Green Turbinera Stung by Torch??

[erid]

Sup all?

I have a green Turbinera frag that I purchased from pacific east in July. It was doing fine and growing well up to two weeks ago when I remounted my torch about 5-6 inches below it. Some of the polyps retracted on the side near the torch and the holes have a brown film covering them.
I noticed that the fuzzy, pastell green, base looks pale in those areas.

I moved the torch and things seem to be recovering slowly. What do you think? Will a torch usually sting?

And oh, yes my water chemistry is great, no questions there.

 

[Phyl]

Yes, the sweepers from a torch/frogspawn/hammer can and will sting nearby corals. That is their turf defense mechanism and they'll use it fight to the death. Best to keep them apart from other non-euphellia species.

 

[mladencovic]

Yes, the sweepers from a torch/frogspawn/hammer can and will sting nearby corals. That is their turf defense mechanism and they'll use it fight to the death. Best to keep them apart from other non-euphellia species.

Just remember - Euphyllia sp. can have fast and massive growth. These two were 5-6" apart 10 months ago

 

[erid]

Thanks Guy's. Will the affected base tissue/polyps recover? It looks like it may.
If it gets any worse I'll nip the bad areas.

Erik

 

[mladencovic]

Well, I have a mixed experience with my corals: it all depends on how fast is the stung coral growing. The stung tissue recedes and disappears, leaving the skeleton. At this point, this skeleton, in my tank, is the fighting ground between the coral that wants to reclaim it and algae. If the coral grows fast it will win and will grow over the exposed skeleton with little scarring. If, on the other hand it is not growing aggressively, that part becomes a "dead zone" and coral has difficulty recovering it.