Tissue problems

[andycake]

Ok so I have had this trumpet coral for about 5 years and had many clumps and heads off it. However the last year it has been doing this where the flesh almost drips off. It only happens when a clump starts getting massive. Is is caused by the sheer over crowding or some sort of problem?

 

[Fourstars]

Does the flesh die off leaving only the skeleton?

 

[andycake]

Not really the heads get so big they kinda squish together then start to slowly fall off, the flesh lives for weeks on the floor

 

[Fourstars]

I assume with that kind of growth your Cal, Alk, Mag are all in spec. maybe it's just running out of room and older heads are dying off like you suspect. Plants do this.

 

[andycake]

Yeh water is good it's so weird every time it gets to half a football size this happens. Its puzzling me

 

[Fourstars]

Maybe frag it, kind of would be a shame since it's such a nice colony. I know a lot of people say low light low flow, but mine seems to love high light med flow.

 

[andycake]

Gosh I have frags everywhere from it lol, yeh mine is high light med flow

 

[Reef Bass]

People have referred to this as "dripping" and it may be a way the coral can propagate itself. As you mention, it happens when the coral gets massive and the drips tend to live for a while.

Others have equated it to "polyp bailout", which, IME, is a sign of distress by the coral. I personally don't think dripping is a form of polyp bailout.

 

[lokmar]

Looks very similar to my Christmas Favia. It regularly drips off thumbnail sized pieces that I glue to a plug and take to the LFS.