Normal polyp extension?

[ReefsandGeeks]

I noticed yesterday that one of my Acro's polyps were extended much further than usual. Is it normal to have this much PE from an acro? I don't remember ever seeing any pictures of this much. I have 2 other acros and they have never had PE close to this.

 

[ronvdp]

Have you changed something in your feeding schedule?
I noticed a dramatic change in my sps PE after I started feeding more. I'm sure it's some combination of the extra food in the water and increased nitrate/phosphate. I still don't have detectable levels on Salifert kits but the algae on the glass is increased quite a bit. Kind of a pain but worth it in how happy the corals look.

 

[FishyFishy69]

I was just about to post a topic on this very subject. So it's not a bad thing? Everything looks happy, all my perams are in check, but my cali torts polyps have doubled in size in the past week. No other signs of stress.

Only other thing that changed was the addition of a few fish.

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

If it's not a bad thing I woun't wory about it. I was feeding them oyster feast every day for a while, but I've recently switched to a DIY food every other day. All of the coral love it, and PE has obviously been great since the change. Also still undetectable levels of nitrate with my carbon dosing, same with an increase of some film algea on the glass. more regular cleaning of the glass is fine with me though. gives me another reason to look at the tank, as if I need one.

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

Any sugestions on how to get my other acro's to have more PE? they are in the same tank, at the same light level with very similar flow, but typicaly barely noticable PE. They are different types, and one is a very small frag, so I don't expect too much. When first put in the tank maybe 6-8 weeks ago the one had good PE, but has sincee gone away. The pics of the larger frag are below from when I first got it and it had good PE. Now I see just a little from one side that gets a little more light.

 

[AdamNC]

I tend to worry if there is no pe. From what I've seen, the longer the pe the better.

 

[Reef Bass]

Just to be specific, from your pic it looks like your coral has long coralites and short to moderate polyp extension. The coralite is the calcium cup in which the polyp resides and is part of the skeleton. Polyp extension refers to the polyp tentacles protruding from the coralite. The opposite of polyp extension is polyp retraction when the polyp pulls back into the coralite. Coralites don't retract.

Many of the polyps on this A. plana are exhibiting ridiculous polyp extension: