white mouth on hammer coral

[littlebeard]

My hammer has this white mouth.

Became an issue after an alk spike during vacation. Anything I should worry about? The other heads are fine.

 

[vetteguy53081]

It’s poriferan sponge
Take hammer out and place in container of tank water. Remove from container and expose sponge to air. Then using tweezers, carefully remove the sponge and it’s filaments. And return to tank.
Alternative method would be to inject the sponge with air or vinegar and it will start to wilt.

 

[littlebeard]

Removed the coral from the water to get a closer look. I believe it's part of the hammer corals mouth as it retracted near instantly when removed from water. Wonder if this is a case of a bad split or split in progress? Also noticing a few buds at the base of the coral.

 

[James M]

Looks like the hammers mesenterial filaments not a sponge

 

[littlebeard]

Looks like the hammers mesenterial filaments not a sponge

Very interesting. Any reason those would be out? The nearest coral is a split from the same hammer. Not much in terms of corals near it. Now that I put it back in, and the hammer has partially opened back up it's gone!

 

[TheNewGuy321]

any update what happened?