Sweepers

[Fragmented]

I want to throw out an unproven sweeper theory. I have never read anything regarding this issue.

I have noticed that if I regularly target feed my LPS they don't send out long sweepers. If I feed less, the sweepers appear. My theory is that they aren't hungry and don't need to spread out to search for food.

Does this make sense?

Is anyone else noticing this?

 

[acrodave]

I bet that is true. But low water flow also encourages sweepers also

 

[G.SMITHII]

also, the more the coral grows, the more room they'll want/need.

it may be happy now, but id guess once it gets to a sertain size/ proximity to another coral, it'll let those lil sweepers out

 

[LockeOak]

The question, I guess, is whether or not sweepers primarily collect food or clear the space around them of other corals/gorgonians (they probably do both, but to varying degrees). In reef crest environments space (and, by extension, access to light) is a more limiting factor than food, so it may be more advantageous for the sweepers to clear out space for additional growth. I don't really know anything about Euphyllia for example in the wild, so this is pure conjecture.

 

[danch]

If a tentacle is primarily for feeding it's a feeder by definition. Sweepers are longer than the coral's feeders and are used to clear space.

 

[Hogfish77]

What corals in general have sweepers? Or does every lps have them? Anyone got any pics of them? I've seen feeder tentacles but not necessarily sweepers....

 

[G.SMITHII]

i always thought sweepers were just longer tentacles.

but then i saw this thing on animal planets blue planet series about corals, and how they like battle.

these sweepers look like really tiny spagetti, or like coral guts.

they only time i have seen these things in my tank was when i put TOOO much cockle on my baby scoly.

these things came out and dissolved the cockle flesh. (i hade to skim overtime that weekend)

but thats what a sweeper is right, not just long lookin clear feeding tentacles?

 

[mystrybird]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10985211#post10985211 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by G.SMITHII
i always thought sweepers were just longer tentacles.

but then i saw this thing on animal planets blue planet series about corals, and how they like battle.

these sweepers look like really tiny spagetti, or like coral guts.

they only time i have seen these things in my tank was when i put TOOO much cockle on my baby scoly.

these things came out and dissolved the cockle flesh. (i hade to skim overtime that weekend)

but thats what a sweeper is right, not just long lookin clear feeding tentacles?

I am replying to bump this because I am curious to learn more. A while back I had moved some things around in my tank and left some corals in temp locations overnight. I also wanted to keep track of some damage on 1 LPS for a few days. When I turned on the lights in the morning I saw these worm like things coming out of a few places in the coral. It took close to an hour for them to fully retract and I have a bunch of pictures somewhere of it.

I tried a few searches to ID what I saw and found similar pictures of what was coming out of my coral. There was another name for the sweepers that I can't remember. Now that it is placed in it's current location, I still see these things on the other side when my lights come on.

I will look for the pictures ASAP. Hoping someone has more information on this and can tell me if this is what I took pictures of. I know the stuff was not feeders. It comes out of an area where the flesh and skeletal tissue meet.

 

[chrisstie]

The white curly things you mention are basically teh corals guts the mesenterial (not sure if im spelling it right) fillaments.


I almost want to say its more than just a feeding response.

I have a piece of LR relatively away from any corals where I've mounted a small colony of favia. At night it always tosses out its feeders as well as a few sweepers. even when fed well. I notice the echinos and galaxea (though i dont own any galaxea) tend to do this more on just a regular basis.

I've seen it more as a defense mechanism in euphillias and a few other species.

Any ideas if this is just my own weird coral or has anyone else noticed a difference species by species?

 

[danch]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10985211#post10985211 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by G.SMITHII
i always thought sweepers were just longer tentacles.

but then i saw this thing on animal planets blue planet series about corals, and how they like battle.

these sweepers look like really tiny spagetti, or like coral guts.

they only time i have seen these things in my tank was when i put TOOO much cockle on my baby scoly.

these things came out and dissolved the cockle flesh. (i hade to skim overtime that weekend)

but thats what a sweeper is right, not just long lookin clear feeding tentacles?

What you're describing sounds like mesenterial fillaments - which is the corals guts! Some species can pop these out through the side of the polyp even, and defend their perimeter that way. Somewhere around here (and in a Reefkeeping article) there's a picture of an acan lord (IIRC) with two big bundles of mesenteries attacking another coral.

Look here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=418315 about halfway down.

and it's in the reefslides here http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/reefslides/index.php

 

[thecichlidpleco]

The only sweepers I have seen in my tank are from my maze brain. But I would have to disagree with sweepers coming out only during low flow because I have seen basketball size frogspawn and slightly smaller hammers getting hit with direct flow from a powerhead and they had some mad sweepers.

 

[G.SMITHII]

ahh cool. so that was the corals guts! sweeeeet.

those things are nasty yo! looks like they can do some damage.

but y'all are saying that there is a difference between mesenterial fillaments and sweepers?

 

[danch]

Yep. Sweepers are just longer, meaner (more sting cells at the tip) tentacles.

 

[GoingPostal]

I've only ever noticed my favia putting out sweepers to kill nearby candy canes and one part of a frogspawn going after zoos and I don't feed all the frequently, maybe couple times a month.

 

[mystrybird]

So is this the same thing in the pictures. They were taken about an hour apart. Is it attacking itself?
mesenterial filaments is the name I was trying to recall. They still come out at night but on the bottom side.

 

[thecichlidpleco]

Nope, coral guts, distressed due to its current state.

 

[mystrybird]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10995005#post10995005 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thecichlidpleco
Nope, coral guts, distressed due to its current state.

Thats what I was afraid of. But it was a free bee and was like that when I got it. Why do they come out at night and retract in the light? It has been in the tank for a while & is otherwise quite healthy.

 

[mystrybird]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10995005#post10995005 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thecichlidpleco
Nope, coral guts, distressed due to its current state.

Anyone?

 

[Fragmented]

Perhaps if you provide it a good environment and feed it, it will recover.

 

[mystrybird]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11036822#post11036822 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fragmented
Perhaps if you provide it a good environment and feed it, it will recover.

Took those pictures a while back when I first got it. I havn't turned it around for a long while, but it has recovered alot better than I expected it to. Has grown quite a bit since then to.