what's wrong with my coral?

[Ridrom]

I have a colt/kenya tree (nobody can decide) I came home tonight and i discovered one of my corals arms or branches floating around at the bottom of my tank. Did it drop a baby (probably meaing it's a kenya) or is it sick?

 

[Bifferwine]

It is reproducing. If I were you, I'd take the arm and throw it away. That's about the only way you can try to control it spreading.

 

[Ridrom]

is it worth anything as credit to a lfs or does everybody pretty much hate this coral ?I've read not to touch the fleshy part of corals but this is all fleshy would it be safe to handle it to attach it to a rock? And would it survive the night floating at the bottom of the tank? sorry for all of the questions

 

[Bifferwine]

My LFS will not take kenya tree frags (I can't think of any other coral they wouldn't take!).

It is totally safe to touch it. It may leave your fingers a bit stinky, but it won't hurt you or the coral. It will survive floating around by itself, as long as it doesn't get sucked into a pump or powerhead. Eventually, it will attach itself to the substrate or rocks.

If you want to keep it, you can attach it to the rocks yourself just by wedging it in a crack or hole.

 

[Ridrom]

Thanks Biff i'll leave it floating for the night all my power heads and filters have gaurds over them and i'll place it on a rock in the morning. I'll be sure to keep it right next to its mom hopefully I can keep all the offsprings in one area of my tank.

 

[simpleman]

Congrats Ridrom! This means you're doing a good job of taking care of your tank. That being said I would see if anyone local wants the wayward frag or get rid of it. Kenya Trees can and will overtake your tank quickly.

 

[Ridrom]

Well i woke up this morning and the "mother" I guess I will call it now had detached itself from the rock it came on and wedged itself between two rocks a little lower. Is this normal or did I have too much water flow hitting it?

 

[yote]

It probably just fell loose and re-attached where it landed.
Either that or its a baby you didnt notice:mrgreen:

 

[Ridrom]

do these coral move? It looks like the mother part (which was wedged between rocks pretty tightly) has moved about 2 feet and wedged itself in a little cave.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yes. That's how they spread to plague proportions. They probably aren't moving, just dropping more pieces, which are moving around the tank and attaching in different areas. If it wasn't completely attached to the rock in the first place, then it's possible the mother piece was moved to a different location in the tank.

 

[Ridrom]

i'll post pics here in a min

 

[Ridrom]

Ok here is it soon after it was placed in my tank what it is sitting on is the actual rock it came mounted to

Here is it's placement yellow happened over night white happened durring the day the power head is a Hydor Koralia 4 (not pointed directly at coral) and a Hydor Koralia 2 on the oposite end of the tank

Then the final resting spot(hopefully... lights were off for this picture)

and the base it was once attached to

unless it grew legs and moved that bottom left corner is the part of the tank with least flow so im not sure how it got where it is now

 

[yote]

It looks like was completely attached to rock.So I dont know,unless the flow caused it to turn loose,which some corals do when they dont like the conditions where their at.