Montipora Damage Remediation

pjbilotta · Aug 20, 2019

Hi, all - I'd appreciate your advice on how best to assist my Montipora Capricornis, which experienced a tragedy while I was gone for a few days.

As you will see in the before and after photos below, the central 8" portion of my 11" orange monti cap died off very suddenly after thriving for four years. It almost looks as if it was devoured by a raging hoard of monti-eating nudies, or was burned out by salt being poured on it. I've never encountered anything like this before in years of reefing.

Nudies are a negative - none visible, and nothing new added to the system over the past 6-8 months that could introduce them. Water parameters are perfectly fine, and all other SPS and LPS corals (including far more sensitive ones) are thriving. Also, the healthy portions have repaired themselves and are regrowing on the damaged margins.

I'm not looking to ID the cause of this die-off, though it wouldn't hurt to know what may have caused it. I suspect my aquarium caretaker may have introduced a contaminant while feeding my fish. What I'd like some advice on is what to do now to help this coral recover. Should I simply let it be to gradually recover on its own, despite the large skeletal area in the middle? Or, is it best to frag off the undamaged portions and "recombine" the pieces into a new plate cluster with a little super glue?

Thanks for any advice and directions you can provide.

Peter

Sierra_Bravo · Aug 20, 2019

Welcome to R2R, and sorry that you have to introduce yourself here under lousy circumstances. That was a very nice sized, healthy-looking monti.

If those areas are truly dead with exposed skeleton and not just bleached, there is not a very good chance the monti will be able to regrow tissue before algae takes hold. I have a montipora that will lose color and turn white in areas from high phosphates, which will then color back up when I have things back in range, but nothing near as severe as what I see there.

If it were I, I would trim away the bad areas and remount. It would look better, monti's grow fast, and at the least you've removed the portions that you really don't know why the tissue died and get it out of the tank.

melanotaenia · Aug 20, 2019

maybe a good time to do some fragging, good news is montis tend to grow quick and it looks like you have a sizeable portion of it that is still looking pretty good. Sorry to see the damage, it was a beautiful piece!

pjbilotta · Aug 20, 2019

Sierra_Bravo said:
Welcome to R2R, and sorry that you have to introduce yourself here under lousy circumstances. That was a very nice sized, healthy-looking monti.

If those areas are truly dead with exposed skeleton and not just bleached, there is not a very good chance the monti will be able to regrow tissue before algae takes hold. I have a montipora that will lose color and turn white in areas from high phosphates, which will then color back up when I have things back in range, but nothing near as severe as what I see there.

If it were I, I would trim away the bad areas and remount. It would look better, monti's grow fast, and at the least you've removed the portions that you really don't know why the tissue died and get it out of the tank.

That's what I was thinking as well, since the exposed skeleton will merely attract algae. When fragging and re-combining this, do I need to do it underwater, or can monties endure brief air exposure when I glue the pieces back together? Haven't done this before, so some directions would be helpful. Feel free to direct me elsewhere is that is easier.

Sierra_Bravo · Aug 20, 2019

pjbilotta said:
That's what I was thinking as well, since the exposed skeleton will merely attract algae. When fragging and re-combining this, do I need to do it underwater, or can monties endure brief air exposure when I glue the pieces back together? Haven't done this before, so some directions would be helpful. Feel free to direct me elsewhere is that is easier.

It should be fine to do out of the water. I use a medium plastic storage container and fill it partially with tank water to bring the monti to my workbench, then expose it to air while I clip the pieces back into the water. Get a tube of reef epoxy putty and use it to mount the frags to one another with super glue into a nice plating pattern. Throw your new "colony" back in the tank overnight for the epoxy to cure and harden, then mount it the next day in place in your reef. You've got nice growth edges on it now even with the damage, so I bet it will look really nice and grow out well when done.

ZaneTer · Aug 20, 2019

That looks to me like damage from over exposure to light. Are you sure your timer/outlets are functioning properly.

I am calling this one from personal experience.

Flippers4pups · Aug 20, 2019

light intensity might have some how went up or photoperiod was extended possibly. Temp could have went up. Water parameter swing?

Mine will start to pale in spots if my P04 bottoms out.

blasterman · Aug 20, 2019

I'm not a monti expert and this is why I avoid caps....but....another reefer I frequently talk to has *massive* green, purple and orange caps in his 225 and consider him the expert. He routinely takes out his foot wide caps to take pictures of(carefuly) and puts them back in the tank with no ill effects. If that helps......

He's had die offs like this before when his doser has screwed up and spiked alk. Local shop just had a bunch of their caps show the exact same damage after letting their alk run sub 6 for for several days. I've also had smaller caps of my own do this when there's temp swings. I've seen the skin most of the time regrow over the bald spots.