Montipora: Show some love for your Monti's

[mitten_reef]

On 5/27/2017 at 9:46 PM, HarryPotter said:

 

 

 

On 5/28/2017 at 1:33 AM, Nano sapiens said:

'Sunset Monti':

 

Those are some nice sunset! Mine hadn't been doing well the past month or so (hence was not included in the original post), but it looks pretty decent today.

 

On 5/31/2017 at 0:58 AM, Mkbarton said:

Where are you guys getting these colorful montis? I can only find the orange and sometimes green around me

Thanks for stopping by. Most of mine are from various local shops, with the exceptions of Leng Sy (online) and Starburst (local frag swap event). 

[Nano sapiens]

3 hours ago, micoastreefing said:

 

Those are some nice sunset! Mine hadn't been doing well the past month or so (hence was not included in the original post), but it looks pretty decent today.

 

Thanks.  The Sunset Montipora can be a strange one.  My original parent colony of 8+ years is finally on it's way out' as it has some type of slowly progressing affliction (see below), while the fragged colony in my original post is perfectly vibrant and healthy.  

 

 

Within ~4 months, I expect that this parent colony Monti will be largely overtaken by an encroaching Mint Green Pavona which is growing up on the back side

[Shoob1e]

On 5/23/2017 at 10:35 AM, Christopher Marks said:

Great idea @micoastreefing! I'd like to memorialize @Asureef's incredible monti caps from his old 40 gallon nano reef. The way the red and green plates weave together...

 

this is absolutely amazing awesome and sick.

[Shoob1e]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SPSSwap/?fref=ts

and sometimes 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ZoaLPSshroomswap/?fref=ts

is where i get mine from a local guy that sells on there. 

Currently have 

Rainbow monti

Mystic sunset

Purple monti with blue polpys

also have a Bizzaro 

just downsized tanks but ill take pics here fairly soon.

looking to get an ASD dragon rider friday if i win ebay

[John L]

How do you get colours back?  I've got a green monti cap frag which was vibrant green before going on hol for 3wks, is now pale grey colour.  My 'tank Carer' neglected my tank for a wk or 2 and killed a couple of corals, the rest looking v pale and struggling.   I did several big water changes and getting levels back, things are bouncing back well.   My red cap is colouring up nicely, but my green is still grey even though it's continuing to grow. Is there something I can do to help? 

 

 

[Asureef]

4 hours ago, John L said:

How do you get colours back?  I've got a green monti cap frag which was vibrant green before going on hol for 3wks, is now pale grey colour.  My 'tank Carer' neglected my tank for a wk or 2 and killed a couple of corals, the rest looking v pale and struggling.   I did several big water changes and getting levels back, things are bouncing back well.   My red cap is colouring up nicely, but my green is still grey even though it's continuing to grow. Is there something I can do to help? 

 

 

 

Check your potassium?

[John L]

15 hours ago, Asureef said:

 

Check your potassium?

No I haven't,  I only check the big 5, not trace. What's a gd test kit for potassium?

 

im just about to start aquaforest component 1,2,3+. Dosing  which includes a number trace elements inc potassium.

 

heres my monti,  still grey but still growing.

[Asureef]

37 minutes ago, John L said:

No I haven't,  I only check the big 5, not trace. What's a gd test kit for potassium?

 

im just about to start aquaforest component 1,2,3+. Dosing  which includes a number trace elements inc potassium.

 

heres my monti,  still grey but still growing.

 

Looks more like a undata 

[mitten_reef]

21 hours ago, John L said:

How do you get colours back?  I've got a green monti cap frag which was vibrant green before going on hol for 3wks, is now pale grey colour.  My 'tank Carer' neglected my tank for a wk or 2 and killed a couple of corals, the rest looking v pale and struggling.   I did several big water changes and getting levels back, things are bouncing back well.   My red cap is colouring up nicely, but my green is still grey even though it's continuing to grow. Is there something I can do to help? 

 

 

 

49 minutes ago, John L said:

No I haven't,  I only check the big 5, not trace. What's a gd test kit for potassium?

 

im just about to start aquaforest component 1,2,3+. Dosing  which includes a number trace elements inc potassium.

 

heres my monti,  still grey but still growing.

Thanks for sharing the pic.  That looks like Montipora Undata. The "typical" ones I've seen are less vibrant than green M. Capricornis. (the "muted" color appearance may just be species-specific)

 

I've never had one of these guys, but if it behaves anything like the sunset-type, it'd take time for color to change.  Like I mentioned, my Sunset took about a month or so since it lost its vibrant orange. It came in contact with bubble-tip anemone by 'accident' for a few days.  The key for recovery, for me, had been to maintain stability and regular feeding.  

 

Sometimes, even if all parameters look good, it could be dulled due to coral chemical warfare within the tank. That happened to my Mystic Sunset colony for a long while.  I was sitting too closed to a fiji yellow toadstool, they never even touched each other.   I know, I know, toadstool/leather and SPS = not recommended, .  But I moved them apart, and try to keep my carbon refreshed more often.  And the colony seems to have bounced back now - that one took even longer than a month to brighten back up.

[John L]

Thanks for the info, it was sold as a green capricornis. The bump on top of the monti was my failed attempt to super glue a broken off bit of my red cap onto it ,to see what would happen.    What happened was the green quickly grew over and smothered the red frag?.  Do u think they did chemical warfare?

 

I feed my corals/whole tank  once/twice a wk, reefroids.  

My nitrates are consistently 0.2 or less, should I increase feeding??

 

Ive got blue /red mushrooms close by, I've heard they can chemically do damage to sps, although I do run carbon and swap it out fortnightly religiously. 

[John L]

I've just found a pic of it when in gd colour, I had monti  nudibranch issues in Dec, I had to bin most, but I broke off and saved a bit of green and red to keep, and dipped and scrubbed them for weeks till the bastard nudis were eradicated from tank.  

[mitten_reef]

7 minutes ago, John L said:

I've just found a pic of it when in gd colour, I had monti  nudibranch issues in Dec, I had to bin most, but I broke off and saved a bit of green and red to keep, and dipped and scrubbed them for weeks till the bastard nudis were eradicated from tank.  

Glad to hear you won the nudibranch battle.  

Hmm, now the bumps and ridges look more like regular cap from top-down views.  eh, , I tried. I don't have much else at the moment.  Maybe others might chime in.  

[John L]

No worries thanks mate, hopefully like u say with time and tlc it'll colour back up.

[mbarton2010]

Here is a frag I picked up a few days ago

[mitten_reef]

Here's my mystic sunset main colony.

[TheBig053]

A little update. Toned down the light intensity just 5% and moved the light up an inch off the water. The cap continues to grow and it looks like some color is coming back. Its still pink but a deeper pink. 

[HarryPotter]

Who lives in a reasonable weather area and is willing to be a test bunny for me sending them a few frags of Montipora using USPS 2 day shipping?  I'll pay- I just want to know how it goes. Whether they live or not ?

[mitten_reef]

8 minutes ago, HarryPotter said:

Who lives in a reasonable weather area and is willing to be a test bunny for me sending them a few frags of Montipora using USPS 2 day shipping?  I'll pay- I just want to know how it goes. Whether they live or not ?

Pm'd my "request".

[HarryPotter]

2 minutes ago, micoastreefing said:

Pm'd my "request".

 

PM not received? 

[mbarton2010]

13 minutes ago, HarryPotter said:

Who lives in a reasonable weather area and is willing to be a test bunny for me sending them a few frags of Montipora using USPS 2 day shipping?  I'll pay- I just want to know how it goes. Whether they live or not ?

I have also pm'd

[John L]

I'm in the uk but If you can apparate ll  have a frag or two please.?

[mitten_reef]

update on the "monti island".

The big orange: tricolor palawanensis (after much search, 90% sure on this ID) If I blast it with high violet it'd look just like this (image copied from a post of Bill@IA from RC) 

Round edge Blue rim: Cultivated Reef's Leng Si (not sure if it's has any relation to THE Leng Sy in this article), still very beautiful blue-rimmed cap

the green plate with funky edge: tequila sunrise

lower on the rock: sunset monti, a little blurry from water ripple

lower front of the rock, near the sunny d's: german blue digitata (very blurry, but the polyps are gaining more blue everyday)

 

Mystic Sunset main colony. @HarryPotter did you figure out if the 2-day shipping viability? I'm ready to bust this rock into pieces one of these days or maybe in the Fall?.

[TJ_Burton]

@micoastreefing 90% sure Nauti Spiral and Tricolor Palawanensis are the same thing

[mitten_reef]

1 minute ago, TJ_Burton said:

@micoastreefing 90% sure Nauti Spiral and Tricolor Palawanensis are the same thing

Thanks! Yup, I saw a few mentions of that as well - and maybe even JF slowburn? Anyway, since I bought it as a no-namer, orange monti plate I figured I'd try to stay away from any of those big name reference where I can. Man, for a $20 1" frag, I'm loving this piece more everyday, wish it slows down the growth a bit tho . Even at the time, I thought it was a bit of a rip-off considering the red cap next to it was going for $5-10 similar size at LFS, this one just glowed a little bit at the shop then.

[JcSH2o]

I'm super interested in a plating monti for my new tank coming up. 

I'm curious about their needs for the rock base to grow on... like how big is required etc... And can they be effectively 'pruned' into growing in a certain direction? 

They're gorgeous, and I think I have just the spot for one in my scape.