Gonipora condition question

[TXLewis]

The picture below makes it very hard to see what I see with the benefit of 3D depth. Best I can describe it, there appears to be a hole in the skeleton. I'm not sure what is in the hole but there is something. I've seen dead/dying Gonipora before and where the unmolested skeleton has lost its tissue. This hole has a different shape. It could be three or four holes but it does appear that they join just below the surface. The tissue around the margin of this hole shows no signs of any brown jelly or other nastiness. I just noticed this so I can't comment on the progression of this.

I took this about an hour after dark. During the day, the polyps are extended - at their max (which is most of the day) about 2". I think I have noticed that when they first start extending, some of the surrounding polyps turn at 180 degree bends to make contact with this area.

I've only had this one about a month. In a previous tank I kept one alive for about 14 months prior to selling the tank. I'm trying to duplicate what I did that I think helped (feeding, water movement, placement, etc.) but obviously its too early to tell.

Any idea what might be going on here?

 

[EricHugo]

Is it round..it kind of looks disk shaped..if so, perhaps detritus fell in there?

 

[TXLewis]

It does seem disk shaped vs. pentagonal. Hard to tell for sure now since the polyps are semi-extended again. I did notice a polyp inside the margin of the area (where in the above picture there does not appear to be any tissue).

Could easily be detritus in there. Some small pods (maybe why it's trying to get at them)?

P.S. Just finished your Aquarium Corals book - read it nearly cover to cover. Nice work.

 

[EricHugo]

Thanks. Keep the area well flushed and see if you see a positive response.

 

[TXLewis]

Here's an updated picture. It was suggested in a private message that a) the criss-crossing of polyps when opened was a reaction by the animal to protect the injured area and b) that the brown material filling in the corallites is secreted by the animal to possibly facilitate overgrowing the area. This also appears to be happening. This photo (also taken at night) shows the polyps a bit more inflated - but you can see the beginnings of overgrowth.

So I guess I'm less concerned about this particular injury - and will keep this thread updated as this one hopefully heals itself. If I can grab a picture of the criss-crossed polyps I'll try - but the fully-extended ones usually obscure it too well.

 

[TXLewis]

Managed to get a picture of the goni where you can sort-of see the cris-crossed polyps protecting the injured area.

 

[EricHugo]

Looks like its doing well, and that pattern may possibly be a self-healing response. Dunno, but looks great.

 

[John Kelly]

Excellent pics TX. Other than the damaged area, your goni appears healthy. It will be interesting to see it's progression.

Here are some pics of my own specimen for reference:

8-11-05 The coral has obviously been abraded or scraped in areas on the side. There is an interesting thick material covering the skeketon. It doesn't appear to be like regular tissue, but doesn't appear to be foreign to the goni either. Maybe to protect the skeleton and fight against infection/algae build up? Pre-tissue stuff? Dermal layer?
I originally thought about flushing this stuff out, but after inspecting it closely I decided that it belonged there.

8-12-05 Polyps extended and criss-crossed to protect/cover the wound. The mouths/tentacles are often on the wound area. The criss-crossed polyps are a sign that the coral is wounded.....I haven't seen this behavior occur with specimens that were receding, just wounded.

8-23-05 The smaller scraped areas have healed over (single arrow). The main wound has lighter tissue growth surrounding it and the gunk inside keeps sand and other unwanted particles out. The double arrow shows the leading edge of new tissue growth around the perimeter of the coral. Specimens that are receding have no "leading edge" of tissue. The tissue just kind of blends with the skeleton and looks thin.

09-01-05 The arrows point to all of the new polyps forming. The wound is healing and expelling the stuff inside.

10-03-05 This photo is true to color; notice the difference between the first photo in the series and this one
I'm interested to see how the wound is going to close itself.

The coral's main diet is mashed frozen cyclopeeze, but I occasionally add in other foods such as finely shaven raw shrimp, oyster eggs, a drop of cod liver oil, freeze dried copepods, and concentrated zooplankton (rotifers). I have never fed it phytoplankton.

:thumbsup:

John

 

[TXLewis]

Update

Update

Update on the coral. No reduction in the size of the affected area from the first picture - if anything it's gotten slightly larger. But there is no sign of tissue recession around the area - no sign of brown jelly or anything.

However, for about a month now, the coral hasn't extended the polyps in the same way as before. Where before I would get long (2"+ extension) with delicate tentacles at the end, now I have shorter extension and more swollen tentacles. See the picture below. I have noticed a couple of Planaria on the animal when it closes up right after the lights go out - I wonder if they are irritating it in some way.

Also it has at least two and possibly three buds that I would guess are within 2-3 months of "birthing." I've got mixed feelings about this. It could be reproducing because it thinks its end is near. Or it could be healthy. Plus the current polyp condition could be related to reproducing - the first appearance of buds was at the same time the different polyp extension began.

 

[John Kelly]

-Do the polyps still criss-cross over the wound area?
-Is there any type of algae growing in/on the wound area?
-Are you feeding the coral on a regular basis, several times a week?
-Does the coral remain extended like in the picture all day long or does it come out in the morning for a few hours or half the day and then remain retracted for the rest of the day/evening?
-Are there any clownfish pestering it?
-What kind of lighting do you have it under?

I've seen two different types of flatworms on Goniopora, but neither one seemed to be doing any harm. If you give your coral a quick iodine dip or even a freshwater dip (1 or 2 minutes?) they will come off.

 

[TXLewis]

HI John. The polyps remain out all day. Extension varies from about 3/4" to close to 2" at some times. I do feed it (it seems to respond to Cyclopeeze and IPSF's Coral Heaven product) a couple of times a week. However my cleaner shrimp inevitibly go in for some low hanging fruit which causes the polyps to retract. It's a game trying to feed the cleaners first so they aren't so aggressive then feed the coral while chasing away the cleaners.

I have three 250W HQIs about 6" above the water. The Goni sits on the substrate about 24" below the water surface. The center light (directly above the Goni) is a 10K and the two on either side are 14Ks.

The polyps still do criss-cross the affected area - it's harder to see this the way they are currently expanding. There is nothing evident in the wound area - no algae, no brown stuff filling it in - nothing.

My clowns don't go near it.

 

[John Kelly]

pm sent