LPS Bleaching/Reproducing/Stress Question

[Devilishturtles]

A few weeks ago, I had to take my torch coral out of my tank to rearrange some liverock. The clowns would not stop picking me to death when I touched it. It was out of water for about...6 seconds total, round trip from tank to aerated bucket, then back to tank. I put it back in, after a water change, and it looked fine. A week or so later, 2 of the heads are starting to bleach, and I believe one has just "died".

But...one of the heads also seems to be in the process of dividing. When I started the tank, the torch coral had 5 heads. Now, a 7th is starting to form and it seems as if I can almost watch it's progress every few days.

Does a LPS sorta knock off life to some of the coral while it divides? This sounds like a stupid question, but the coral has been perfectly healthy for more than a year now, and it just started to look crappy when I have noticed the division taking place. My clowns also host it...but it's been looking fine with them in it too.

Any ideas? Did I do it in when I took it out of the tank for that short period? Is it dying? Are the clowns stressing it? Just looking for thoughts...I'm confused.

NH3-0
NO2-0
NO3-<25-30 (always has been high)
CA-400-420
pH-8.0 - 8.2

It gets plenty of indirect flow. I have 165 watts over 29 gallons. I recently added the Lobophyllia, but it sits about 10-12 inches away from the torch.

Thanks guys... :?

 

[Devilishturtles]

Nobody, huh? What do you all think about a chemical warfare issue? The Lobophyllia has started secreted some goo which I assume means it's irritated. I wonder if it's chemically irritating the Torch. I am going to add in a bag of activated carbon today and see if that helps at all, and do a water change.

Thanks.

 

[lando]

Since the speration of the two corals is that far, I do not think that chemical warefare is an issue. If water parameters are okay, then I would turn attention to the clowns. They could be irritating the coral. If this is a branching species of torch, go ahead and break off the effected head.