[zhenya]

I was processing some of the images I took a while ago and found something that has me stomped. From looking at the picture it appears as someone had grazed one spot of the coral, however, I looked at the same spot today and it seems like the polyps are out and covering that entire spot.



And a closer look...


Anyone ever came across something similar and if anything you noticed unusual, please post your observations. I will take another shot today so you can see that it looks like nothing happened. Maybe I'm too worried over nothing but you never know...

[CSeaSee]

First off- great picture. If only all such posts included pictures of that quality.
Anyway- I don't keep SPS, but from that pic it almost looks like Black Band Disease! But, it sounds like today, that "diseased" area is totally normal?

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by CSeaSee

First off- great picture. If only all such posts included pictures of that quality.
Anyway- I don't keep SPS, but from that pic it almost looks like Black Band Disease! But, it sounds like today, that "diseased" area is totally normal?

Carl,

I don't think we are talking about the same area. If you mean that dark area that is just above the outer margin, then it's just an lagae covered spot where branch was chopped off and now the growing tissue and some algae are having at it...
I actually meant white spot that lacks polyps right on the edge of the colony where it;s sort of trying to grow outward.

PS. Thanks for the compliment on the picture.

[CSeaSee]

Ah, I see. Let my istake guide evreyone else! ;-)
Maybe some sort of (competitive/chemical?) inhibition from that algae spot?

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by CSeaSee

Ah, I see. Let my istake guide evreyone else! ;-)
Maybe some sort of (competitive?) inhibition from that algae spot?

Could be just that...I guess it is time to take it out and clean that spot.

PS. Here's a picture showing the same area covered with polyps and tissue looks tan-ish in color.

[kevinpo]

Hi Gene,
I see that same condition quite often. It is caused by another coral coming into brief contact and burning it. When the offending coral is removed the coral quickly recovers. I have several fish at home that like to move small branches of corals around and drop them onto other corals
At the store the tall frags get tipped into each other by the vlamingi tang chewing algae off the base.

This may or may not be the case here but it certainly looks like a burn of some type to me.

Regards,
Kevin

[zhenya]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for looking at this thing. As far as getting a burn from another coral, I was thinking about it but there was nothing really close to it to burn it. I had since moved the coral ( the first picture is of the coral in the new spot). I guess it just one of those mysterious things that happened when I haven't been peeling my eyes at the tank...
Oh, well...

[smpolyp]

I would guess a burn from a lighting issue. As a branch may have been snipped earlier. The light is more intense at that point. Great recovery. Were is the light source from each pic?