had a weird experience, thought I'd share

[ShannyG]

Several weeks ago the suction cup on my powerhead let go in the night and it spent the whole night lying on top of and blowing directly into the mouth of a small leather coral. By the time I got up in the morning the mouth was torn open, probably 4x its normal size, all of the filament-type innards exposed. I think I could see the rock underneath through all the damage.
Having no idea how to help this poor coral I opted for the 'do nothing' approach. I watched it for signs of necrosis and decided I would pitch it before I let it poison the whole tank. For several days it continued to have a gaping hole in the middle of it, but its color was good and it was moving, although never fully opening.
Today, at least 2 weeks after the injury, maybe closer to a month (?) I noticed the mouth is very much looking normal again. It still doesn't close all the way and the filament-type insides are still visible, but the muscular looking structure around the rim of the mouth is regrowing in a uniform way. It's opening more than I've seen it do in weeks too.
It reminded me that these delicate looking things spend their lives being buffeted by water current, and their potential for self healing is pretty remarkable. It's one of the reasons I think a marine tank is so fascinating.

 

[gone fishin]

It really is amazing the damage they can take and recover from. I think a lot of times a hands off approach is best to give them the best chance.

BTW I hate those suction cups.

 

[shesacharmer]

Someone suggested I tie a length of fishing line to my powerhead so that if the suction cup let go the powerhead couldn't fall very far. Worth a thought.

 

[amber3k]

Had a power head fail which changed the direction of flow and ripped open the mouth of a bubble coral. A couple months later, and the bubble coral is slowly healing.

 

[reepher315]

The fishing line isnt a bad idea. I once crushed a paly trying to frag it and it fell into the tank. When I say crushed i mean flatten completely (King Kong Hands). A couple weeks later I noticed that same paly open in all its glory attatched to a rock. I was pleased.