can a "dead" bubble coral regenerate?

[pohtr]

My bubble coral has been not well this year and I've been struggling with correcting the problem. I finally resorted to a freshwater iodine dip but when I did that , holding the coral by the hard skeletan part and moving him gently in the water, he fell apart. I assumed he is officially dead. After being depressed for a while I got to studying his remaining skeletan, which is back in the main tank. There are tiny little white balls and other strange tissue looking pieces. He does not look rotten and he has no smell.
Is he totally dead?
Would a new bubble life begin from tiny ball clumps?
And in any case, where does new bubble life usually start anyway?
All opinions are greatly appreciated.
I'll have a pic as soon as I finish figuring out how to do it (gotta get this posted before I get bumped offline again...)

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

it sounds like your Plerogyra might still be alive. Get it into the proper environmental conditions and it can "come back to life".

FWIW "Bubble" coral is considered a large polyp stony (LPS) coral.

 

[pohtr]

I sure hope this worked (getting the pic here)

 

[pohtr]

well, I failed at it the first time, I'll try again. At least it's in the photo gallery if this fails too.

 

[Jamokie01]

Never discard corals that you think are dead unless theyre detrimental to your water quality. Corals, especially LPS, occaisonally regenerate or produce offspring when under great stress. If not, they just add to your existing live rock.

 

[fsn77]

Looks like there's something going on there...
I'd give it some more time and see what happens, as long as it isn't causing any water quality problems.

 

[pohtr]

Thank you for the hopeful opinions! I study him constantly with the magnifying glass. I will definitely keep you posted.

 

[pohtr]

Most of the little round fleshy parts have dissappeared. SIGH. But I am still keeping the magnifying glass on him!

 

[atzak]

I had a green bubble coral years ago fall onto a heater and turn to mush. I left it in and a couple months later 2 spots of life started, now I have 2 nice colonies.

 

[pohtr]

Oh, thank you, thank you, just for the HOPE!

 

[pohtr]

UPDATE:

It looks like he is regenerating!!!!! What do you think?

 

[beansandmia]

Looks like it to me, I wish mine had done that..lol

 

[BadFishToo]

Something sort of the same happened to me. I used to work at a LFS and there was a bubble coral "skeleton" in a LR tank. I grabbed it along with a few other small chunks for a 10 gallon tank. To my surprise like a month later I noticed tiny bubbles on it! It was growing back! This after sitting in a LR curing tank for at least a week with no light or circulation. It didnt have any tissue on it either. So good luck!

 

[pohtr]

Thank you very much. I am so excited!!! I feel like there's a new "baby" in the famaily or something. Any suggestions on helping it? You know, baby bubble formula or something?
Under optimum conditions (which of course I strive for, so far unsuccessfully), how fast can a bubble grow?

 

[gws3]

I had one that suffered from being moved into a new set up. Very bleached and shrunken. It has recovered, but very slowly. Feeding it will help in recovery it it accepts the food.

 

[clockwurk]

This is happening to me too...bought the thing as LR rubble, and it stated grwoing from nothing

 

[pohtr]

The little bubble is so small I wouldn't know how to spot feed it something solid. I squirted some phytoplex at it. Will that work?