Polyp bail out on my Torch?

[KimPossible]

I'm dealing with an issue right now and need advice
I have a large Torch colony. I keep it in the upper half of my tank under 260watts of 10k's and 03Actinics. I try to target feed it home made mush 2x's a week. About 3 days ago I noticed that one of the polyps was peeling away from the skeleton. It looks healthy enough, its just bailing out. If it lives through the ordeal I plan to keep it in the tank in some sort of trap. Does anyone know if it will regenerate a skeleton? What's going on? I have not experienced "brown jelly" with the Torch.

[forestal]

sorry i am no expert on these guys Kim, but is it possible it is a bud instead of polyp bailing out? Eric has some neat pics of this on other corals, i know i have a bud on my candy cane, hanging by soft tissue, but it does have its own skeleton, so it may be worth a small touch to see if this has skeleton inside or just watch over time, it may start looking like a baby then drop.

hope its not a sign of something bad...

[Woodstock]

Since the colony looks very healthy, I think it is simply budding .... fragging itself. Congrats!

[KimPossible]

Thanks Dan and Doni.
I did feel it and it is just soft tissue, nothing that feels corse around the white area. I'll just sit back and see what happens.

If it is fragging itself, I guess it's called budding What are the chances a new polyp will form in the remaining branch? Or maybe the part that is still in there filling the entire opening?

[addict]

I've had several otherwise healthy euphyllids have polyp bail-out and I'm still at a loss as to what causes it.

I've heard theories ranging from 'stress' to strontium deficiency to water quality issues, but all of my euphyllids (frogspawn, torch, hammer, bubble, candy-cane) have all just spontaneously dropped heads without rhyme or reason.

IMO, it's still one of those unknowns in reefkeeping... hopefully it won't spread to any of the other polyps.

I've also been unsuccessful keeping the polyps alive after they bail out, and I've had several tries at it, unfortunately.

[cheeks69]

All my Euphyllias have done the same thing I always thought it was budding and none of them survived they were just taken by the current to never be seen again

[KimPossible]

Thanks for your replies
Last night I was up several times because the polyp was hanging on by a thread and I was afraid when it fell the power head would plaster it onto another coral.
It finally did fall, I searched around a bit for it this morning, but I can't find it. When and if it's found I plan on putting it in a small strawberry crate.
One of my concerns though, is keeping a dying coral or tissue in the tank.
Don't toxins start coming off corals as soon as they start to deteriorate.
I'm never sure when how long is safe to try to keep a coral alive. My diodogorgonia was a prime example. I wanted it to live soooooo badly, I performed many surgeries, I was fortunate to have pulled it out of my tank just before its total melt down....but that was pure luck....I know better know.....at least with a gorg.

[Woodstock]

My candy cane "dripped" a polyp just like yours did... it was held by a long thin string of flesh about 5" long! It finally dropped off and rested on the sand and seemed alive and healthy. I did not take the time to attach it to a rock and forgot about it during my water change several days later. Since then I have not seen it. It is probably somewhere in the harlequin's cave. Next time I will be sure to super glue it immediately...

[KimPossible]

Here is the responce I received from Anthony Calfo

Bail out is a naturally occuring reproductive strategy, although not especially successful or prolific. Its also usualyl stress induced as you know. You would be mistaken to assume that your water conditions are not the cause my friend. If you just consider the sheer concentration of corals you have in your aquarium relative to the same (much lower) number of species that would occur in the same space on the reef and tempered (near infinitely) by the massive dilution of the ocean... your (mine and ours) toxic soup of closed aquarium systems is indeed a long term source of stress. Unless you are using ozone and doing 50%+ weekly water changes... I'm not ruling out water quality

Nonetheless... the polyp can/will survive with your special care. There will be a growing calcareous nodule inside. Keep the polyp ball sequestered in a shallow cup or tray os fine rubble or coarse sand. Superglue it when it gets larger (many months... larger coin sized growth).

best of luck!

Anth-
__________________