New head or Pest?

[liddojunior]

I have this Duncan coral that has been forming bulges. And overnight they have cracked open/caved in.
I don’t know if this is how Duncans grow new heads or it’s some sort of burrowing pest.
the brown tissue within the cracks doesn’t give much confidence

 

[sfin52]

I have this Duncan coral that has been forming bulges. And overnight they have cracked open/caved in.
I don’t know if this is how Duncans grow new heads or it’s some sort of burrowing pest.
the brown tissue within the cracks doesn’t give much confidence

New head

 

[resortez]

I would lean more towards a burrowing critter.

 

[liddojunior]

New head

So I added an extra image. There seems to be a translucent yellow tentacle coming out of one of the cracks. Is that expected or like a nudibranch?

 

[resortez]

It kind of looks like there used to be a polyp in the middle of the second pic. In all honesty it’s hard to tell at that stage. In my experience with Duncans, new polyp formation is closer to the top edge of an older developed polyp, if that makes sense. I always would see new polyps form right underneath the skirt of mature polyps but that’s my experience.

 

[liddojunior]

It kind of looks like there used to be a polyp in the middle of the second pic. In all honesty it’s hard to tell at that stage. In my experience with Duncans, new polyp formation is closer to the top edge of an older developed polyp, if that makes sense. I always would see new polyps form right underneath the skirt of mature polyps but that’s my experience.

Yeah I’m not sure but mostly concerned the hole and crack are not good signs! I really like this coral. Has huge heads and vibrant green face

 

[nothing_fancy]

Yeah I’m not sure but mostly concerned the hole and crack are not good signs! I really like this coral. Has huge heads and vibrant green face

That's interesting. Maybe dip it and see if something falls out, Id be interested in seeing what comes out of that.

 

[resortez]

I wouldn’t be too concerned. The amount of flesh surrounding the skeletal structure tell me that the coral is in great health. I would be concerned if the flesh would be receding & exposing the white of the structure, that would tell me the coral definitely doesn’t like something.

 

[liddojunior]

That's interesting. Maybe dip it and see if something falls out, Id be interested in seeing what comes out of that.

So I did that. Brown gunk came out and now it just looks like clean skeleton flesh.
It looked like coral poop. Nothing living look like it came out