Octobubble trouble

[Hara]

my octobubble has either been inflating irregualrly or not at all for the last 5 days. No tank parameters have changed. Do they just go through spells like this?

 

[reefrunner69]

Can we get a pic?? Open and closed.

 

[Hara]

I am at work, when I get home tonight I will post a pic..I have one of it fully inflated in the gallery.

 

[reefrunner69]

Has there been any change in waterflow, or have you replaced any GAC, has it been moved recently?

 

[Hara]

no changes of any kind that I am aware of

 

[reefrunner69]

hmmm, does it, has it always had seperate lobes? It could be splitting.

 

[Hara]

always has had seperate lobes.

 

[Hara]

I have browsed through all the old pictures had taken and cannot verify whether or not this has split. My husband thinks all the polyp areas were connected before and now the right lobe is not connected with tissue in any way.

Should I just leave it like this, connected via the stoney part? Should an effort be made to break off the piece?

 

[reefrunner69]

If you want to break it off, I would wait a bit longer, until it has at least a couple of inches of skeleton separating it. Then you should be very careful separating the two halves so as not to tear the tissue. I have never done this with anything but a branching type coral, I have read, however, that a dremel comes in very handy for this type of job. If it were me (unless I were pressed for space), I would allow nature to do it's thing, but that is just me.

 

[Hara]

I am in no hurry, have tons of space. I just wanted to make sure to do what was right by this guy. Please tell me the progression of what to expect next.

 

[reefrunner69]

There is not a whole lot to tell, once all the tissue is separated, it should start opening regularly again, and then both halves will continue to grow. The separation will simply add to the complexity of the shape, it maybe that when it is completely open you will not even notice that it is separated. If you don't already, you may want to feed it, chopped krill usually works well, if the fish and critters will allow it to have it