Sansibia reproduction?

[Kurt_Nelson]

So I have a rock full of Sansibia... or at least it was sold to me as Sansibia. Could be a type of Anthelia, but definitely not Clauvaria. It's the little tiny tiny blue snowflake polyps. It's been really happy in my tank now for about 8 months. Has completely grown over the rock it was on and started to creep out into the sandbed. I cut off that creeping portion and glued it onto another rock and that one is doing great. Anyway...

About a month ago, I noticed what appeared to be a bunch of debris on the polyps - which surprised me since I blow it off with a baster often. When I blew it off this time, I noticed that the "debris" were most likely eggs. Perfectly round little spheres... and a lot of them. Oh oh, I thought.

So now, I noticed last week a little round patch on the rock that looked like someone clearcut a section of them down. The rock was just bare in that quarter sized area. And last night, I was blowing the rock off as normal and noticed "stuff" coming off the rock that didn't look normal. Upon closer inspection, they were little clumps of polyps floating off into the water column.

Soo... my question after my rambling is: Has anyone else kept this stuff and noticed this same thing? I'm guessing I'm seeing a form of reproduction? The rock is full, it can't creep anywhere else except across the sand, so it's deciding to "cast off" pieces of itself to go and reproduce elsewhere? (I've already seen a single polyp of the stuff growing about 10 inches away from the existing colony.) And if that's the case, does it know enough to stop at some point or am I going to end up with this stuff everywhere except the original rock?

 

[morgan]

maybe when i had this coral it speard for a couple of weeks then all of a sudden died probly low kh

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Hmmm... that's not good to hear. Guess I should post up water parameters since someone will ask for them sooner or later!

Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 78-79
pH: 8.2 - 8.3
nitrates: 0.2-0.5 ppm
Ca: 400-420 ppm
alk: 9-10 dKh

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Update to this thread...

The quarter-sized area the rock that lost polyps has grown. About a third of the rock/colony has literally disappeared. As more have withered away and blown off the rock, I can see the rock better now and haven't seen anything munching on it or bothering it. Also... I witnessed yet another egg release a couple days ago, or what I think is an egg release. I've also found several more of these polyps in various places around my tank - one at the far other end of the tank.

So I guess it's either not liking it's placement and is reproducing as a last ditch effort to stay in existence or it DOES like it's placement, and well... is just trying to take over my tank!

I have a feeling in my gut that I'm going to curse the day I put this stuff in my tank. Anyone?

[Edit: Here's a shot of it just before it started going bald...

 

[artguy1]

Wow Kurt, it seems as if the "cast off to reproduce" is a likely scenario, especially since you see new places of growth. I hope this is the case as it is an really interesting type of coral

Good Luck fellow West Hill Neighbor!

 

[Curtswearing]

I've experienced polyp bailout in LPS corals like torches, favias, and on SPS corals. I've never seen it happen on an octocoral like Sansibia before. (Obviously that doesn't mean it doesn't happen, it's just never happened to me before).

One time I ended up with xenia all over my tank due to a stone crab (Eriphia sebana) that I called the red eyed crab from Heck. Right in front of my eyes one night, the little scum came out of the rocks and pretended my xenia were bushes and just went snip, snip, snip like it was trimming hedges. It ate a couple of polyps and the rest were carried by the current all over the tank.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Just an update... the balding of the rock stopped, and it's being recovered now by new little polyps. And now I've got little colonies growing on my two heater holders, and in about 6-8 different places in my tank. Hmmm... prolific little thing.

 

[gas4544]

That is very interesting. Every now and then, something happens in our tank that just baffles and surprises the heck out of us.

 

[jnktaylor]

We have the same coral and now those little polpys are everywhere.

Jack

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Yup... that's the one.

Just another update - the stuff has totally recovered the rock again. Man, this stuff is quick. I've also got more colonies popping up here and there. It'll be interesting to see if it goes through the same cycle again, or if it was a one time deal.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Where in WA are you located and want to swap some for whatever?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

PM sent. (extra text added because my "message was too short"!)

 

[seaside corals]

Every octo Ive ever grown has become a problem , growing ,taking over ,snuffing out ! came to a point where i had to put it in its own tank

 

[morgan]

if it gets out of control just get some other coral it sting it and keep it under control