[thezookeeper]

Hi all. I have a frag of Montipora Capricornis. Since I have had it, I discovered a small diseased edge on it. I found out that the mother colony it was taken from had this as well and it must have spread. Anyway, on advice, I fragged that small piece off. That was 4 weeks ago, give or take. It was doing awesome after that. It has actually grown, or what I call growing. It seemingly attached itself to the rock it is on and looked to be spreading over the rock. Almost like melting. But it was all polyped out, so I thought, "Cool". Well, today I notice that the light brown color that normally is there in a majority of the coral seems to be fading to white. I have heard of bleaching, but I do not know if this is what is happening. What causes it? The coral is placed high in the aquarium with med. to strong current under MH Iwasaki 250's. Is the spreading or melting thing I described common? And more importantly, is this coral a goner for me and what caused it? Is there anything I can do for it? Thank you very much.


Joanne

[thezookeeper]

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[scubadude]

Sorry I have been away alot lately.... I have been having a few probs with my M. Capricornis too lately (the mother colony) Im pretty sure that I got rid of the bubble algae as I have added the sea swirl to my tank and yes I was getting light bleaching but now it appears to be coming back, as far as what causes it I think there are a few variables that cause it but I believe the #1 cause is HEAT! I mean think about it you probably have it close to the top of the water column ( I did ) and that in itself would cause more heat problems....not to mention that we are in the hottest time of the year. There are other things as well that could cause bleaching such as Disease (Maybe that pesky algae), bacteria, solar radiation...etc etc. IMO I would give it time or maybe even move it lower in the water column, but make sure it has good current still and good lighting....you will have to use judgement call too im sure....i mean if one section is PURE white and its spreading then by all means frag what is still good and trash the rest!....but I have seen this colony almost get pure white then totally come back...and chances are that since you have a frag from the same colony that it has the same problem. I will try and get a pic up of mine if I get a chance

[thezookeeper]

Thanks Rocky. I have not had any temp. flux. at all. I suspect that this coral is just diseased in some way. It appears to be bleaching, it does not appear to be loosing tissue. I will give it time (always) before I make any decisions. If you can, send me a pic of the mother colony and I can compare. Thank you!!!!!!!!


Joanne