to be very small particles and all the corals seem to like it. This morning I noticed one of my Duncan frags had it's mouth completely wide open and it looked like a little bug was coming out. After a closer look, it was not a bug, but a chunk of something, (food maybe) and there were a couple that came out. They seemed to be attached to a long hair like thing and then the water flow finally carried them away.

At first glance I thought maybe the coral was throwing up, but the objects that came out were bigger than any of the pieces of food I feed. I have attached a couple pics below...

What the heck is going on? Is this normal or should I be worried? The mouth looks like it has closed up almost completely now, but that was like some Sci-Fi movie.

rogersb · Jul 9, 2019

They eat and poop out of the same hole. The stringy hairy part of your explanation sounds just like poop.

Alex's Nano Reef · Jul 9, 2019

poop? try a smaller amount of a meatier food tho i have had good duncan growth on my first tank with a little mysis and coral frenzy mixed.

Marco S · Jul 10, 2019

rogersb said:
They eat and poop out of the same hole. The stringy hairy part of your explanation sounds just like poop.

I never really thought of that...I just figured their waste was liquid or gas and not solid. I have searched all over to find actually proof of this, (not that I didn't believe you ;)) and finally found the following on the National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administrations, (NOAA) Ocean Service Education site:

"Food enters the stomach through the mouth. After the food is consumed, waste products are expelled through the same opening (Barnes, R.D., 1987; Levinton, 1995)."

I guess you were correct. :)

Marco S · Jul 10, 2019

Alex's Nano Reef said:
poop? try a smaller amount of a meatier food tho i have had good duncan growth on my first tank with a little mysis and coral frenzy mixed.

I will once they get to my DT, but they are all in a QT tank at the moment and it does not have a skimmer. I am doing weekly, (well I try to) water changes to control excess nutrients so I am trying not to feed too much for now. Thanks for the advice though.