Strange Long-Term Favia Growth/Bubble

[Comic_Reef]

Good afternoon
Just wanted to post here to see if anyone has any history or experience with large growths on favia or other similar species of coral. Attached are some photos.

I have had this CC Rambo Favia (which I have nicknamed Two-Face) since February 2022. Around early-2023, one section of the coral began to bloat and bubble a bit. Having read through a couple posts on the internet I decided to leave it alone and let it do what it was going to do while also keeping an eye on it, making sure it remained healthy.

Flash forward a year and this "bubble" had gotten quite large. The coral continues to grow, feed and is otherwise in good health as far as I can tell but one whole part of it is bloated and lightly bobbles around in the flow. The bubble itself inflates and deflates like the rest of the coral and even appears to have mouths with one end weighted down by what I can only assume is a separate skeletal feature in one of the polyps while the rest just bobbles about.

Any ideas what this might be and if it could be detrimental to the long term health of the animal?

Par on Favia: 150
Alk: 8.0-8.2
Cal: 400
Mag: 1400
No3: 5ppm
Po4: 0.13ppm
pH: 8-8.4

 

[KrisReef]

Almost looks like it is "branching" which is probably not the correct term but may reasonably describe the growth pattern you are asking about.

Lets see what the Board Knows about this.

 

[TeamAquaSD Verified Sponsor]

I have seen this only a handful of times at our shop (funnily enough mostly in favias) but I have seen it happen to chalices and fungia plate coral as well.

I believe it to be essentially a "tumor" due to our manmade lighting.
Not sure what it means as far as long term health or if it could be spread but I have not seen a coral perish (not immediately atleast) from it.

 

[Comic_Reef]

I have seen this only a handful of times at our shop (funnily enough mostly in favias) but I have seen it happen to chalices and fungia plate coral as well.

I believe it to be essentially a "tumor" due to our manmade lighting.
Not sure what it means as far as long term health or if it could be spread but I have not seen a coral perish (not immediately atleast) from it.

Very interesting.
I don't believe it to be contagious, at least not yet. It has sat nearby a few other Favia since having the bubble but none of them have shown any signs of swelling.

I'll continue to let it be and fake brag that I have a rare bounce Favia. Very interested to see what this thing will look like if the other end develops into its own colony. Two colonies connected by a bridge of fleshy polyps

 

[crazyfishmom]

I think bounce mushrooms or the phenomenon is also believed to be the result of tumor like growth. At least in mushrooms it just seems to continue on to the offspring but doesn't seem to affect the parent coral negatively. Very interesting and very cool.