Bubble on my plate coral

[Vette67]

This "bubble" started growing on my fungia a couple weeks ago. Coral seems otherwise healthy, and isn't showing any signs of stress. But I have had this fungia longer than I can remember, probably 15 years or more. This "bubble" is maybe slightly smaller than a golf ball. It's pretty big, and the coral itself is a good 7 or 8 inches in diameter. I can see a couple of the other fingers are starting to balloon up too.

Just wondering if anyone has seen anything like this on a coral before. And if it might be an indication of a problem.

 

[reefwiser]

I have seen this happen. An it can reverse itself. The main worry would be that something doesn’t “pop” the bubble. Which can lead to infection

 

[Vette67]

Thanks for the reply. I'm hoping it doesn't pop, but there isn't much I can do to stop that from happening. I certainly won't pop it. So you think it will reverse itself? Any ideas what could cause it? Like I said, I've had this coral for years, and it has never done anything this before....

 

[HB AL]

I’ve also seen this a couple of times and once it reversed on its own and the other time it got bigger and eventually pretty quickly the coral ended up dying.

 

[Vette67]

I’ve also seen this a couple of times and once it reversed on its own and the other time it got bigger and eventually pretty quickly the coral ended up dying.

Uh oh. Not what I wanted to hear. I hope the first part of your response is correct and not the second part!

 

[HB AL]

Always wondered what caused it to start, what it was, and how to stop it but unfortunately my questions were never answered, I don’t think anyone knew what caused it and how to stop it after having it for almost a year. I have a pic somewhere I will see if I can find it, I do remember it eventually started working it’s way down the side to the underside. Hope yours just goes pack to normal.

 

[HB AL]

@Vette67 found a pic of it, I called it the blue blob. If I remember correctly it finally popped after a few weeks peeling back exposing the skeleton then the coral slowly died by the skin peeling away slowly all over it very randomly until it was all skeleton. I left the skeleton in four like 4 months after reading babies might pop up on it but that never happened.

 

[Vette67]

@Vette67 found a pic of it, I called it the blue blob. If I remember correctly it finally popped after a few weeks peeling back exposing the skeleton then the coral slowly died by the skin peeling away slowly all over it very randomly until it was all skeleton. I left the skeleton in four like 4 months after reading babies might pop up on it but that never happened.

Sorry to hear that. And I hope it’s not the fate of my fungia, but seems like it might be. This plate coral is the second oldest in my tank, and has survived a lot. Only my pagoda cup is older. I guess I’ll just keep an eye on mine and do what I can. We’ll see if it can make a turnaround. Thanks for the reply

 

[HB AL]

Good luck with it

 

[Vette67]

Well, here it is 4 months later, and the bubble is still there. It is the same size it has been for a while. Maybe slightly bigger than when I took the first picture back in July. It just seems to keep existing. I would have thought by this point that it would have popped, but apparently not. So who knows, maybe this is just the new normal. We'll see how long my fungia can maintain this bubble...