Torch coral fragmented ?

heritage

Active member
So I was looking at the tank and noticed that there was a small piece of torch coral on the bottom of the tank. I thought at first it was a piece of tentacle but after looking at it closer it looks to have a base. This coral grows amazingly in my tank and just recently had several heads split into 5 separate heads.

Has anyone seen this before ?

picture.php


picture.php
 
Euphyllias that pop a head can have that head actually grow new stony base given a calm corner where it doesn't get blown away. That may be what happened. It had a crisis, popped a head, and now you have 2. Don't disturb it: just let it do its thing: it probably won't bother the 'mother' colony at all.
 
Euphyllias that pop a head can have that head actually grow new stony base given a calm corner where it doesn't get blown away. That may be what happened. It had a crisis, popped a head, and now you have 2. Don't disturb it: just let it do its thing: it probably won't bother the 'mother' colony at all.

Thanks ! Not sure what the crisis could have been but cool none the less. :)
 
So I found where this came from. The head just above where I found this one is dropping them. It looks like its going to drop another. The head looks perfectly fine, I'll try to get a better look at it tomorrow.
picture.php
 
Watch your calcium levels. They can get amazingly hungry when they have a growth push on. At .least 420 calcium at all times.
 
Watch your calcium levels. They can get amazingly hungry when they have a growth push on. At .least 420 calcium at all times.

Yup, everything within specs
Calcium 425
Alk 8 dkh
Mag 1500
Nitrate 3 ppm
Phosphate 10 ppb

So I looked at the torch early this morning and there is 2 heads doing the same thing, so I don't want to disturb the torch while its doing its thing. But as far as I can tell the heads look perfectly fine. I will take pictures and keep this thread updated. I honestly have never seen this before and find it fascinating.

If it is related to a stressor event the only thing I can think of is I fraged this coral about 8 months ago and that was the first time I've ever seen this coral spit one head into 4 or 5 heads. The head actually fanned out a good 3 or 4 inches. This is what the torch looked like in the process of splitting.

picture.php
 
Last edited:
So it looks like what is wrapped around the base is the flesh of the coral that would be wrapped around the skeleton.
Frag today
picture.php


Full tank shot

picture.php
 
Real pretty. Let it spread. An unchallenged euphyllia given all the calcium it wants can really multiply. Sometimes you just find out what your tank wants to be and just cooperate and enjoy it!
 
Real pretty. Let it spread. An unchallenged euphyllia given all the calcium it wants can really multiply. Sometimes you just find out what your tank wants to be and just cooperate and enjoy it!

Thanks
Lol... If I let the coral go it will end up being 3 corals. The torch, wall hammer and the huge duncan at the other end. But one thing for sure I will let the small frags grow. I'm really interested in seeing when it forms its base. It really is cool. :dance:
 
Last edited:
Picture from the night before, looks like 2 more will be dropped.
picture.php


And this morning there were 3. Looks like one more head is going to drop one in the next few days.
picture.php
 
Last edited:
Back
Top