newf99 Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Hi All,I'm just venturing into the world of SPS corals. Today I added two acroporas, two monticaps, and three blastomussas. I am running a single Kessil A160 and placed the corals near the top of the tank.The acros and blastomussas are doing great. I cannot say the same for the monticaps. While placing the monticaps on the live rock I used epoxy and gently pushed down each cap with my thumb. I noticed that both corals have since lost colour and are white where I pressed with my thumb.Are the monticaps going to die? I hope not, I really like these corals...the purple monticap is fragile enough now that if I squirt it with a turkey baster the colouring is flaking off. The red monti seems to be in better shape. Link to comment
markalot Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 They should recover in a few weeks. I would only worry if color loss spreads beyond the bruised area. What are your SG, KH, and calcium values? Is you KH stable day to day? Link to comment
newf99 Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 They should recover in a few weeks. I would only worry if color loss spreads beyond the bruised area. What are your SG, KH, and calcium values? Is you KH stable day to day? KH is stable day to day. Calcium is 450 PPM, alkalinity 7dKH, and specific gravity of 1.025 (may fluctuate 0.005 points between water top-offs). These are new frags that I added yesterday. I did press down on the purple monti with my thumb while I was epoxying it to the live rock. I have read about tissue necrosis and I am worried that it is in fact dying. Wondering if I should simply leave it be and let it recover or cut it in half. Link to comment
GokesReef Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 So 2 things that I noticed.. First, you said you bought them and immediately put them at the top of your tank - did you do any sort of acclimation to your light? Generally, you want to start a new coral at the bottom of your tank and move it up over the course of a few days to get used to your light. Egg crate frag rack glued to an algae scraper is a good way to do that easily. Second, you said it died where you touched it. Normally, you should be able to handle SPS without the tissue dying where you touched it. Did you have anything chemical wise on your hands? Wash them with soap or anything before handling the coral? Monticaps can be pretty hardy, so they may bounce back, but you might want to dim that light a bit for a few days. Good luck! Link to comment
newf99 Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 Very possible that some of the epoxy residue contaminated the coral from my thumb... The light is a kessil running it on acclimation mode over 7 days. No spread to necrosis today but it had a dead a lot the size of a quarter on it now. Link to comment
GokesReef Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Good deal on running the light in acclimation - and I think you should be ok going forward, sounds like whatever will die off has. Link to comment
marko Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 ive done that, i crushed the coral where i pressed down, but the tissue in the recesses between the raised areas was ok, and grow over the damaged areas within a few weeks. since then i stopped putting any pressure down on my SPS, and use superglue outside of the aquarium to attach them to rubble. then i attach the rubble where i want it, and can press the rubble as hard as i want, so long as im not touching my coral. Link to comment
opaquelace Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Hi All, I'm just venturing into the world of SPS corals. Today I added two acroporas, two monticaps, and three blastomussas. I am running a single Kessil A160 and placed the corals near the top of the tank. The acros and blastomussas are doing great. I cannot say the same for the monticaps. While placing the monticaps on the live rock I used epoxy and gently pushed down each cap with my thumb. I noticed that both corals have since lost colour and are white where I pressed with my thumb. Are the monticaps going to die? I hope not, I really like these corals...the purple monticap is fragile enough now that if I squirt it with a turkey baster the colouring is flaking off. The red monti seems to be in better shape. Monti caps (ime) have trouble adjusting to a Kessil light because the LED is so powerful and so much a spotlight. You will probably find that it will do best near the bottom/middle of the tank and off to the side instead of directly under it. Link to comment
newf99 Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 Monti caps (ime) have trouble adjusting to a Kessil light because the LED is so powerful and so much a spotlight. You will probably find that it will do best near the bottom/middle of the tank and off to the side instead of directly under it. Aye, I've placed the montis mid-way up the aquarium and they are doing great. The red monti has all of the colour back now and it looks like the dead spots of the purple monti are being recolonized. Thanks a ton! Link to comment
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