what causes corals to swell?

1979fishgeek · Nov 10, 2016

Noticed my two Aussie Elegance's very puffy tonight, which is becoming a theme in the tank with a few corals.

Mushrooms, Fungia, Euphyllia, Lobo all randomly swell, my torches looks like a bubble coral tonight. They all seem to be growing and feeding but they do get puffy, not sure if this is common or not?

dakoop · Nov 10, 2016

Viagra?

bios · Nov 10, 2016

Yes it is ..
It depends from Dom, ie dissolved organic matter

1979fishgeek · Nov 10, 2016

Too much dissolved organic matter or not enough? My tank nitrates and phosphates run very low I assumed my dom was low? (Nitrate about 0.3 and phos is pretty much 0.1) I have quite a few nutrient export systems in place running ozone injected into a large skimmer, bio pellet reactor, carbon reactor, GFO reactor, Cheato in refug it allows me to feed quite heavily.

1979fishgeek · Nov 10, 2016

Also will it harm the corals?!

bios · Nov 10, 2016

Your values are perfect for a reef tank it mean that the way you feed your fishes and corals
And action of microflora and microfauna run in perfect aequilibrium

bios · Nov 10, 2016

Dom dont depends only from no3 and po4
It depends from life cycle in your tank
And no3 po4 are the result of it

1979fishgeek · Nov 10, 2016

Thanks everyone.

I do feed heavy... reefroids, LPS pellets, nori, brine shrimp, frozen foods. I have baby Bangaii in the sump so feeding them very frequently too. Cheato in with them gets halved weekly.

Found if I don't pile the food in the no3 po4 becomes undetectable and my zoa start to shrink, the Xenia will nearly disappear.

Trying to find the balance in a mixed reef is a juggling act.

dragon99 · Nov 10, 2016

I'll propose a different answer

Your corals had a visit from Hans and Franz

Nice looking tank!

rockskimmerflow · Nov 10, 2016

I'd wager it's a combination of the heavy food input and the ozone injection into the skimer. Both of which IME causes LPS to puff and expand their tissues. The lipids and aminos in the water from the food can trigger feeding response and tissue expansion. The ORP is likely quite stable and on the higher end of the normal range from the ozone and heavy aeration from your filter system. I've seen a number of LPS corals in tanks with ozone injection exhibit almost alarmingly large tissue swelling even when no food was present. Could be a pH/ORP related response.

In any case, it's definitely a good sign if they puff up and snag bits of food on a regular basis.

1979fishgeek · Nov 10, 2016

dragon99 said:
I'll propose a different answer

Your corals had a visit from Hans and Franz

Nice looking tank!

Thanks! Lol

1979fishgeek · Nov 10, 2016

rockskimmerflow said:
I'd wager it's a combination of the heavy food input and the ozone injection into the skimer. Both of which IME causes LPS to puff and expand their tissues. The lipids and aminos in the water from the food can trigger feeding response and tissue expansion. The ORP is likely quite stable and on the higher end of the normal range from the ozone and heavy aeration from your filter system. I've seen a number of LPS corals in tanks with ozone injection exhibit almost alarmingly large tissue swelling even when no food was present. Could be a pH/ORP related response.

In any case, it's definitely a good sign if they puff up and snag bits of food on a regular basis.

Phewwwww!

Thank you so much, really appreciate it.

bios · Nov 10, 2016

I've seen a number of LPS corals in tanks with ozone injection exhibit almost alarmingly large tissue swelling even when no food was present. Could be a pH/ORP related response.

Agree with you but is a different situation
When you have an high oxidation potential in a tank
Tissues of the corals are light because they need to find food and blow to find it
and that is a completely different situation from above

Salty1962 · Nov 10, 2016

Their Happy!!

Joey waid · Nov 10, 2016

When they puff up I think they are happy. My daughters tank, all her corals are always puffed up swaying.

1979fishgeek · Nov 10, 2016

They certainly good feeders, love LPS sinking pellets.

Plus the bubbleless bubbletip I bought is even getting its bubbles back!

Few more happy corals.

Ljaus · Nov 10, 2016

They are just very happy, my fungia does that often for a few hours then returns to normal.

tinoracha · May 25, 2020

I know this form is pretty old but if anyone out there cares heres my two cents:
I visited SCRIPPS last year and talked to one of the grad students doing reserch on coral response to light and he was telling me that the ammount a coral swells is direclty proportional to the light they are reviving, mostly having to do with intensity. He was showing me how soft coral will swell up much more under brighter light.