What would do this?

[BadSquishy]

I've got a 115g tank with an assortment of LPS corals - all doing very well.

Two days ago my green goniopora, which is placed directly on the sand-bed, failed to expand in the morning. The polyps stayed in their retracted over-night configuration. The rest of my gonioporas extended normally.

When I lifted the goniopora up, I noticed an irregular hole in one side slightly smaller than a dime. I used a turkey-baster to flush the hole to see if I could determine what was living inside. The hole is very deep and quite extensive, but I could see nothing inside. I've found crabs living in holes like this in my live rock on occasion but I've always just left them alone.

Under the goniopora I found what looked to be waste from some creature and poking through the sand bed where the goniopora was placed I did find a 3/4 inch bristleworm.

Any suggestions as to what chews holes in the dead coral base of goniopora's? I've noticed sand plumes dropping out of other pieces of my live rock. Do I have an infestation of some sort of coral boring crab or other creature?

Any thoughts or suggestions are very welcome.
Thanks

[captstinky]

pics?

goniopora is a tough one long term. bristle worms in my systems eat leftovers or decaying flesh. I have never seen one go for a healthy coral, FWIW.

Crabs can get hungry cause damage and unless you KNOW they are reef safe probably ought to be removed from the tank. You can look up DIY traps for ideas that would work for you to remove them without causing more harm than good

[andrewknies]

I haven't ever met anyone to keep a goniopora more than a year. I just "hear" about it.
I tend to stay away from them even though they are beautiful.

[BadSquishy]

I camped out with the flashlight last night...I saw three bristle worms in various places in the tank...so there are probably many more...but after reading abit, I doubt they are the culprit.

I also found a small crab living in a hole in the live rock...tan with sharp black tips to his claws - not hairy ... I'll trap him...

Maybe this is goniopora decline - but its onset was sudden - and my gonioporas actually have appeared to be thriving...many new polyps, large heads and great extension...

I'm going to reposition the goniophora so I can look into the hole at night and see whats in there...the hole is new, so I'm guessing it has something to do with the sudden deflation...

One more observation - my goniopora appears to be emitting streams of very fine "smoke". very fine and quite distinct. Is like a continuous cloud drifinting off of the goniophora. ???

[andrewknies]

Let us know what you find out!

[BadSquishy]

a few days before the decline...

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/1430/p1000548z.jpg

[Markwjr]

Beautiful coral. I wish gonioporas lasted.

Mark

[BadSquishy]

My purple goniopora is now doing the smoking thing as well...
look below the green cromis...fine streams of "smoke"

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/8423/p1000613i.jpg

[BadSquishy]

As each polyp emits its cloud, it deflates and retracts...my new yellow goniopora a few inches away looks unaffected and quite happy...

[BadSquishy]

Either these are dying right before my eyes or they are spawning.

Half the purple goniophora is now retracted and it continues to smoke...as it completes, the polyps shrink and the underlying mantle swells out...

....

[Chiefsurfer]

reading similar things with other corals I would THINK it was spawning, which also explaines why more than one are doing it at the same time. HOWEVER, keep us updated. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

[derek4real]

most likely it is "concentrating" all of it's energy on spawning. Give it a few days and should be back to normal.

also let me gather some links for you.

[derek4real]

Contact James at Lone Star Aquaculture. He is a member/sponsor in my reef club and recent gave us a presentation on coral reproduction.

Here is the entire link of your interested: http://www.dallasmas.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4361

Here is a snip-it of his post on our forum.

Howdy everyone! These collectors are easy to make and are a great tool for collecting larvae that our corals are producing. I learned how to make these a few months ago when the Reef Stewardship Foundation had a meeting up here and they showed us how to make them, use them and try to settle the larvae after collection.

The Larvae Collectors consist of: PVC fittings, a vertical support system and a 100-200 micron mesh surround.
Figure out how big your coral(s) will be and purchase the appropriate sized pvc fittings. ie: 3", 4", 6", ect

Here is the materials list for building 1 collector:
1 threaded female adapter
1 threaded cap
Gutter Guard (get the rolled up plastic type not the flat metal type)
Mesh surround (100-200 micron plankton cloth is best, but any nylon or polyester cloth of that micron size would work. If you can't find anything else get panty hose)
Fishing line

Tools:
measuring tape
scissors for cutting screen material and gutter guard
super glue

I will have plenty of fishing line at the demonstration.
PVC fittings, super glue and gutter guard can be picked up at a hardware store.
For the mesh surround you have a few options. You can get plankton cloth from an aquaculture facility (florida aqua farms) or you can get some nylon or polyester cloth that is 100-200 micon in size. Or you can just pick up some panty hose and use it. :)


How often is it that our corals produce larvae in a captive aquarium?

That depends on the type of coral. Some do it annually. Some monthly.
I think most broadcast spawners do it annually and most brooding corals do it monthly.
As hobbiest it will be easier to work with brooders rather than spawners. Brooders release a group of fertilized "baby corals" every month. We collect them, get them to settle onto liverock or substrate and then we can raise them.
Spawners have male colonies and female colonies some release eggs some sperm, you have to collect both, get the sperm to fertilize the eggs, then try to get a much smaller animal to settle out. That is work left to scientist at this point. Perhaps in a few years we can tackle something like that.

note: I really, really dumbed down that whole process. Coral reproduction is much, much more complicated and has many more moving parts than I described. But the brooding part is pretty accurate for what we are doing that should be sufficient. lol