Monti digi Frag question??

Discussion in 'SPS Corals' started by Sharktopus, Sep 23, 2012.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

  1. Sharktopus

    Sharktopus Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2012
    Messages:
    26
    Hi I'm not to owning corals so i cause use a little knowlege. Is the white part on my Monti frag growth or something else I should be conserned about? Any help would be great.
     

    Attached Files:

    Sharktopus, Sep 23, 2012
    Sharktopus, Sep 23, 2012
    #1

    2. Click Here!

  2. grinder37

    grinder37 Whip-Lash Squid

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2009
    Messages:
    2,984
    Thats tissue loss from something munching on it or rtn/stn,no sps expert here but i would frag past the exposed skeleton and into healthy tissue.

    Edit-thats also assuming your waters parameters are not the issue
     
    grinder37, Sep 23, 2012
    grinder37, Sep 23, 2012
    #2
  3. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 17, 2009
    Messages:
    11,284
    Location:
    shenzhen Guangdong PRC
    +1 on above

    white areas on corals indicating growth are at the extremes - tips of branches etc
    and not at the base or in the middle of the coral

    it may be worth dipping the coral into something like CoralRX and then studying the liquid in the dip tub to see if you can find any dead bugs or worms - a magnifying glass is often a good idea as sometimes they are hard to see

    not an expert , but do have some experience with STN

    my experience when not fragging any coral thus affected have had various outcomes

    1 - worse case scenario - the infection spreads and eventually most of the coral is lost
    2 - the infection seems to stop, and the rest of the coral remains perfectly healthy despite the area of bare skeleton below it ( I have corals that have this condition and have been that way for months, and as the coral grows the STN becomes less obvious as it represents a smaller percentage of the overall coral


    It is hard to tell from 2D images, but how close is the coral to the rocks behind it?
    those rocks are higher than the coral, which means you may have a flow issue around the base of that coral which may have created localized nutrient high spot and thus the decay of the corals flesh

    It also looks like those rocks have been added at a later date than the rock the coral is stood on ( the rock the coral is stood on is purple coralline covered, whereas the rocks over shadowing it are relatively clean base rock type)
    this again may mean the resulting change of flow pattern created by the new rocks has deprived the coral of the flow it had recieved previously and has been affected by STN as a result


    Steve
     
    steve wright, Sep 29, 2012
    steve wright, Sep 29, 2012
    #3