Coral growing back from the dead.....

[InkedReefLady]

Summer 2019 I purchased a pair of Colins angelfish and figured I'd better turn the skimmer back on and replace the carbon and GFO for all the major feeding we were going to have to do. Within a couple of days, between the angels picking and eating a lot of our corals and the filtration being turned back on, a lot of our corals were starting to die. I moved a frag of JF freak hair and an Aussie maze brain frag (being eaten) to our anemone tank. Both have come back.

A huge chalice and 2 encrusting monti's along with a stylo were crashing out. We let things be until we could figure out what was going on. Pretty sure it was due to running ULN and a high alk. Needless to say, we came back from a 2 week vacation between Xmas and NYs and the chalice, 1 encrusting monti and a stylo are all coming back! The chalice and encrusting monti are really going to town!

I agree with the poster above...."Life finds a way!"

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Pretty cool seeing how many people see corals that revive!

 

[Steve180]

I have a Aussie gold torch that half of it died and didn’t look good. It’s recovering now with full extensions and growing back

 

[Gareth elliott]

Have had acros that i thought ive killed regrow. Small tissue survived on part and then spread till covered the dead areas again.
Only miracle coral that has reappeared else where was a pink pocilopora. Moved to a different tank, bleached. Eight weeks later there were new polyps on my overflow, rocks, decided to kill them. Last time i had a poci lol

 

[mkwarner77]

last year lost everything due to a 4 day power outage in the winter, 3 months later 1 tiny hammer and 1 tiny blue mushroom appeared

 

[45ZoaGarden]

I hear an awful lot of fisherman’s tales! Your stories mean nothing without pics!;Hilarious

 

[VA5]

Was thinking of doing an article on this myself. I have a 375 gallon with almost every type of coral. I have a few corals that have come back from near apparent death but have also had a few that never grew or thrived, then suddenly walla .
In particular I’ve seen this with Zoe’s. I’ve had a Colony of blue hornets that just never took, then a few months ago they started growing out where they were previously placed.
I guess the moral of the story is as journey said don’t stop believing.

 

[lilgrounchuck]

I’ve had a few. Left all the plugs in the tank and every one of them came back.

 

[DSC reef]

I've shared this story before but a chalice colony grown from a few eyes then lost it in a couple days to a major alkalinity swing. Left the rock in the tank and months later my wife noticed glowing specks appear and new tissue growing. I was absolutely stunned. Here's some pics from the frag too colony too death then new growth.

 

[Sidius]

Mine wasn't dead for as long as some of you guys but I have a Dragon Soul favia right now that came back from a dead skeleton. I lost it not that long ago due to a major dino outbreak followed by an even worse cyano outbreak. I considered tossing the skeleton (no sign of any tissue or mouths left) but figured why not try a hail mary and try something I had success with bringing an almost dead acan back... every day for a couple weeks I would pull out the plug and put it in a small tupperware container of tank water so it wouldn't get bothered by flow or hermits/snails, then I would spot feed a mixture of reef roids and acropower. I'd let it sit for around 30 minutes and then put it back. After those 2 weeks I saw new tiny green mouths popping up all over the dead skeleton and new tissue spreading. It's still got a long way to go but it's coming back more and more.

 

[MombasaLionfish]

I know know - My polls are long and everyone hates them - but... Theres more - here is another short one - Have you ever had a coral RTN, STN, etc etc etc - other cause of death - which has come back after the fact. I have had a couple of late after a tank mess come back 3-4 years later - so I promise - this is simple. Have you? Its not just a vote - if you have an interesting story - comment

Well sort of so I was buying some aiptasia on so dead coral or rock after I put it in my tank a few days later little polyps started showing up slowly and eventually I had a small colony of GSP.

 

[StatelineReefer]

Plate corals are known to resurrect themselves off the old skeleton. It doesn't surprise me that others do the same.

 

[furyofthegnomes]

I had a colony of meteor shower cyphastrea that was just getting way too big and getting too close to some acros. I tried a few different things to slow it down but it was just growing too fast and it had already grown to about ten inches in diameter. So I tore my aqua scape apart and pulled out the three or four rocks that it covered and threw it in a bucket of rodi with a bunch of kalk mixed in it for almost 2 hours while it did some other maintenance. The skin just fell right off the skeleton when I swished it around in some fresh rodi to rinse it off and was clean white. Well three weeks later what do I see, orange growth in the polyps.

 

[Tahoe61]

I had a colony of meteor shower cyphastrea that was just getting way too big and getting too close to some acros. I tried a few different things to slow it down but it was just growing too fast and it had already grown to about ten inches in diameter. So I tore my aqua scape apart and pulled out the three or four rocks that it covered and threw it in a bucket of rodi with a bunch of kalk mixed in it for almost 2 hours while it did some other maintenance. The skin just fell right off the skeleton when I swished it around in some fresh rodi to rinse it off and was clean white. Well three weeks later what do I see, orange growth in the polyps.

Note to self, no Cyphastrea, ever. So many new types available now so I have been considering one.

 

[Super Fly]

Have a montipora that had bleached about 95% due to clogged doser, it was appx 5"-6" diameter with several layers. I assumed it was completely dead but left the browned skeleton in tank bc the plating still looked nice. Then after several months pink growth reappeared from the back and now new growth has covered about 50% over the dead skeleton.

 

[absoluteNANOreef]

I had montipora eat nudibranches eat 3 of my montis to the point where I couldn’t see not one polyp or color. I left the pieces in because I was too lazy to remove and a few months later, 2 began to grow back. They must have missed even the tiniest little bit to keep them alive.

 

[deplinger]

I accidentally nuked all my sps with alk one time and i have several that came back from stark white skeletons. One montipora had the polyps come back first then the coral skin about 8 months later.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I've shared this story before but a chalice colony grown from a few eyes then lost it in a couple days to a major alkalinity swing. Left the rock in the tank and months later my wife noticed glowing specks appear and new tissue growing. I was absolutely stunned. Here's some pics from the frag too colony too death then new growth.

I never get tired of seeing this!

 

[AC1211]

The duncan in this video was closed for 2 months before it fell through a crack in the live rock now its back.

 

[Mical]

I had a Green Pocillopora growing in my 65g before I moved and was doing great. After the move it looked like a tree in fall - no color - no life. I left it attached to rock because a BTA and clowns hovered around it. Months later it started growing off one side of it. I'll post pics later as it's lights out currently.

Another instance, I had what was live rock dried out in a bucket for 5+ years, no moisture nothing. Decided to throw a 29g tank together and within 60 days things like feather dusters and mushrooms started appearing as the tank was cycling - I literally added nothing.