Frogspawn concern/questions...

nm reef

nm reef

Active Member
I've had a brillant green frogspawn in my reef for about 12 months now. Origionally it had 7 heads and since adding it there have been about 10 new heads develope. I'm confident the coral is healthy and it has never shown any signs of a problem. But...for the past few weeks I've been watching what appears to be a ball of some sort develope on one of the heads. The best way I can describe it is by saying it appears to be a milky colored ball that covers one entire head. At night when the coral closes it also closes somewhat...during the day I have seen this growth expand to about the size of a golf ball...it doesn't appear to be causing any trouble...but this type of growth on a frogspawn is totally new to me. I thought I'd post a few pics of it and see if any members have experience and/or comments. The first pics below are of the coral last night about 1 hr after lights out.


 
nm reef

nm reef

Active Member
These next pics were taken within the past hr...daily this sac or ball expands to about this same size....any idea what this may be?

 
007

007

Active Member
Perhaps it is some sort of spawning mechanism . . . . I dont know for sure, but i am curious to know.
 
nm reef

nm reef

Active Member

Originally posted by 007
Perhaps it is some sort of spawning mechanism . . . . I dont know for sure, but i am curious to know.
That has been my thinking also....I've been watching it closely but I've seen nothing inside the mass...It appears empty(water/air)...Very strange and not something I've ever run across...I don't plan to "pop" it I assure you...for now I just monitor it and hope it doesn't indicate a problem with my coral. That frogspawn has more than doubled in size and I hope to keep it for a very long time.:cool:
 
wrassecal

wrassecal

Active Member
Mine has that ball too. I don't know what it is and when fully expanded during the day you can't see it very well. I'd get a pic real quick but my camera is charging. Mine has done that for several months now but, is still growing new heads and looking good. I call it a big bubble and when mine closes up at night the bubble goes all the way down.
 
jugger

jugger

Member
ever since i read this post mine started to do the same thing...thanks...JK.. ill try and get a pic....how is yours doing??? still puffing up and no bad signs yet???
 
iechy

iechy

Member
This is really weird but I signed on expecting to ask about the bubble that my frogspawn was blowing only to find the pictures of yours doing the exact thing. I touched it and it doesn't seem to be filled with anything. This is myt first frogspawn and I've had it for about 5 months. It started when the temperature cooled down but I am thinking that is probably a coincidence and not a sign of anything. I hope someone knows about this to put our minds at ease.
 
nm reef

nm reef

Active Member
The bubble is still there and hasn't changed much...except maybe a bit bigger. I don't know what it is...what caused it...or what its function is...but I keep a real close watch on it(but I haven't touched it or messed with it in any way). Apparently it doesn't cause any damage because the coral is as heathy as ever and shows no signs of stress and/or disease.:cool:
 
T

therock0861

Guest
It is never a good sign when they appear, but it is not often/always fatal either. The least worrisome explanation is that a polyp ball is forming for polyp bailout due to another coral stinging it or simply being placed too close. A bigger concern is if they coral is suffering light shock from being new and placed too bright or too shallow without proper acclimation... or... if it is established, but the tank has seen a sudden increase in light (fresh carbon, large water changes, cleaning dirty lamps or lenses/canopies, new bulbs, etc
 
jugger

jugger

Member

Originally posted by Kipass4130
my hammer had one of these bubbles... the outcome... well... the heater malfunctioned and killed the whole tank... so i never got to see what came of the bubble in the middle of the hammer coral
i hope the bubble on mine doesnt cause my heater to malfunction aswell... lol..... jk
 
bigmac

bigmac

Member
I wonder if its how they spawn? I'm far from an expert on them. I know mine grew like made for a few years, then one day I found a few small offspring in the tank, they were like a half inch in size. I don't recall a bubble like the one you have but that doesn't mean it wasn't there, only I didn't see it.
Maybe Terry would know?
 
nm reef

nm reef

Active Member
None of the situations above apply...the coral is in a very healthy condition...no recent changes in lighting...no fluctuations in water chemistry...this coral has been in place for about a year...since adding it the heads have more than doubled. There are no potential bad neighbors near by...I do have a hammer/bubble/torch but they are on the other side of the reef...so no warfare going on.
There are a few sorces where I may be able to get some additional info on this white/clear bubble. If I find anything I'll forward it along.:cool:
 
wrassecal

wrassecal

Active Member
Update - the bubble in my frogspawn is gone now. I'll post if it comes back. I got so used to it the last couple months, I had to go and check closely to make sure it was gone. I'm really interested to see if we find out what actually cause these. None of the above applied to mine either. No changes, the frogspawn has been in there over a year and multiplying and growing nicely.
 
nm reef

nm reef

Active Member
A few responses at another site indicate this is a fairly common occurance with frogspawn and may be associated with heads splitting. I'm not sure that mine is splitting but the first pic above does have a few new tentacles surrounding the bubble....so possibly thats whats going on. But this coral has grown several new heads over the past year and this is the first bubble like growth I've seen.
 
rook

rook

Member
Did you try asking Eric Borreman? If anyone could determine what that was, I imagine he could.
 
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