chemical warfare

[Mike O'Brien]

I read a study but it was algae competing with coral. Could be very similar. Basically the algae was exuding DOC's which were effecting the microbes on the coral. IIRC they were starving the coral for Oxygen causing death.

I would tend to think that if corals could become immune to something like that they would have. Especially on a reef, chemical competition is an ongoing affair.

In my own experience I had one coral that started out competing against algae. In this pic, the white around the base of the coral is the area where the coral killed the algae. Eventually, I think this took it's toll on the coral and the algae started to win the battle and overgrew the coral.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I've not had any issues mixing soft and lps corals and other inverts like anemones, unless they actually touch.

I skim, use GAC and ozone and all may help keep toxic organic materials at lower levels than they otherwise would be, but I do not know if any or all of them are necessary for this purpose.

 

[garzaci]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to keep looking into this and see if I can find any examples or studies relating. Does anybody have any experiences of problems caused by their soft corals?

 

[DThompson]

I am with Randy on this. I have never had an issue unless they touch. I have never really believed the whole chemical warfare.

 

[HighlandReefer]

FWIW, chemical warfare concerning coral and other micro-organisms is real.

These searches will provide some insight regarding this:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=coral+chemical+warfare&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g1

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=coral chemical warfare&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=ws

 

[Mike O'Brien]

Sometimes a coral will reach out a few inches to consume another coral with it's mesenterials. It knows it's there because of the chemicals corals release.