Seritopora hystrix (polyp bailout)?

[Gravesj1s]

Hello to all.
I have a question that pertains to a birdsnest colony whitch (I think) is experiencing polyp bailout.It develops blister-ish polyps <--my best description in random areas.Despite any attempts in stable on par water I could never get this to stop.Its shown no signs of color loss ,rtn or stn just continues this trend.

Anyone ever experience this and if so were you ever able to get it stop?
Thanks for your time.-steve

 

[Anonymous]

:welcome:

Well, the first questions usually asked are about the tank itself (setup) and your water parameters...that helps us to look for clues so if you could fill us it that'd be a help

 

[Anonymous]

I've never personally seen polyp bailout occur in seriatopora, but it is well documented that it occurs as a reproductive strategy. I've seen it in pocillopora, though, and the bit that makes it pretty unmistakable with those is that you'll find small colonies forming wherever the polyps settle. Are you coming across any similar seriotpora growth elsewhere in your tank? That would be the easiest way to confirm if the coral is indeed undergoing polyp bailout.

 

[Gravesj1s]

:welcome:

Well, the first questions usually asked are about the tank itself (setup) and your water parameters...that helps us to look for clues so if you could fill us it that'd be a help

Hi, thanks for the welcoming.
My tank info. 72 gal with plumbed 20 gal sump.I use a controller (rke v2) to keep temp @ a basepoint of 78.5F.Limewater is dosed through it as well 24/7 with the aid of a floatswitch and diaphram pump; no other chemical additives.Iuse seperate reactors for regular maintenece of rox carbon & gfo.

Parameters that I test for:
Ca.- 420ppm salifert
Mg.- 1500ppm salifert
Kh- 8.3-8.6 salifert
No3- 1ppm salifert (averaged,hard to tell but its between 0-2 per the higher range testing method
Refractometer calibrated with a commercial prepared indicator 35ppt before each use.

About the refractometer.I believe this might have been atleast part of the cause.I had no previous knowledge or experience with using one, and assumed it was accurate once calibrated.Over time I discovered it had drifted down to 1.020-1 or thereabouts.This is when I started to see what I think might be polypbailout but, Im not really sure if it is.Started around dec.2010/jan2011 it continues this progress to date.

 

[Gravesj1s]

I've never personally seen polyp bailout occur in seriatopora, but it is well documented that it occurs as a reproductive strategy. I've seen it in pocillopora, though, and the bit that makes it pretty unmistakable with those is that you'll find small colonies forming wherever the polyps settle. Are you coming across any similar seriotpora growth elsewhere in your tank? That would be the easiest way to confirm if the coral is indeed undergoing polyp bailout.

Hi, yes, I was able to locate an article from 85' that was interesting to read.Though I found the pics to difficult to compre with.
Honestly, I haven't been able to find any new growth sprouting up.

I dont know if it will help but I have some good macro shots if you'd like to take alook.Im just not real familar with posting here.
I appreaciate you you folks chimeing in -Steve

 

[Gravesj1s]

Taking a crack at pics here.Pic # 1 is how it starts progressing from there.

 

[Ben1]

I have seen this before in Acros as well. If you google acropora blisters, you will see other thread on many message boards that have pics of the same condition. I have had it happen as well, and never did anything about it. Never seemed to cause any long term damage in my case.

Eric Borneman was asked about this in one of the threads and this was his reply,

"As you guys have found on your own, this has been reported quite a bit. I do not know what causes it, either, but it could be related to the ballooning behaviors of other corals, including the coral polyps extrusions. As noted, I suspect it is largely related to water parameters. Coral tissue can lift up from the calcioblastic epithelium and form pockets, but these normally are still highly fixed to skeleton by desmosomes. I am unsure if it is forced by water params, or a deficiency of desmosomes. It does not seem to have any function like with extrusions (although the extrusions are common in aquarium corals but not in the wild, so this might also be abnormal). "

 

[Gravesj1s]

Hi Ben.Thanks for that information.
Your response has certainly changed what I was thinking was occuring.I posted a thread in one of the popular forums and from the majority of responses posted, it would eventually spread to other corals with rtn as a final outcome.From that,I felt it would be best to remove anything that even appeared suspect.I thought I would branchout abit and get some other opinions before doing so.Im glad I did

Questions:
How long were you able to observe this in your tank? Did it appear to stop at some point?
Thanks-Steve

 

[Ben1]

I had an acro doing it for almost a year, never RTN'd or anything else. I eventually re-organized the tank and it went away. I had thought it was a current issue (too heavy too light w/e) that caused it, but hate saying I moved it and that's what made it go away since I am sure I changed other things at the same time like lighting it was receiving, water parameters, etc. What ever the cause I don't think it is that rare in aquariums or that it causes any significant issues for the coral besides retarding growth where the blister forms a bit. Good luck

 

[Gravesj1s]

From the responses here,its been an eye opener for me.I took your advice Ben doing a brief search and found it surprising to see some of these threads showing pictures of chalices,favias and some acropora with blister like appearences.Honestly Ive never seen any of this before or heard of it for that matter.

One particular comment was interesting to find by A. Calfo where he responded to a post about a favia that had something similar occuring.He seemed to think light acclimation has some role.I didn't want to derail the thread as it wasn't a question posed in an sps forum ;actually in the lps forum.So I was hesitant to ask but no doubt curious to his thoughts.
-Steve