Anyone known what this is

[BoomCorals]

Never meant to start a debate. Wether you agree or disagree. Filaments stringing out of your coral is not a sign of "happiness" or a "hungry" coral. The corals may do this in a response to foods being added to the tank, but it shouldn't be looked at as a "positive" feeding response. They are being irritated by all the fleshy food and food particles floating around. Filaments are a corals defense mechanism. They come out when threatened, stressed, or irritated. Same thing will happen if you're cleaning anything in the tank, glass, rocks, removing corals etc.. Think about it for that matter of time food is present in the tank the corals are surrounded by miniaturized fish chum.. not a very healthy or happy environment for the corals. Never said it indicates the coral is unhealthy, its just not happy at that time.

Do you have any sources on this? I only ask because if you try to research this behavior the studies I have found done by Marine Biologists do not see this as being an inherently negative response. It has been documented that even otherwise healthy corals do it when they wish to absorb organic matter that is outside of the coral body as well as capture zooplanketon and other food with these kinds of nematocysts and mucus nets. I have been unable to find any scientific study that indicates this behavior is ONLY a negative response and that filaments are only a defense mechanism in reponse to stress or irritants. While it CAN be in response to an adverse condition such as severe starvation etc, it's not the only reason.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I would HIGHLY recommend you enter your pic in the Photo of the month " Hungry corals" as this is clearly what is happening in your pic

 

[rkpetersen]

Despite all the black or white responses, I'm not sure it's entirely clear what's going on, from that picture. For some corals, excess mucus production is definitely a sign of some physical or chemical irritation (e.g. green slimer). Yes, some other corals can put out impressive filaments as a feeding response (e.g. strawberry shortcake), but I don't think that's usually accompanied by heavy mucus, and there seems to be a lot of mucus there in that picture. I think I'd err on the side of caution, cut back on the coral food, and re-assess all my tank parameters.

 

[BigJohnny]

Not sure why anyone hasn't asked this yet but what is in your homemade feeding mixture? Seems like that's a good place to start. The messenterial filaments dont concern me but that is a lot of mucous. If the tips are actually losing flesh and not just white growth tips then they could be reactions to the same thing.

 

[ReefBeta]

I never see those thin long filaments as feeding response. Most of the times it's as a result of aggression. I won't take it as positive sign.

Did you try when only feeding coral frenzy if they have the same response? I used coral frenzy and reef roids and never got this kind of response.

 

[BigJohnny]

Just to clarify messenterial filaments can 100% be a normal response to external feeding by a very healthy acropora. It does not automatically indicate stress.

This has been observed in the wild and in captivity. Just look at the recent thread mike paletta created about Jamie Craggs Project Coral, where the happiest acroporas in captivity show messenterial filaments every time they are fed. That is just one example.

Having said that, they certainly can be a response to stress, among many other things. Since a lot of mucous is present (and bare tips) as well, this is more concerning then just messenterial filament extension.

 

[jduong916]

Big water change solved the issue. No filaments when feeding or cleaning the glass. Past three days the sps seem a bit happier.

 

[jda]

The more than your corals slime, the more that they use energy replacing it. This is OK if they can gather enough real food to replace the energy, but we have no idea if what we feed is a good source of anything for them. After a while, wasted energy can catch up to a coral. ...even though I have no answers on if this is good or bad, I would rather have a coral NOT slime than try and feed it.

Good luck.