Can Montipora sting "without contact"?

[KonradTO]

Hi all,
I think I have a problem:

Do you think the monti is stinging the seriatopora somehow? It's receding from the base and I don't understand whether its because of warfare or some problems with the seriatopora. I have another frag which is doing perfectly so I suppose It's not because of water parameters? (Which are textbook quality)

 

[TheBiochemist]

IMO no, montiporas dont have sweepers or other long tentacles that enable longer-range interactions. It looks that something is growing at the base of your seriatopora; however, from the photo I cant say if it is something that could irrirate it or algae growing on a dead skeleton.

 

[homer1475]

IMO no, montiporas dont have sweepers or other long tentacles that enable longer-range interactions. It looks that something is growing at the base of your seriatopora; however, from the photo I cant say if it is something that could irrirate it or algae growing on a dead skeleton.

+1

The algae on the plug is irritating the coral causing it to recede at the base.

Monti's win the coral warefare game by simply outgrowing, and growing over their competition.

 

[KonradTO]

IMO no, montiporas dont have sweepers or other long tentacles that enable longer-range interactions. It looks that something is growing at the base of your seriatopora; however, from the photo I cant say if it is something that could irrirate it or algae growing on a dead skeleton.

Ok thanks for the answer. I think its a spot where for some reason algae grow more than other spots. I have some algae around the tank but nothing crazy. Do you think it will cause the recession to spread or it will be limited to the base?
Definitely the algae appeared before the recession. The frag was completely fine until few days ago. The only thing I did was blowing away some detritus/algae from the magnet where the corals are growing. Maybe I did rip off some tissue with the pipette while blowing..

 

[Dburr1014]

Ok thanks for the answer. I think its a spot where for some reason algae grow more than other spots. I have some algae around the tank but nothing crazy. Do you think it will cause the recession to spread or it will be limited to the base?
Definitely the algae appeared before the recession. The frag was completely fine until few days ago. The only thing I did was blowing away some detritus/algae from the magnet where the corals are growing. Maybe I did rip off some tissue with the pipette while blowing..

Either way, that monti will grow onto the other coral. I would tweezer that algae.

 

[KonradTO]

Either way, that monti will grow onto the other coral. I would tweezer that algae.

Yes I was planning to move the seriatopora once the monti reached it. I will probably move it now.

 

[homer1475]

Heres a shot(kind of) where I mounted a sarmentosa onto a sunset monti. I was hoping the sarmentosa had a strong enough sting to outcomete the monti, but nope the sarmentosa is loosing the war. Will have to get some kalk paste out at some point or risk loosing the sarmentosa.

 

[TheBiochemist]

Ok thanks for the answer. I think its a spot where for some reason algae grow more than other spots. I have some algae around the tank but nothing crazy. Do you think it will cause the recession to spread or it will be limited to the base?
Definitely the algae appeared before the recession. The frag was completely fine until few days ago. The only thing I did was blowing away some detritus/algae from the magnet where the corals are growing. Maybe I did rip off some tissue with the pipette while blowing..

I dont think that you can rip off a tissue from healthy seriatopora by pipette blowing. Algae is likely the culprit. If I were you, I would dip it and remove it elsewhere. Otherwise, monti will overgrow it soon or later and there is not much to do about it. :) The good thing is that birdnests are in general adjustable to a broad spectrum of conditions and in my tank they have been able to grow anywhere independently of PAR of flow. So chances are that after moving it, you will have a very fast growing coral.

 

[92Miata]

Seriataporas and all the other birdsnesty corals that don't really encrust much aren't real good at defending their bases - they grow fast and shade things out. Algae on the base is definitely an issue for a small frag.

 

[LucentFish]

Late reply, but i notice around my encrusting monti's that the 1-3MM around where they are growing out to on the rock has the coralline bleached out. So they must be doing something, but at very small ranges. A tiny frag of acro was bulldozed by a turbo snail onto it, and the monti was pale for a few days but recovered. Acro was perfectly fine.