ID — Seriatopora

[nickkohrn]

I picked up a Seriatopora from a local shop to test whether I am ready for SPS corals. It is brown/tan and green, and it was that way when I acquired it. It has a lot of white tissue on one side, which is from the way that it was housed in the frag tank that I bought it from.

Do you know what I have?

 

[S-t-r-e-t-c-h]

Yep, looks like a green birdsnest - Seriatopora hystrix

 

[rawrsean]

I would guess http://www.coralsoftheworld.org/species_factsheets/species_factsheet_summary/seriatopora-guttatus/

 

[29bonsaireef]

S. Guttatus

 

[rawrsean]

Yep, looks like a green birdsnest - Seriatopora hystrix

His specimen appears to be lacking the traditional “spiked tips” you’d normally find on those. http://www.coralsoftheworld.org/species_factsheets/species_factsheet_summary/seriatopora-hystrix/

 

[nickkohrn]

Is its coloration normal, or does it appear that it been neglected?

My parameters are as follows:

Alkalinity - 9.1 dKH
Calcium - 450 ppm
Magnesium - 1400 ppm
Nitrate - 2 ppm
Phosphate - 0.05 ppm

I’m hoping that the white part can recover and that it will become more colorful because it looks fairly dull currently.

 

[rawrsean]

Is its coloration normal, or does it appear that it been neglected?

My parameters are as follows:

Alkalinity - 9.1 dKH
Calcium - 450 ppm
Magnesium - 1400 ppm
Nitrate - 2 ppm
Phosphate - 0.05 ppm

I’m hoping that the white part can recover and that it will become more colorful because it looks fairly dull currently.

It looks normal for a fresh frag of a larger colony. They grow in such a way that lower polyps often get shaded. The frag also looks like it was in a tank with too much phosphate.

Lighting plays a huge role too, if there’s a lot of white light, it’ll look more like that.

The white polyps will color up and the entire frag will look much better under your parameters.

 

[29bonsaireef]

Kept this piece in around 400 par, T5 with mostly all blue+. Great coral, does best in high flow, and pretty much anything above 200 par IME.

 

[SeaDweller]

Kept this piece in around 400 par, T5 with mostly all blue+. Great coral, does best in high flow, and pretty much anything above 200 par IME.

That’s one of the prettiest BN I’ve ever seen.