Shane,
>Thanks. I kind of thought that I should frag that spot out. I guess that is
If it continues to spread, then that is the thing to do.
>what I will do. Sort of sucks though, because it is in an area of the coral
>that has 3 branches growing from it. The spot is in an area where all 3 of
>these branches split, so I will loose all 3 of them. Oh well, better that
>then the entire coral. I may try to frag the 3 and see if they grow.
Yes, just cut out the affected area with some buffer space and then mount
the frags that you cut off.
>The color of the fading corals is just a general fading to a lighter color.
>They just don't seem to be holding the overall color from when I put them in
>the tank. The whole frag seems to lighten. It seems to be mainly with the
OK, so where did the frags come from? You will find that frags will take
on different colours in different tanks due to the variety of factors I
outline in my last email. It could be due to less zooxanthellae in the
tissue, which may be the result of either stress, enough or not enough
light Too little light and the colony looks washed out, pale and losses
colour, "too much" and it goes a bit paler as well. The latter is not
necessarily bad, especially if you are seeing similar or faster growth
rates which is an indicator of how suitable the conditions are.
>green corals (green acro and hydnophora). They arent turning to a brown, but
>more just lightening in color. It is not the tips either, which, from what I
>have read, is growth. This, as I mentioned, seems to be the entire frag. How
That is correct. The pale tips of growing corals, such as Acropora, is due
to the absence of zooxanthellae in the tissue. The amount of pale area
indicates how fast the coral is growing.
>much light can the green acros and hydnophoras take, or I should say, how
>high of a light level do they like? Right now, they are in the brightest
>spot of the tank. Thoughts? Need any more info?
Difficult thing to comment on. What would you say if I asked a question
about a green wrasse? Family is not narrow enough to determine the
conditions they live under, you have to go to the species level. Problem
is with most Acropora the average hobbyist, and even an advanced hobbyist,
has a small chance of IDing it to the correct species. Luckily though you
can ID it down to a group of several species, and they tend to be similar
to look after. If you are serious about your hard corals then it would be
advantageous to get Veron's Corals of the World. It will not tell you
aquarium conditions for a coral, it tell you things far more important than
that, it covers where you find things in the wild. From that information
you can then determine what you should be doing in your aquarium.
Of the various Acropora species I have had, all could handle being directly
underneath 250W MH up to 5cm from the water surface.
My gut feeling is that there might not be enough light for them. If the
colonies are of substantial size, then you can use the various parts of it
and the amount of light they are exposed to, to help determine if this is
the case. For example one Acropora I have is brown with green highlights.
On the underside of branches out of the direct like the tissue goes brown
with no green highlights, and as the amount of light increases so does the
amount of green present.
>Also, you mentioned plating out (encrusting) of the frags. They all did this
>pretty quickly, but now seem to have stopped. All, except the green acro and
>the hydnophora. They have not really plated out at all. The hydnophora seems
>to extend its polyps nicely, but as mentioned, is loosing color and is not
>growing. The green acro is not extending polyps, nor is it plating, but it
>is loosing color.
That tells me that they are not getting what they need out of your system,
or there is some "toxin" stressing them out. Corals that grow quickly when
put in a tank then totally stop have run out of something or are being
effected by something in your water. If you do a large percentage water
change and the growth rate increases then you know it is something in the
water, either missing or too much of it.
Check for polyp extension at night, some species will only do it then.
Polyp extension is another indicator of how the Acropora likes the water,
well that is my experience with one species that I have managed to do quite
a bit of work with. Between tanks the degree of polyp extension can be
hugely different, from no extension during the day and minor at night, to
full extension during the day such that the colony looks fluffy. With this
species I now have the feeling that the non-extension is due to high
phosphate levels, or something associated with that.
Hope that helps you out a bit, it is currently bit of a nebulous area at
the moment.
Catch ya,
DBW | The Caretaker, OZ REEF Marine Park
Melbourne | http://ozreef.org/
Australia | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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When the only tool you own is a hammer,
every problem begins to resemble a nail.
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