Torch loosing tips.

[homer1475]

So just as the title suggests....

I was blowing off my rocks the other night, and noticed the rock my torch sits on had several small chunks of tentacles with little green tips blowing off the rock.

My torch is always open, always swaying in the flow(very lightly swaying, nothing violent to bruise the tentacles on its skeleton), and has actually grown a couple heads.

Is it normal for it to "shed" some of it's tentacles, or just the tips from time to time? The part I thought was odd, was the tips and small chunks of tentacles that were still attached to the tips, still had all their color. I would think if they died, the zooxanthellae would have left it to?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Do you have any crabs or shrimp in your tank? Also a picture would help.

 

[homer1475]

A couple red leg hermits, and a cleaner, but none of them go near my torch. I could post a picture, but its just a picture of a healthy torch coral.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

But no Green Emerald crab? Yeah need to see a picture of how it looks damaged. I still suspect something is eating it by your description. What do you have for fish

 

[homer1475]

That's just it though, its not damaged in any way. Happy healthy coral, just noticed some green tips on the rocks. Almost as if it shed them?

Fish:
Flame angel(model citizen and nips nothing but algae on the rocks), a pair of snowflake clowns, ORA electric neon dottyback, and a citron clown goby. Several various snails, 3 red leg hermits, and a cleaner shrimp.

Literally nothing goes near the torch, except my clowns. I think they are thinking about hosting in it, but I have yet to see them actually snuggle up in it.

I'm not super worried about it, simply because the coral is super healthy and growing, but was just curious if they are known to "shed" tentacles, or their tips. Its really just the green ball tips and maybe an 1/16" of actual tentacle that I blew off the rocks.

I suppose something could have damaged it and caused the tips to be shed, but no idea what could have done it, and it doesn't seem to have affected the coral in any way.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

But that's just it, they don't normally shed. Something is snipping it off.

 

[Mark9]

I notice the odd tip of my octospawn now and then, saw 1 this weekend.
Seen maybe 3 in a couple months?
I suspect something is doing it, no idea what.

 

[homer1475]

But that's just it, they don't normally shed. Something is snipping it off.

This is what I was looking for. I couldn't find any definitive info on whether they do or not.

So if I had to guess, I'm going to say my cleaner shrimp. He's the only one that even gets close to the torch, and I have seen him with a fluorescent mouth from time to time(he picks between my zoas and sometimes gets an actual polyp).