[o2manyfish]

Hey all,

I know this will be one of those dumb posts, at the moment, but enthusiasm overcome patience. I got a new Monti today and was wondering if it is unusual.

I can't post a photo yet, it's in my outdoor prop tank, no lights only sunshine.

It looks like a Monti Cap, it's about 4.5" across, at the moment it is shades of brown on the surface, but the edge is Red/Pink.

In the center of the colony however it's growing fingers upward like a digitata.

I went and checked on it tonight, and it had some polyps extending from the lip edge, and from the tips of the fingers growing up out of the center.

I am new to the SPS, so I wasn't sure if this was an unusual Cap, or just something I haven't seen before.

Thanks,

Dave


PS - I will post photos tomorrow.

[SueT]

Dave, there are several species of plating montipora that do indeed have "nodules" that can grow upwards from the edge to growing upwards from the center. Color is widely varied. I will be very interested in seeing pics though. Veron's set of books is great to browse through to give you some thoughts as to actual species although that can be very hard to do with any sps coral. I have a hunter green plating montipora with a deep purple edge and have had it for a couple of years. It is only now starting to grow some nodules. You just never know with these amazing corals.

Practical Fishkeeping mag's. April 2003-featured system.
my 180 ecosystem sps/clam tank:
http://berlinmethod.com/suet/
my 120 ecosystem sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html

[scubadude]

Dave,

As much as you are getting involved into the hobby you desperately need to take more pics Ya know everyone gets so used to labeling any monti that plates a cap, and they are Soooo diverse! and not to mention can change from sys to sys.......Would love to see some pics too. Im just now getting back into montis after dealing with problems of outbreaks of the dreaded monti nudibranchs so I will warn ya that if you start laying down some serious $$ on some of these pieces to try and setup a quarantine system. Im sure Sue has been there done that too. My camera bit the dust on me but I have a plating monti that is brown with purple edges and has very profound white tips, that is starting to grow like a banshee Cant wait to get my new camera

[o2manyfish]

Hey Guys,

I went out this morning and took some photos. Scubadude, I have lots of photos, and take pics of everything. It's just getting the edited and sized, and the posted and linked. It's a pain. As you are aware, I am on different boards, cause each board is good for certain things. So multi-posting is a pain.

And tonight I couldn't figure how to upload photos to reefland. So these photos are cross linked for the moment. I was originally hosting the photos on my own web site, but some photos get so many hits they were killing my band width....

But for the Monti






So these pics were taken about 11ish on Wed am. I had to take apart my second prop tank to drill a hole in the side for the flow. When we were putting the frags back in in around 5ish, I noticed that after spending a day in the sun the red edges had started turning purple. And the brown surface area was turning either a light yellow or pale blue.

When I picked up this monti it was underneath a commercial aquaspace light with 250w 10K HQI and the Sml Actinic PC.

Scubadude, I know your system is outside, do you find that the colors change quickly in natural sunlight ?

For example, I had the base of a purple Acro I fragged in January in the top of my display tank. It was brown, not growing and not dying. The lights are 175w German 10K in the display tank. I moved it over the weekend to the outside tank, and within 3 days the colony is turning purple.

I have 1 of those little white Nudibranch's in my tank. I lost a metallic green monti cap to it. I saw it one day, but it wasn't till later in the afternoon, that one of my SPS buddies told me to be on the look out for the little white bastard. So I keep and eye on the tank, but have not seen him since.

Dave

[reefer on a budget]

o2manyfish,
be cautious of those white nudis. if you see one, you most likely have several of them. when i found out i had them, i already had lost a few pieces. its a trying battle to get rid of them but very possible.

[scubadude]

Dave you should be able to salvage that, I dont think its a monti either....I think its Acropora Efflorescens....Awesome score! As far as coloring outside I think that Natural sunlight will make a big difference especially if its uninhibited....see with my greenhouse I have glazing and shade cloth over my tanks with your tank you have nothing thats one of the reasons Im so interested in your setup. At first I was having problems getting colors out in the greenhouse but now they are starting to come back around....I think it was a problem w/ flow and/or alk & ca. but for the most part im finding that alot of my corals are starting to color up nicely out in the greenhouse. Certain ones are definately more apparent though....A prime example is Seriatopora (birdsnest) kinda has a dull pink in my system indoors under MH's but in the greenhouse it has a screaming nuclear pink color which is unreal! Dude I totally agree w/ reefer on a budget about the nudis....if you have one then STOP adding ANY montis into your system and analyze ALL montis at night (they are nocturnal), because these guys can and will devastate most (if not all) of your montis in no time flat! I would take all montis out and scrub areas known with the nudis then do Iodine dips then rinse (w/tankwater) the pieces and put them in an isolated tank.....you really need to starve your system of montis for a couple of months before you put any more in.

[SueT]

I have to say that isn't a montipora at all. It is either acropora efflourescens or solitaryensis. Actually it is almost identical to my solitaryensis colony. So for you Dave this is a way bigger score than any kind of montipora you could find. IMO... It should come around for you too. I have found with my 2{1 frag from Chris Jacobs and 1 colony} that solitaryensis are quite hardy. The frag I have of efflourescens from Ron Coleman is now a small colony. I'm going to say this is a solitaryensis due to the spacing to the right of center of this coral. Efflourescens is usually a solid plate whereas solitaryensis will have some spacing where the branches fuse.

Just to note that I have not had any of the montipora nudis.

Practical Fishkeeping mag's. April 2003-Featrued reef system.
my 180 ecosystem sps/clam tank:
http://berlinmethod.com/suet/
my 120 ecosystem sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html

[reefer on a budget]

for comparison here is a tyree solitaryensis:
note: the ligth area is from fragging a branch that was shading the area

[reefer on a budget]

here is another angle

[o2manyfish]

Sue and Reefer,

Thanks for the info and the photos. What color should this coral be. When I got it the flat area was brown and the edges were red.

As of today, the edges are very very light, the very center of the coral is brown and the majority of the flat area has gone light yellow.

Given that this coral is not as branching as the photo, what is the recommendation for fragging? How long should I wait to frag?

Thanks again for your knowledge and insight.

Dave

[SueT]

Dave, I wouldn't even try to frag this coral until it heals and looks a lot better. Obviously it is stressed due to the lack of lighting it came from. Another problem is fragging these plating acropora. When it is a plate like this the only way to frag it is going to be hit or miss. You'll either get a bunch of tiny pieces or a couple of nice big chunks. That is why I refuse to frag my big colony. There just isn't any way to get a good break. When they grow like ROAB's it is a lot easier as you can break a tip, but when they are not as grown out as his it is a lot harder unless you want to end up with a bunch of pieces. Still though I would let this coral settle in before you frag or try to. Let it recover and heal some. Going from the lighting it had to full sun is going to be a big change too.

HTH..

Practical Fishkeeping mag's. April 2003-Featured reef system.
my 180 ecosystem sps/clam tank:
http://berlinmethod.com/suet/
my 120 ecosystem sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html

[o2manyfish]

SueT

Thanks for the info. Do you happen to have a photo of your colony?

By the end of yesterday the outer flat area was pretty much Yellow all the way around. Only the center fingers were still brown.

One of the areas' that is lighter in the original photo may have gone white, it was difficult to tell last night if the tissue was gone or not.

I will try to shoot some more photos today. However, it is overcast here.

Thanks for everything,

Dave

[PerryinCA]

Dave,

It sounds like it may be bleaching in a shock state. I would think about lowering it...particularly if it is from a tank or area with really low light.

Regards,

Perry

[SueT]

Dave, sorry I missed this. No, I don't have any pics of my colony. Don't have a camera. It is a diameter of about 7". My frag which is a small-ish colony now is about 3".

How is that solitaryensis of your's coming?? How is it making the transition to full sun?? I was going to completely agree with Perry in that going from 250w 10k to full blown LA sun might be too much for this coral to handle.

Practical Fishkeeping mag's. April 2003-Featured reef system.
my 180 ecosystem sps/clam tank:
http://berlinmethod.com/suet/
my 120 ecosystem sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html

[o2manyfish]

Hey Everyone,

I wanted to share the status of my Acro Efflo that I had initially thought was a Monti.

The Colony turned Yellow with a purple rim. It then suffered substantial die off on the flat plating surface.

About 2/3 of the edge remained purple. And there was no die off in the center area with the upward reaching growth.

Strangely, when you turn the colony over there is no tissue loss on any of the underside of the colony.

Worried that it was unhappy and I would loose the colony I fragged apart the least happy looking edge and then spread it to 3 other people's tanks to try to save it.

The remaining mother colony, has not lost any further tissue. And you can see from the poor photos That the edge I broke from has grown purple tissue over it.

Sorry for the poor photos, we had rain here in So Cal in big quantities last night and I wanted to get some photos today, but things are overcast so the colors are not vibrant.