Cali tort chowing down

[MrObscura]

Did my weekly Friday night maintenance earlier, which also includes feeding my corals, and happened to get this pic of my tort enjoying a meal.

 

[TheEngineer]

Holy extension Batman!

 

[lafayettereefer]

Wow!!! What are you feeding to that level of pe?

 

[marlinmon]

Mine does that sometimes. I wonder if it's going to lose the polyp it gets so far out

 

[Oscaror]

Wow that's one fuzzy stick

 

[MrObscura]

There actually mesenterial filaments, not the polyps. Same thing echinatas use to digest other corals, but acros tend to use them to feed, or clear space.

This tort occasionally sends a few out throughout the day but really gets excited when I feed reef roids.

 

[Scorpius]

In my experience you dont want to see messenterial filaments. For me it's a stress response.

 

[MrObscura]

I'm a noob, but after some research I'm going to have to disagree. People often think that but most cases there's no reason to associate it with stress. Acros regularly use them as a means of capturing food. They're essential stinger celled sweepers.

Mine send them out whenever food is introduced so it's clearly a feeding response. I think there's even a thread on this forum with people showing their large healthy colonies sending them out during feeding.

 

[jda]

You are assuming that whatever you are feeding is seen as food by the coral. Nobody knows for sure unless you are feeding mature rotifers, which have been proven to be the right size and right nutrition to feed SPS, but they are not good at catching them. There is no evidence at all that the other things that people feed like phyto, reef roids, etc. can be caught and digested by acropora and get any kind of benefit from it.

Most of the time, you do not want to see mess filaments... they are costly to the coral to produce. However, some people say that they see them all the time and the coral is fine. I think that it is safe to say that we do not know enough about them. I do not want to see them in my tank - my acropora grow fast enough and are colorful and there is no need for them to release any, IMO. I never do see them.

 

[MrObscura]

Well, I am just putting 2 and 2 together. Food added, and they come out.

Guess we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. From what I've read assuming they are a stress response or a sign of something negative is a baseless assumption. Whereas I personally feel there's enough evidence to suggest the opposite.

As you said they take energy to produce so a stressed, unhealthy coral isn't likely to waste said energy.

 

[Scorpius]

You are assuming that whatever you are feeding is seen as food by the coral. Nobody knows for sure unless you are feeding mature rotifers, which have been proven to be the right size and right nutrition to feed SPS, but they are not good at catching them. There is no evidence at all that the other things that people feed like phyto, reef roids, etc. can be caught and digested by acropora and get any kind of benefit from it.

Most of the time, you do not want to see mess filaments... they are costly to the coral to produce. However, some people say that they see them all the time and the coral is fine. I think that it is safe to say that we do not know enough about them. I do not want to see them in my tank - my acropora grow fast enough and are colorful and there is no need for them to release any, IMO. I never do see them.

Thanks jda for saying what I wanted to say.

 

[x2uranium]

Also torts usually never, very rarely show long filaments but hey. If it’s not dying then your on the right track. There’s a million ways to skin a cat

 

[DesertReefBoy]

I have a newly introduced PC Rainbow that is doing the same thing. I’ll post some pics tomorrow.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Well, I am just putting 2 and 2 together. Food added, and they come out.

Guess we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. From what I've read assuming they are a stress response or a sign of something negative is a baseless assumption. Whereas I personally feel there's enough evidence to suggest the opposite.

As you said they take energy to produce so a stressed, unhealthy coral isn't likely to waste said energy.

Yeah I don't see why a stressed unhealthy coral would waste energy either. I only saw them when feeding certain products like selcon and other coral foods. Or when feeding the tank heavily all at once.
To the guys that say it's a stress response, why would the coral send out filaments in response to stress? What's the point and what is the stress that causes it in your experience? I know they are used to clean way for encrusting and catching food.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Also torts usually never, very rarely show long filaments but hey. If it’s not dying then your on the right track. There’s a million ways to skin a cat

Torts were the first to show them in my last tank... I don't see them anymore since I only use pellet food and don't use coral foods or frozen food.

 

[DesertReefBoy]

So here is a pic of my PC Rainbow that has had these stringy white pieces coming out since I added him a week ago. The pink milli has a little one on the top but this is the first time I have seen them on the milli. I also just fed the fish. I’m posting this about thirty minutes after taking the pictures and the PC rainbow looks the same. The pink milli however doesn’t have the white stringy piece anymore. Not sure if this helps but seems like the milli did it to capture food. Not sure why the PC rainbow is always showing the white pieces.

Sorry for the crappy pic.