Open Brain Coral Puking

[Scott]

My wife and I were just staring at the tank like it's a television (I do this a lot)

All of a sudden, the open brain coral opened it's mouth and spit out a big cloud of orange-y slime. It had pretty much closed itself up for the prior two hours after behaving normally all day which I thought a little odd.

Then 15 minutes or so later it did it again, but a smaller amount.

Now it's closed up tight (though the lights have turned off).

It may have done this before, I just haven't seen it.

It's fairly new but has been doing well. I haven't fed it anything in a few days, though some rearranging of rock last night to make room for a few new corals caused some serious sediment to float around and land on it. I did give it a wave to clean it off.

Reason for concern? Hopefully just some indigestion.

Here he is during a happier moment...

 

[Gina McReeferson]

No problem, he's just pooping.

Ours does that, and for some disguisting reason, our fish eat it.

 

[reefinghabit]

they are like anemones after they digest there food they crap it out.

 

[Scott]

Thanks guys.

Gina, does yours also have the blob you can see in the picture? I can't tell if it's part of the coral or some waste. It's pretty well stuck there. I can't wave it away, and gentle prodding doesn't budge it.

 

[Greg Hiller]

Since you've not fed the coral in several days, I believe that the 'pooping' that you are seeing is actually the coral regulating the amount of symbiotic algae within it's tissues. It's common for many LPS to emit some brownish liquid, particularly near the end of the light cycle.