Montipora Capricornis Dying ot Normal?

[daniel_mourra]

Hello! Ive had this Monti for about 10 months now growing very happly and with great red intense color (picture doesnt do justice). 3 days ago i started seeing this white areas…. Like when it spits out slime after touching it but in this case it has not been manipulated….

ALL OTHER CORALS including pieces of the SAME monti look great… no issues…

Any ideas?

Parameters:

Salinity 1.026
Ph: 8.1-8.25
Dkh 8.8-9.1
Ca: 450-470
Mg: 1380-1400
Nitrates: 13
PO4: 0.20 (stable long time ago)

ICP test results from may 2024 attached:

 

[Formulator]

That’s weird (and unfortunate). I don’t think its a water issue. It almost seems to have grown in a self-destructive way… Like it is shading itself and blocking flow from its own center. I can’t say for sure, but my guess is that it will die in the center a bit, but it is not systemic and will eventually grow more layers over the dead part. I’m just hypothesizing as I’ve never encountered this, but those montis are really resilient in my experience so hopefully it works itself out in the end.

 

[daniel_mourra]

Ok so…. Updates…… after 3 days of mistery adn exactly 1 hr after posting this thread…. I saw by bicolor blenny picking EXACLTY in the white areas of the monti… are these fish know to pick on SPS or montis???

 

[cloak]

I don't know if they're known for this, but I had to remove mine for this exact reason. Just all of a sudden it developed a taste for some of my sps. (Jedi mind trick montipora in particular) GL.

 

[Formulator]

Wow! I’d never heard of this fish being an issue. I was going to guess the coral started dying first and he was just cleaning up the dead flesh.

 

[twentyleagues]

Ok so…. Updates…… after 3 days of mistery adn exactly 1 hr after posting this thread…. I saw by bicolor blenny picking EXACLTY in the white areas of the monti… are these fish know to pick on SPS or montis???

Mine wouldn't leave one of my clams alone had to get rid of it (the fish). This just started all of the sudden was fine for over a year then one day I saw him pick at the mantle. I though maybe a bit of food or algae, nope I watched him pick at it a few more time throughout the week. I knew he had to go when he grabbed it really hard and started trying to tear a piece off.