Mouths on Elegance corals

[tunicata]

hi
So, I have an elegance, it's about 2-3 weeks old in my tank.

One side of it is larger than the other.
It was this larger side that also got a good portion of mysis 2wks ago.

Now, I counted the number and placement of all of its 6 mouths.

The larger section that only had 1 mouth now seems to have mysentrial (sp) filaments about .5 inches away from that mouth.

So, my question is:

How do elegance corals 'grow'/'form' new mouths?

Right now my hypothesis, based on what I've portrayed so far of what i am seeing in my tank, is that the filaments grow from the inside of the coral and then 'burn' its way out to form the hole necessary for the mouth.

Otherwise the coral seems fine.

 

[tektite]

No, if its putting out mesenterial filaments it is stressed, that is not how it forms new mouths.

 

[tunicata]

The thing is there are no mouths within an inch of where i see the filaments, and some times there is at least a nickel size worth of the stuff.

I don't see any fish/coral bothering it...and ive moved it at least 3 times so far.

Now the other side of it is scrunched up.
I'll try and get a picture of it.

 

[tektite]

In that case I would say it is very stressed. What are your water parameters? Is the elegance from Indonesia or Australia?

 

[tunicata]

:sigh:

its an aussie elegance.

there is the fluffy side, thats the side that had the filaments.
the other side is shrunken in.

i havent tested recently, i know my phos and ni are higher than anyone would like (no visible issues from this as it relates to disease, algae, etc) due to my skimmer being offline for 1mos now as i had a leak in my sump and im just now replacing it. None of my other coral are showing issues.


I'll try to get the tests in tomorrow.
now:


when i got it