Myka
Reefing since '93
My Bubble Coral has two "lobes" to it. You can see the Bubble in question in my avatar and you can kind of make out the two lobes. That photo was taken when the Bubble was looking real good. Both of the lobes haven't been looking as good as they looked last month; the Bubbles aren't as big and they aren't as tightly packed. Half the bubbles on one of the lobes have not been opening at all and have been hanging like deflated little sacs.
Lastnight I pulled the coral out to take a closer look and discovered that the lobe which some of the bubbles weren't opening at all has receded badly. The flesh was all falling apart and there was a bit of a cavity under the flesh which had a bunch of blackened flesh and sand in it. I decided to frag the lobes off eachother, which was really easy to do. I then blasted the heck out of the receded lobe with a turkey baster and blew all the loose flesh and sand out of the cavity (stupidly I did this IN the display tank...). This left the receded lobe with about 50% flesh.
This morning the "good" lobe looks fantastic and back to its normal bubbly self. The receded lobe looks WAAAY better. The bubbles are about 90% expanded where the flesh is still on.
Is there anything else I can do to help the receded lobe? Why did this happen? Was it because too much sand was sitting in the coral? Do I need to gently turkey baste them every once in a while in the evening to blow any sand off them?
Water params are all good. Lighting is T5s and the Bubbles are on the sand about 15" away from the lights. I read that Bubbles aren't too picky about lighting...?
Lastnight I pulled the coral out to take a closer look and discovered that the lobe which some of the bubbles weren't opening at all has receded badly. The flesh was all falling apart and there was a bit of a cavity under the flesh which had a bunch of blackened flesh and sand in it. I decided to frag the lobes off eachother, which was really easy to do. I then blasted the heck out of the receded lobe with a turkey baster and blew all the loose flesh and sand out of the cavity (stupidly I did this IN the display tank...). This left the receded lobe with about 50% flesh.
This morning the "good" lobe looks fantastic and back to its normal bubbly self. The receded lobe looks WAAAY better. The bubbles are about 90% expanded where the flesh is still on.
Is there anything else I can do to help the receded lobe? Why did this happen? Was it because too much sand was sitting in the coral? Do I need to gently turkey baste them every once in a while in the evening to blow any sand off them?
Water params are all good. Lighting is T5s and the Bubbles are on the sand about 15" away from the lights. I read that Bubbles aren't too picky about lighting...?