Need an ID

thamnasteroid

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Hey, i was trying to tag you (@encrustingacro), lol. Glad I realized this is you :)

This is probably the best pic I'll be able to get due to its placement in the tank.
Still a little far away to tell. Is it glued in? Could you possibly get it near the glass?
 

Dr_Orpheus

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It looks like a browned out rainbow monti to me (encrusting).

Edit: That last picture kind of confirmed it for me in my head. If not a rainbow monti, I'm gonna be bold and say I'm 95% sure it's encrusting monti. If you end up giving it a bunch of light and flow and you start to see more color in it, then you got yourself an awesome rainbow monti. You could always break a couple pieces off and place them elsewhere to see what happens?!
 
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EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal

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Ok, so whatever this is, it's not doing great. I didn't want to move it around, hoping it would settle in to my tank, but I've now got it in a lower light, lower flow section than before. It stopped extending a couple days ago; i have a hybrid light fixture and the leds stay on after the t5s go off... I noticed some extension after the fluorescent turned off so thought maybe par was too high.

These are photos I just took - the T5s turned off 15 minutes ago. It's mostly closed up and I'm not sure why... it's pretty much looked like this since Wednesday. You can see a little PE in the second pic.

Thoughts?
 

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Dr_Orpheus

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Where did you get it from? Do you know what type of system it was in before, or under what lighting? What kind of lighting do you have? Any tank parameters you wanna share i.e. nitrates, ph, calc, alk?

I really do think it's an encrusting monti, and the rainbow variety at that. I had that same piece a long time ago under a 4 bulb t5 75% up in the tank under moderate/high at best flow and I STILL could barely get the rainbow color in it. I would give it a good amount of random intermittent flow and direct lighting if your parameters check out alright.

Edit: yours is also doing exactly what an encrusting monti would do under either too low of flow/light or both.

Screenshot_20250511-131554.png Screenshot_20250511-131532.png
 
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EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal

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Where did you get it from? Do you know what type of system it was in before, or under what lighting? What kind of lighting do you have? Any tank parameters you wanna share i.e. nitrates, ph, calc, alk?

I really do think it's an encrusting monti, and the rainbow variety at that. I had that same piece a long time ago under a 4 bulb t5 75% up in the tank under moderate/high at best flow and I STILL could barely get the rainbow color in it. I would give it a good amount of random intermittent flow and direct lighting if your parameters check out alright.

Edit: yours is also doing exactly what an encrusting monti would do under either too low of flow/light or both.

Screenshot_20250511-131554.png Screenshot_20250511-131532.png
But it looked the same under high light and flow...
I'll just keep trying new spots and hope it doesn't get too mad. The tank it came from had it on the sanded so PAR was not super high.

Thanks
 

thamnasteroid

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Ok, so whatever this is, it's not doing great. I didn't want to move it around, hoping it would settle in to my tank, but I've now got it in a lower light, lower flow section than before. It stopped extending a couple days ago; i have a hybrid light fixture and the leds stay on after the t5s go off... I noticed some extension after the fluorescent turned off so thought maybe par was too high.

These are photos I just took - the T5s turned off 15 minutes ago. It's mostly closed up and I'm not sure why... it's pretty much looked like this since Wednesday. You can see a little PE in the second pic.

Thoughts?
Yeah, prolly a monti. You can see the papillae in some places
 
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EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal

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I would also double check alk and calcium just to be safe, if you haven't yet.
Alk is around 10 (i always run a little high, but N/P are on the high end too) and Ca is 500. These are about what the previous owner kept his tank at as well.
 
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EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal

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Still looking bad... i moved it back into higher light Monday but today i noticed what appear to be several spots of bleaching.

Did a dip in FragRecover (herbal product) and then diluted iodine. I sure hope i haven't killed the poor thing!
 

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