New Grafted Acro

[gws3]

I've had a lot of luck with non-grafted acros developing grafting in my systems. I attribute this to introducing grafted pieces into my systems and the grafting spreading "naturally". Today I discovered a colony of PC Rainbow developed a small amount of grafting near the base. I grabbed some quick unfiltered cell phone pics to share:

To develop this into a grafted acro I cut out the small bit that's developed grafting and mount it to a plug to let it grow out. In a year or two I'll be able to frag and propagate this coral. It should grow out with both the grafting and base colors, especially considering the grafting it significant.

 

[Max93]

Nice share! What do you think causes the grafting in your tank?

 

[zheka757]

Very impressive! I'll be following this, share pics of progress,

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

That's so awesome. Love your acros and photography. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I've had a lot of luck with non-grafted acros developing grafting in my systems. I attribute this to introducing grafted pieces into my systems and the grafting spreading "naturally". Today I discovered a colony of PC Rainbow developed a small amount of grafting near the base. I grabbed some quick unfiltered cell phone pics to share:

To develop this into a grafted acro I cut out the small bit that's developed grafting and mount it to a plug to let it grow out. In a year or two I'll be able to frag and propagate this coral. It should grow out with both the grafting and base colors, especially considering the grafting it significant.

Great looking acro!

 

[Red_Beard]

The swirling in that where the colors mix is gorgeous! Very cool.

 

[Troylee]

Should be a cool piece when it grows out! @SunnyX

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

wait so you placed another coral there or they were growing close together? sorry I'm confused, thanks for sharing pictures that's how I prefer to read

 

[IKD]

Very cool! Do you see the green growing much faster than the red color? I’ve seen that on several before where the green eventually overtakes the red coloration.

 

[gws3]

Nice share! What do you think causes the grafting in your tank?

I'm only speculating but I believe the more grafted acros you have the more likely it is that the grafting will spread to other corals.

That's so awesome. Love your acros and photography. Thanks for sharing.

Sure thing, appreciate the kind words!

wait so you placed another coral there or they were growing close together? sorry I'm confused, thanks for sharing pictures that's how I prefer to read

It wasn't anything intentional. I have this colony of PC Rainbow off to the side in this tank, not in an ideal location as it would like more light. I have a number of other grafted acros in that tank. None are right next to the PC Rainbow colony, but I'd guess that the grafting spread from other grafted acros in the tank.

Very cool! Do you see the green growing much faster than the red color? I’ve seen that on several before where the green eventually overtakes the red coloration.

On this piece I just noticed the grafting so too early to tell. On RRC Rainbow Splice the green portion grows MUCH faster. I've observed the green portion growing faster on at least one other acro as well. However, I have other grafted acros where it doesn't seem to grow faster and take over. So it could go either way.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

I'm only speculating but I believe the more grafted acros you have the more likely it is that the grafting will spread to other corals.

It wasn't anything intentional. I have this colony of PC Rainbow off to the side in this tank, not in an ideal location as it would like more light. I have a number of other grafted acros in that tank. None are right next to the PC Rainbow colony, but I'd guess that the grafting spread from other grafted acros in the tank.

but for "grafted" you have to intentionally put another coral together with this, is this what happened? I'm sorry I'm still confused...

is it anything like this article?

GRAFTING CORALS: The art of coral grafting - REEFEDITION

The art of coral grafting is very risky. It involves fragging corals, which if you have any knowledge on that know it can come with some dangers. They can contain toxins that could potentially kill someone. With proper safety you can cut any fraggable coral with confidence. Once you become a...

www.reefedition.com

 

[Joe462]

but for "grafted" you have to intentionally put another coral together with this, is this what happened? I'm sorry I'm still confused...

is it anything like this article?

GRAFTING CORALS: The art of coral grafting - REEFEDITION

The art of coral grafting is very risky. It involves fragging corals, which if you have any knowledge on that know it can come with some dangers. They can contain toxins that could potentially kill someone. With proper safety you can cut any fraggable coral with confidence. Once you become a...

www.reefedition.com

In this hobby the we often use the term grafted incorrectly, as most of our "grafted" coral are not an intentional grafting of two different corals. Most are actually the result of a protein infection that creates the green streaks that folks reference as "grafted". I suppose its a lot easier to say grafted than green protein infected or whatever the more accurate way naming/describing these coral would be.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

In this hobby the we often use the term grafted incorrectly, as most of our "grafted" coral are not an intentional grafting of two different corals. Most are actually the result of a protein infection that creates the green streaks that folks reference as "grafted". I suppose its a lot easier to say grafted than green protein infected or whatever the more accurate way naming/describing these coral would be.

making more sense.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

In this hobby the we often use the term grafted incorrectly, as most of our "grafted" coral are not an intentional grafting of two different corals. Most are actually the result of a protein infection that creates the green streaks that folks reference as "grafted". I suppose its a lot easier to say grafted than green protein infected or whatever the more accurate way naming/describing these coral would be.

when I hear grafted I immediately think of grafting plants, which is a whole different animal!

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Yea looks cool but we should use the term gpi or green protein infection. Some people won’t even put these corals in their tank because it does spread and makes some corals look mostly green if bad enough. Thanks for sharing gram, post an update when I grows out please.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I'm only speculating but I believe the more grafted acros you have the more likely it is that the grafting will spread to other corals.

I'm in no way the authority on the matter but that's not how grafting works.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Yea looks cool but we should use the term gpi or green protein infection. Some people won’t even put these corals in their tank because it does spread and makes some corals look mostly green if bad enough. Thanks for sharing gram, post an update when I grows out please.

so will it spread to other corals or just spread in that coral? I've never heard of this yet lol .

is this a random event I'm seeing now it's not something the o.p did intentionally, but is it something that could spread to other corals in a system, hearing "infection" changes everything from "grafted"

 

[gws3]

but for "grafted" you have to intentionally put another coral together with this, is this what happened? I'm sorry I'm still confused...

is it anything like this article?

GRAFTING CORALS: The art of coral grafting - REEFEDITION

The art of coral grafting is very risky. It involves fragging corals, which if you have any knowledge on that know it can come with some dangers. They can contain toxins that could potentially kill someone. With proper safety you can cut any fraggable coral with confidence. Once you become a...

www.reefedition.com

In this hobby the we often use the term grafted incorrectly, as most of our "grafted" coral are not an intentional grafting of two different corals. Most are actually the result of a protein infection that creates the green streaks that folks reference as "grafted". I suppose its a lot easier to say grafted than green protein infected or whatever the more accurate way naming/describing these coral would be.

Good explanation. In this hobby we use the terms grafting/spliced/GFP (green fluorescent protein) infection interchangeably. I agree "grafting" is a confusing term as in the horticulture world it means physically combining two different plants into a single plant.

In this case it's GFP and it occurred without my intervention. It appears it spread through the water column.

I have tried to physically graft corals together to see if GFP spreads. I cut green frags of RRC Rainbow splice and glued them directly next to frags of other millepora. I tried this with about 4-5 different milles. The GFP did not spread in any of these experiments. So proximity alone does not cause it to spread.

when I hear grafted I immediately think of grafting plants, which is a whole different animal!

Agreed.

Yea looks cool but we should use the term gpi or green protein infection. Some people won’t even put these corals in their tank because it does spread and makes some corals look mostly green if bad enough. Thanks for sharing gram, post an update when I grows out please.

Yeah, I agree "grafting" is a misleading term. Personally I haven't run across anyone that won't put these corals in their tank in fear of it spreading. In general it's considered a desirable trait. RRC Rainbow Splice would just be a pink/red mille without it, and we can see the price people are willing to pay for it indicates it's very desireable by the market in general.

I'm in no way the authority on the matter but that's not how grafting works.

Yeah, this isn't grafting in the horticulture sense.

so will it spread to other corals or just spread in that coral? I've never heard of this yet lol .

is this a random event I'm seeing now it's not something the o.p did intentionally, but is it something that could spread to other corals in a system, hearing "infection" changes everything from "grafted"

I've had it spread to a number of acros, but it has not spread to the vast majority of the SPS in my system.

Infection has a negative connotation for sure. But in the case of corals and GFP infection I haven't seen any indication it negatively effects the health of the coral and typically makes it more aesthetically appealing.

 

[gws3]

To make things more interesting, every example I've seen of grafting / GFP infection in coral is bright green.

A year or two ago I had a coral named pink panther table (that's typically all pink in the base tissue) develop distinctly different tissue coloration that's blue. So is there also Blue Protein Infection?

More recently, in that same tank, I had an encrusting frag of RRC Jawdropper develop blue tissue as well. I've never heard of JD developing "grafting", so as far as I know this piece is one of a kind.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

I've had a lot of luck with non-grafted acros developing grafting in my systems. I attribute this to introducing grafted pieces into my systems and the grafting spreading "naturally". Today I discovered a colony of PC Rainbow developed a small amount of grafting near the base. I grabbed some quick unfiltered cell phone pics to share:

To develop this into a grafted acro I cut out the small bit that's developed grafting and mount it to a plug to let it grow out. In a year or two I'll be able to frag and propagate this coral. It should grow out with both the grafting and base colors, especially considering the grafting it significant.

I'm honestly all for it, 'great work' it might disturb some people but if you don't experiment in this hobby then we would not have ' the abundance of choices we have today... obviously it's on your own terms and risk management etc but this another way forward in my opinion