Mesenterial Filaments ?

[Reefkid88]

So tonight I did a water change,and after turning just the blues on,I noticed my Joe the Coral had some white stringing stuff extruding from its skin,not out of the Where the polyps come from. I did nothing out of the ordinary,but reading online it seems to be Mesenterial Filaments which is expelled when coral defend themselves. It looks identical to say a mushroom when it gets pissed.

 

I checked for AEFW with a macro lens and couldn't see anything,and nothing else is excreting anything... Any suggestions ?

[Builder Anthony]

Sure quit pissing off your corals

 

Maybe the saltwater wasn't mixed long enough

[Reefkid88]

Sure quit pissing off your corals

 

Maybe the saltwater wasn't mixed long enough

Thank you for you constructive criticism,lol. I always mix my water for 2.5-3 hours along with temp matching.

 

How do your SPS look sir ?

[Arkayology]

If it's not coming from the polyps, it's probably just coral mucus.

[Reefkid88]

If it's not coming from the polyps, it's probably just coral mucus.

After doing some research that's what I figured out. They retracted a few short minutes later. It's so weird,it looks better than it ever has today.

[Builder Anthony]

The problem you have is your not mixing water correctly in my opinion.mix in hot water and throw at least a bubbler in it for three days.try that and see if your results are better.you pro ally tick off your snails really bad and it will kill snails and certain shrimp.what's most likely happening is undisolved salt is landing on your corals burning them.but u can mix however you want its not tank

[Reefkid88]

The problem you have is your not mixing water correctly in my opinion.mix in hot water and throw at least a bubbler in it for three days.try that and see if your results are better.you pro ally tick off your snails really bad and it will kill snails and certain shrimp.what's most likely happening is undisolved salt is landing on your corals burning them.but u can mix however you want its not tank

Idk what salt you're using that you need to mix for more than a few hours.... Maybe you need to rethink your mixing regiment. If it takes more than 1-2 to fully dissolve,you've got some issues. I use Red Sea Coral Pro,always have and always will,and it clearly states "DO NOT mix more than 4 hours". I mix for 2.5-3 at max never and sediment,or undissolved salts nor organics in my mixing container. The pump I use is a 200gph pump,in a 3qt container. So,the amount I'm mixing is super small,seeming my tank is 2.1 gallons.

[Mr. Microscope]

was it exposed during the water change? +1 to ark, probably just sliming a little.

[Reefkid88]

was it exposed during the water change? +1 to ark, probably just sliming a little.

Nope,no coral are. i think it was from when my zoa's slimmed up,some of their mucus got caught on it mnd it was trying to defend itself.

[Mariaface]

I've had the filaments come out during feeding time, when a coral's trying to eat something it's decided is too large for polyps. I've also had them come out when an acanthastrea was terrorizing everything else in the tank. Maybe your WCs and carbon aren't quite enough to bring down the chemical warfare? Just guessing.

[patback]

The problem you have is your not mixing water correctly in my opinion.mix in hot water and throw at least a bubbler in it for three days.try that and see if your results are better.you pro ally tick off your snails really bad and it will kill snails and certain shrimp.what's most likely happening is undisolved salt is landing on your corals burning them.but u can mix however you want its not tank

hot water? you know calcium actually dissipates before it ever gets in your tank if you mix in hot water....

 

 

 

Idk what salt you're using that you need to mix for more than a few hours.... Maybe you need to rethink your mixing regiment. If it takes more than 1-2 to fully dissolve,you've got some issues. I use Red Sea Coral Pro,always have and always will,and it clearly states "DO NOT mix more than 4 hours". I mix for 2.5-3 at max never and sediment,or undissolved salts nor organics in my mixing container. The pump I use is a 200gph pump,in a 3qt container. So,the amount I'm mixing is super small,seeming my tank is 2.1 gallons.

wierd that it says do not mix for more than 4 hours, once it goes in the tank, it "mixes" non stop until you drain it all out again. lol

[Builder Anthony]

No I did not know hot water screws up calcium but I do dose it with strodium.I really doubt there's coral warfare going on.I never use red sea salt so maybe their instructions are best.I do know corals feed using filaments but I don't think that's the case.I still think its microscopic salt landing on the corals.but its all a opinion and there's no real way to tell what's going on and the owner should know bestMaybe try adding in the new water very slowly over time and record when things start acting up then next water change stick to that amount of new water.if you have that problem I would suggest being real real real careful if you decide to add shrimp because I seen them go into shock and death from changes in salt t levels

 

Air exposer to corals also can produce this so maybe it was out of water a min.

[atrox]

Corals feed via their polyps.

 

First a picture in this situation would put a lot of speculation to rest.

 

Second mixing salt with hot water is laughable and totally wrong advice.

 

Thirdly take a picture so we can actually see what's going on.

[Reefkid88]

I've had the filaments come out during feeding time, when a coral's trying to eat something it's decided is too large for polyps. I've also had them come out when an acanthastrea was terrorizing everything else in the tank. Maybe your WCs and carbon aren't quite enough to bring down the chemical warfare? Just guessing.

It's just so weird though,because there's nothing really around it to "terrorize" it. Theres other SPS,but no Zoa's nor Acan's. Normally when I feed my Acan's (Dr.G's LPS Frenzy/CV) the SPS go crazy and catch all the tiny tinnny particles,but never extend out the filaments like how my JTC did.

 

I also do 35-40% water chances and have 3/4 cup of carbon with a half a table spoon of GFO in my AC50.

 

Corals feed via their polyps.

 

First a picture in this situation would put a lot of speculation to rest.

 

Second mixing salt with hot water is laughable and totally wrong advice.

 

Thirdly take a picture so we can actually see what's going on.

Hahaha so true. I literally took that advice with a grain of salt lol no pun intended. That's the problem.. I did the update for my iPhone and since then haven't been able to upload pictures to photobucket nor Flickr....

[GHill762]

there is no reason to mix your water for hours.. once it's dissolved and clear it's ready to use (so long as temp and salinity are correct).. a while back there was actually a large group effort to test water of different manufacturers at different intervals to see if there was any change with mixing more (like ph, kh, etc.), and past about 15-20 minutes there were no differences..

 

as far as the filaments are concerned, they can come out for several reasons, they can be pissed off, they can be happy, etc.. they do it when they battle, they do it when they feed. I get a mesenterial filament response when I put fish oil in my food slurry for coral feeding..

[Chris!]

I have done water changes in full blown acro tanks personally and commercially, always mixed the water for a few minutes (with high flow) until it was clear drained what needed to be drained and NEVER had an issue, I don't even worry about getting the water to temp unless its a large WC as most small (by scale not necessarily volume) WCs aren't going to make a huge difference in overall temp

 

Like GHill said ^, just cuz they were out doesn't mean they were pissed off.

[Reefkid88]

there is no reason to mix your water for hours.. once it's dissolved and clear it's ready to use (so long as temp and salinity are correct).. a while back there was actually a large group effort to test water of different manufacturers at different intervals to see if there was any change with mixing more (like ph, kh, etc.), and past about 15-20 minutes there were no differences..

 

as far as the filaments are concerned, they can come out for several reasons, they can be pissed off, they can be happy, etc.. they do it when they battle, they do it when they feed. I get a mesenterial filament response when I put fish oil in my food slurry for coral feeding..

Majority of the time,my water gets mixed this long because I'll put my according amount of salt,plug in my pump and hop on Xbox one and end up playing for numerous hours lol. It's usually crystal clear after about 10-15 minutes so,time really isn't a concern lol.

 

I have done water changes in full blown acro tanks personally and commercially, always mixed the water for a few minutes (with high flow) until it was clear drained what needed to be drained and NEVER had an issue, I don't even worry about getting the water to temp unless its a large WC as most small (by scale not necessarily volume) WCs aren't going to make a huge difference in overall temp

 

Like GHill said ^, just cuz they were out doesn't mean they were pissed off.

Exactly. The only salt I've ever had a issue with,was Reef Crystals when I had my girlfriends .9 set up. It had A LOT of undissolved stuff at the bottom of the bucket. Other than that,RSCP had streeted me well. If it wasn't for what I said to Ghill,my water would be mixed,and used on my tank in and around 20-30 minutes lol. Half the time I forget I'm even mixing water hahaha.

[Mr. Microscope]

If the water you used to do the water change had a different temp, that can cause some sliming.

[Reefkid88]

If the water you used to do the water change had a different temp, that can cause some sliming.

I try my hardest to get the temp between .5-.7 as I can to my tank temp which is usually between 77.6-78.4ish. I have noticed though,that due to poor insulating in my house,one time the tank got 80* and everything looked absolutely amazing. I try and keep it where it usually is though and never have problems.

[Mr. Microscope]

ok, so the long and short of it..

don't worry. it's probably fine

[Builder Anthony]

I do use reef crystal and do notice the white buildup of material.So maybe that's why I mix for days to be safe.I will stop mixing in hot water and give it a try.what I think you should try though is figireing out how much new water causes the filaments to appear and then you can do that amount of water change to elimante the filament issue if you think it is bad.

I learned something new......no hot water.

[basser1]

I use RSCP with great results. And as has been stated already, there is no need to mix it for any great length of time. Matter of fact, after I've mixed it, I usually use it a half hour later.

 

Here's a good video on how to mix it and why.....

[Chris!]

I do use reef crystal and do notice the white buildup of material.So maybe that's why I mix for days to be safe.I will stop mixing in hot water and give it a try.what I think you should try though is figireing out how much new water causes the filaments to appear and then you can do that amount of water change to elimante the filament issue if you think it is bad. I learned something new......no hot water.

 

Do you heat the water to be "hot" or do you just run hot tap water....... Heating it to your reefs temp would be absolutely fine but you don't want it to be over reef temp.

 

I just wanna make sure your hot and my thoughts on hot are the same thing cuz I am thinking hot as in over reef temp, or hot straight outta the tap hot.... Either way both those would be bad choices tho lol

[atrox]

If you are adding salt to a 5 gallon bucket to get 1.026 and you add that amount to let's say 2 gallons of water while you're filling with water to get 5 gallons then you will in fact see white particles. Also if you add salt that is hard large lumps them this too will cause white particles that will never settle. Do not use salt that is clumped if you don't want particles. You can still use the clumpy salt but calcium levels will be considerably less than a dry batch of salt.

[Builder Anthony]

Ya well its hot enough you don't want to keep your hand in it but I guess I knobed it up doing that.I like letting it mix a few days though so I'll keep doing that.I been mixing salt like that for years.I only use reef crystals but maybe I'll try red sea salt.I just bought a bag of reef crystals though.well I feel salty offering bad advice I just try to get things right and well this proves no ones ever completely right about everything.