Perseverance Reef

Fishy888 · Sep 5, 2023

tbrown said:
If you have a black light flashlight see if it fluoresces when the lights are off? It's hard to tell but it definitely doesn't look happy to me.

I have actinic lights and it hasn’t fluoresced since I bought it really. It was opening for me though. If it’ll open for me once again that’d be huge right now.

Fishy888 · Sep 5, 2023

Thankfully the digitata still has a very light brown color to it. No tissue is missing, another good thing. I moved the frag down to the bottom where there’s good flow and less light. Hopefully it’ll regain some color and open up again soon. It’s easier to see the brown color since I moved it down.

They say montipora in general is tough as nails. So far I’d say I agree. I imagine that if this was an acro the skeleton would be the only thing left by now.

I think I was a bit too quick in moving the digitata upwards. Lesson learned. That and from now on I need to glue the frag plugs down immediately upon taking it out of the bag. If I did that to start with it would still be open.

It’s still alive though and I’d say that the fact that no tissue has sloughed off already is a good sign that it’s not too late for it to come back.

tbrown · Sep 5, 2023

Fishy888 said:
They say montipora in general is tough as nails. So far I’d say I agree. I imagine that if this was an acro the skeleton would be the only thing left by now.

True, but I've killed almost as many Montipora as I have Acropora.

tbrown · Sep 5, 2023

I probably shouldn't admit that.

Fishy888 · Sep 5, 2023

tbrown said:
I probably shouldn't admit that.

Don’t feel bad. We’ve all killed some corals and fish in the beginning of our reefing career. As long as we keep improving, that’s what counts.

tbrown · Sep 5, 2023

Fishy888 said:
Don’t feel bad. We’ve all killed some corals and fish in the beginning of our reefing career. As long as we keep improving, that’s what counts.

Pfft. I've been doing this for several years and I still kill corals and fish unfortunately.

Fishy888 · Sep 5, 2023

The digitata hasn’t changed in appearance. There’s still some brown left which is great news. Although closed tightly there are still polyps. Hopefully a couple polyps will open back up tomorrow.

I dosed 1/2 teaspoon of LaCl a few hours ago. I’ll be dosing 1/2 teaspoon in the morning and 1/2 teaspoon in the evening until my phosphates get where they need to be.

Edit:
I walked by the tank after grabbing a midnight snack. The digi is more brown now than last night at this time. It has a bit to go until it gets back to where it was. The fact that I can see improvement already is amazing to me.

Also I noticed the first isopod on the glass yesterday morning. I hope there’ll be plenty of them soon. Dory will likely eat them as well as the amphipods and copepods in the system. The mandarin dragonette pair I hope to get eventually will also eat them. Hopefully all three pod types will become self sustaining colonies. I definitely need to culture some phytoplankton soon.

Fishy888 · Sep 6, 2023

As expected the white areas are officially bleached.

Which is why I was surprised to see this…

There’s still hope. Of course algae is growing on the bleached areas now. I was thinking of fragging it but there’s an area of brown tissue towards the top. I’ll leave well enough alone for now.

I dosed more LaCl today so my phosphates are coming down, slowly but steadily. Hopefully that’ll keep any algae trying to get a foothold on the bleached areas from getting too out of hand so the coral can take them back over.

Fishy888 · Sep 8, 2023

Although I didn’t get a good picture tonight the monti had some open polyps again today, mainly the same ones that were open yesterday but a few more may have been open today.

Hopefully tomorrow or Saturday I’m going to do a 15% or 20% water change. I’m going to get the three large rocks in the DT so my aquascape will be done. I’ve put it off long enough.

Monday I get to check out the new LFS in Springfield. I might pick up a frag or two. I’d like to get a monti cap, a setosa, and/or another digitata.

Having learned just how powerful my lights are I’ll make sure to have a fairly shady area so I can slowly acclimate my montipora to my lighting. The new aquascape will take that into consideration.

Fishy888 · Sep 8, 2023

Heeeeeerrrrreeeeessssssss Monti…….

It’s opening up again big time although the polyps are a bit shrunken. Just one problem though.

An “algae”, probably diatoms, has been growing on the bleached part of the skeleton. Now it’s started growing on the live tissue. I’ve been dosing enough LaCl to drop my phosphates by 0.04 ppm per day but I’m going to bump it up to 0.08 ppm or even 0.1 ppm per day. While I’m waiting for my phosphates to fall to where they should be I need to figure out how to get the “algae” to stop growing.

Dory, Nemo, and the rest of the gang are doing quite well. Dory particularly eats like a pig. She’s definitely grown since being here. She’s filling out and has grown by the length of her tail. The nems look great as do all my corals (with the exception of the digi but the digi looks better than it has since the top 2/3 of the coral bleached). Even the last remaining shrimp, now a year and a half old, is still doing well.

N1tew0lf1212 · Sep 8, 2023

Had a guy throwing away a 7in x 4in piece of digitata away at my preferred shop when i walked in last...snagged it in a heart put and mounted to back wall...it has started to encrust and has arms growing off.

N1tew0lf1212 · Sep 8, 2023

N1tew0lf1212 said:
Had a guy throwing away a 7in x 4in piece of digitata away at my preferred shop when i walked in last...snagged it in a heart put and mounted to back wall...it has started to encrust and has arms growing off.

Wow my typing is awful hahaha now i see why @tbrown always makes fun of me sniffle sniffle...lol hahaha

Fishy888 · Sep 8, 2023

N1tew0lf1212 said:
Wow my typing is awful hahaha now i see why @tbrown always makes fun of me sniffle sniffle...lol hahaha

I’m not much better some days. The red digi is awesome! I need some of that in my life. I’ll get some eventually. Do you find your montiporas waging war with your acros? I read recently that they don’t do well together yet I know many who have both. Who knows?

N1tew0lf1212 · Sep 8, 2023

Fishy888 said:
I’m not much better some days. The red digi is awesome! I need some of that in my life. I’ll get some eventually. Do you find your montiporas waging war with your acros? I read recently that they don’t do well together yet I know many who have both. Who knows?

I got good space for now and will be able to trim as needed and throw in the 200 by the time things get outta control but yes leave space for sure. Frank likes everything to battle lol sorry bossman..... he holds fight clubs in his tank all the time lol

Fishy888 · Sep 8, 2023

N1tew0lf1212 said:
I got good space for now and will be able to trim as needed and throw in the 200 by the time things get outta control but yes leave space for sure. Frank likes everything to battle lol sorry bossman..... he holds fight clubs in his tank all the time lol

I’ll definitely leave room. I want to have like 19542 corals in there but since I want actual colonies and not a tank full of frags I’m going to leave room not only for growth but between acros and montis.

F i s h y · Sep 8, 2023

Fishy888 said:
I’m not much better some days. The red digi is awesome! I need some of that in my life. I’ll get some eventually. Do you find your montiporas waging war with your acros? I read recently that they don’t do well together yet I know many who have both. Who knows?

My months and acros def fight. It's 50 50 who wins. Depends on the acro I've found.