Who Gives A Fish Forums

I got home from work today and something's gone seriously wrong with my frogspawn coral - it was looking perfect this morning, albeit a bit shriveled up since the lights weren't on yet. But 8 hours later, I'm left staring at the hard skeleton, with the fleshy part just... gone. Spent ages searching the tank, and eventually found the flesh part way at the back, hidden behind my rock work. Everything else in the tank seems fine, even my hammer coral's looking really healthy today. The weird thing is, my frogspawn's been looking better than ever recently - it's been getting bigger and the colors have been really vibrant. Has anyone else had this happen to them before?

sadly yes, I've experienced similar issues with my frogspawn coral in the past. Have you noticed any coral receding lately? I've had limited success with reattaching the fleshy part, but I've tried using a makeshift enclosure - essentially a tupperware container filled with live rock rubble and a loose-fitting lid to minimize current and predation risks. In my experience, this kind of detachment usually indicates a significant issue, such as water chemistry problems or heavy predation. Sorry to hear you're going through this.

It's called polyp bailout, I've had a few of these instances in the past. Found some articles about it, and it seems it's not always due to water chemistry issues. Apparently, it can happen when the colony's not happy with its surroundings. It's also a way for the mother colony to reproduce by forming new colonies off the original branches. I've had three of these bailouts survive and start forming new skeletons.