Torch Trouble? Or splitting?

[aj107]

Hey...
Wondering if anyone out there has had a torch split and form new heads?
Ive only owned one for a short while a few years ago... and after setting up my new nano, I put a gorgeous piece in with 2 heads.
Anyways... its been looking really good latley, fully extending etc. I was even looking at it tonigh marveling at how big it was getting.
Long story short, I turned my back, and looked back and it had started to retract... which it has always done for short bursts here and there.
Anyways, this time I noticed that among the tenticles were these longer mucusy looking hairy strands... just a couple... but nasty looking all the same.
As the heads retracted further I noticed a split in the centre of the larger head... The head is about 2" accross, and the split is right in the centre... running 1/2 way accross the head.
You can see down inside the skeleton slightly,
Ive seen an unhealthy coral before... and this dosnt look like that, its not expelling its algeas, and its not rotting or deteriorating... not to mention that it looked about as good as I had ever seen it a few minutes prior.
Am I unaware of somthing that can happen to these guys?
Or am I seeing what may be the start of the head splitting into 2 new branches?
Has anyone out there come accross somting like this?
I'll try to post a picture.
Any opinions are welcome!!!

 

[dplantz]

I don't know much but maybe its the sweeper tentacles or feeding tentacles? Could just be splitting.

 

[dplantz]

Here pulled off google.com
Like many corals, Caulastrea have distinct feeding mechanisms. During the day, they swell to expose the maximum surface area to the light so that their zooxanthellae can photosynthesise. After dark, they deflate and produce long stinging tentacles to catch planktonic prey.
Captive propagation is particularly easy - a colony can be split by breaking apart the skeleton, with no risk of damage to any living tissue.
To add to what I pulled from above, this can happen naturally.
Hope I helped.

 

[aj107]

Yeah... that sounds about right.
These didnt look like typical stinging sweeper tenticles... they were brownish and mucusy in colour.
Regardless... it wasnt but an hour later and things had returned to normal.
There was still a visible split in the centre... but everything else was happy and healthy.