Brain Spawning?

[vinny73]

My wifes nano has an open brain in it that recently has really swollen up. Not your average little extra puffy swollen either. We lost a plate coral in there over last weekend that killed the fish and shrimp. Probably lack of oxygen. It has no skimmer and is only a 6 gallon. Since then the brain has become very huge. It was say the size of a baseball. Now its passing the size of a softball and comin close to a volleyball. 4 days have now passed and today we noticed some small gumball sized clear bubbles in the tank. Allmost exactly like the bubbles of a bubble coral. Has it expanded cause it is feeding? There is no polyp extension. Or is it full of poison like some corals do? I heard they store the poison in their cells causeing them to appear puffy. Started running carbon for the 1st time on monday and it has shrunk a very little. Any ideas or advice?

[vinny73]

Anyone have any ideas?

[vinny73]

Here's a photo. Best I could do with a camera phone and email.

[nahtanoj]

wow, hmm, have you done waterchanges since the death of the other stuff? it is possible it is reacting to the dirty water, but generally it would deflate, vice inflate. it very well could be spawning, i don't know what a open brains spawn looks like, but many sea creatures will spawn when water conditions are unfavorable, a last ditch effort before they die to ensure life goes on.
i'd do a water change for sure if you haven't, if you have, maybe another.

[vinny73]

There's about 3 loose bubbles and maybe more to come. Not sure what it's doing but this is the best picture I could get.

[clowningaround]

The brain is fine along with the other corals. They are all happy and huge. I lost one little fish and a shrimp over the weekend. (One of the downfalls to having a tank at work.) I know the picture isn't that great but it looks like there is a little something inside the bubble. Very intersting to watch. Oh and the bubbles are only coming out of one it's openings.

[vinny73]

With it only being a 6g, we did a 100 percent change. Even flushed out the sandbed. It hasn't looked this good since we got it. It was in our 240 and allmost dead. It started coming back with color nicely. Now its huge.

[vinny73]

Here's another view of it.