Hyacinthus Behavior

[Dartolution]

So I got this glorious Red/Pink Aussie table Hyacinthus from DD about a month ago or so...
Ive noticed that whenever I feed the tank, corals or fish, or do a water change, or put my hand in the tank, or heck... just about anything this table starts slimming and exuding its filaments ... WHY?!?!?!?!?!?!

Ive never had an acro do this...

Its growing well, and has colored up brilliantly with a deep red body and metallic pink corallites and tips and has encrusted the rock its seated on in three places.

Is this a genus specific behavior or what?

 

[acrohead500ppm]

feeding response, many acropora use "mucus nets" to trap bacteria and food items, sign of good health.

Another good overall key indicator or sign or "contentment" with acropora that I rely on is nocturnal axial corallite polyp extension.

 

[Peter Eichler]

Personally I feel it's an unhealthy feeding response in corals that are starved of some nutrient. I see it get far worse in corals when my PO4 and nitrate are really low. I generally don't see it as normal or a good thing and have seen corals suffer some long term damage from extending a lot of messenterial filaments during feeding. It is not specific to any particular species in my experience, but some corals to seem more prone to it. A. tenuis seems to be one of the first that I notice in my tanks and have seen it with A. hyacinthus somewhat commonly.

If you're carbon dosing or skimming heavy you may want to rethink things and examine your nutrient levels a little more closely.

 

[xtlosx]

I have a copps red tabling hyacinthus, and it is just basing like crazy, still not a single branch... I just shoved a small frag into a crevice, and it's taking over very quickly. I really would like branches, but such is life, it's growing.

I've never seen this on my copps before, so not sure why it's doing that.

 

[Reef Bass]

Interesting observation Peter. I'm going to keep an eye open for that.

acrohead500ppm, I also use nocturnal axial coralite polyp extension as a gauge of acro happiness.

 

[acrohead500ppm]

Personally I feel it's an unhealthy feeding response in corals that are starved of some nutrient. I see it get far worse in corals when my PO4 and nitrate are really low. I generally don't see it as normal or a good thing and have seen corals suffer some long term damage from extending a lot of messenterial filaments during feeding. It is not specific to any particular species in my experience, but some corals to seem more prone to it. A. tenuis seems to be one of the first that I notice in my tanks and have seen it with A. hyacinthus somewhat commonly.

If you're carbon dosing or skimming heavy you may want to rethink things and examine your nutrient levels a little more closely.

That is interesting, I haven't really ever thought of it that way as it is a natural method of capturing food.

I guess colonies doing it excessively could be taken as "FEEEEEeeeeeeed mee Seymore!!!"

very interesting observation indeed, theory behind it is sound as well.

 

[MrDangles]

My red hyacinthus table only slimes up when I physically touch it. I'd say it's pretty hardy and grows well. I have noticed that the base will get green in lower light. Ime

 

[Nano sapiens]

@ Peter: Interesting hypothesis. Odd thing is that many Acros don't show this frequent filament extension (at least not frequently) even when hungry, but these tabling types seem to do it readily. Leads me to wonder if these need more nutrition than say your bottlebrushes, staghorns and such.

I see these filaments with my small tabling Acropora daily when I stir up the detritus in the sand bed. Obviously an adaptation developed to more efficiently capture and utilize this resource. I don't see it nearly as often when food particles are fed directly, but rather I do see some clear slime production.

 

[Dartolution]

Nano Sapiens,

Im being lead to this conclusion as well.

My stags, or other species are NOT doing this. All acropora / SPS corals in my system have very good PE especially at night. However I have no detectable PO4 according to my Hanna Meter or NO3...

I dose Acropower daily, Feed Oyster eggs, Coral Frenzy, ROE at least twice a week, preferably three.
I use a Reef Octo NWB110 skimmer (40breeder). which is honestly the best skimmer Ive ever owned... Long break in time but this thing pulls so much $#*^ out of the water column its insane.

Before Dosing AA of any kind I was having issues with coloration and PE from over skimming. Now Ive seemed to have found a balance.

 

[Nano sapiens]

However I have no detectable PO4 according to my Hanna Meter or NO3...

This we have in common, although how we attain this relatively low level of these substances is different.

It would be interesting to see if PO4 and NO3 were allowed to climb to measureable levels of say 0.03 and ~2-5, respectively, whether the tabling Acroporas would be so prone to filament extention since they would have access to additional nutrients from the water column.

Currently I directly feed my Acros once daily with a rotating variety of suitable foods. I plan to start feeding 2x/day soon which more closely folllows the natural day time plankton availability in the morning and later afternoon on a natural reef. May, or may not influence the abundance of filaments...

 

[Piper27]

I have a number of my corals do this when I feed, every time. I do not run ulns, and I get good polyp extension at night. I never looked at it as a problem or like the coral was stressed. It is more promenant on the larger colonies that I have had for a while. How would this be a bad thing?

 

[Bpb]

I've got a blue green Hyacinthus that has gone from a fresh 1" stick to the same 1" stick just encrusted on the plug after 6 months. I heard these grow slow by my goodness I've had Oregon torts grow faster than this

 

[Nano sapiens]

It's kind of humbling when one sees just how large these can get in nature and realize that they are likely just a few years old, at most.

 

[Dartolution]

This we have in common, although how we attain this relatively low level of these substances is different.

It would be interesting to see if PO4 and NO3 were allowed to climb to measureable levels of say 0.03 and ~2-5, respectively, whether the tabling Acroporas would be so prone to filament extention since they would have access to additional nutrients from the water column.

Currently I directly feed my Acros once daily with a rotating variety of suitable foods. I plan to start feeding 2x/day soon which more closely folllows the natural day time plankton availability in the morning and later afternoon on a natural reef. May, or may not influence the abundance of filaments...

Thats just it. I have tried for months to get my PO4 and NO3 levels at least detectable via heavy feedings to no avail.

I feed Coral Frenzy, and ROE twice a week roughly, Acropower daily @ 2.5mls, Sodium Carbonate solution 60ml daily...
Fish get fed daily rotating between Flake, Pellet, Mysis, Brine, Artemia, ROE. etc...

Its not a huge problem mind you, just weird.

I have noticed now there are little white growth knobs all over the colony. Is this normal?

 

[Bpb]

Heavy feeding and even dosing no3 and po4 directly never resulted in elevating those numbers to detectable levels and keeping them there. What did it for me is just pulling the collection cup off my skimmer and resuming regular husbandry as before. Allowed enough organics to build up in the water to let po4 hover at 0.04 ppm and no3 finally read in at 1ppm. I know the notion of going skimmerless in an sps tank is blasphemy, but I'd prefer my tests tell me what to do, rather than convention

 

[Dartolution]

Bpb I agree, each system is different and behaves differently. Having any sort of "Bible" in this hobby when it comes to husbandry doesn't make much sense.

I may try this.
I have great color on my SPS I would have to fowl that up.

 

[rovster]

Never saw this as a negative. I usually notice this like mentioned before when the tank gets stirred up, like if I'm doing a water change, or mounting a bunch of frags or blowing off the rocks. I see it less commonly when feeding. Some do it more than others. Rarely have I seen this response be totally spontaneous, as it seems to be a reaction to "something". I've never observed any kind of correlation between this response and coral health. In fact, some of the healthier corals at times do this more frequently?

 

[Piper27]

I agree, and my newer additions that are not growing yet or small colonies don't do it. Mostly older healthy colonies that have been adapted to an aquarium for a good amount of time. It really happens when I put food supplements or amino/vitamins in the food. Defiantly never saw or thought of it as a bad thing period. But would be willing to hear someone's opinion on it if anyone is willing to share something I am jot aware of. I am no expert