this was emailed to me from mike earlier today:
well, i don't know what to say other than CORALS CAN CHANGE COLOR, PEOPLE. it is nothing new. take the purple monster- in some cases, it is pure purple and looks absolutley lovely. the owner will get many requests for a frag, and by the time the same frag (which has 100% of the same genetic material as the parent colony) finds its way into another's tank... whethre it be immediately or several months down the line... the coral can be almost toally brown. does it mean it's not a purple monster? you people have been in this hobby long enough to know that nothing is absolute in terms of color/morphology. i went through 2 tank crashed from the time i received these micromussas and they have gone through several changes within my own tanks... but today, they pretty freaking similar to the day they got them. i have them in a 90gallon with approx 200watts or actinic vho's and i've found them most conducive in bringing back the colors i had when i received them. i know i make a point of mentioning this to each and every person who buys a frag.
now, let me give you a quick break down on what happens during the fragging process- the micros (pink floyd and pink lemonade in particular) tend to excrete/expell xooanthellae once i dremel them away from the mother colonies. it's a stressful process. what that means is, they lose the very thing that gives them these unique colors. however, the loss is not permanent and the colors eventually return in a matter of weeks or short while beyond that. also, the shipping process causes considerable stress as well. this gentleman went ahead and threw them under halides (400watters, if i remember correctly?) and to me... that wasn't the smartest move. he emailed me several months after the fact and then stated the corals no longer look anything like what he remembers, and sends me pictures. with the exception of the oj (which looks like it took a terrible turn and possibly never recovered from the stress, in my opinion), i told him, although they've shifted considerably, they do look great (given the circumstances). i explained to him what kind of lights will bring about the same colors and what he can do to get them back there. i extended an earnest apology and made a point to offer some form of reparations when he began to attempt to strongarm me to send him free packages on my dime and throwing idle threats and wild accusations at me. then he goes ahead to try to crap on my name on frags.org and cries to you guys on rc.
in the case of the piece of work who started this thread- when he received his corals, they were exceptionally stressed. i recommended the lugols and strontium dip because he informed me that the corals were receeding and looked like they were not staying entirely attached to their skeleton. once again, stress. i recommended placing the corals under actinic lights to recover and
with that said, i have received a 2 or 3 notices from former buyers about color shift... and while i am sorry, i know what corals are in my tank, and i'm fully aware of the fact that colors change under different lighting schemes and different water parameters. i have experimented w/ all of these colonies in 3 different tanks in my home, and on several instances they have taken on personalities of their own. however, when returned to the tank with the vho's they have eventually regained their original coloration. and when i send them out, i send out the ones that sit under the vho's because that's what people are expecting. in anycase, becasue of the high dollar amount and the unusually volatile nature i've heard of the pink lemonade taking in other tanks, i have not sold a frag in months, despite many inquiries each week.
when i get home, i will take pictures of my pink lemonade and pink floyd so you people can see for yourself what it looks like in my tank. actualyl check that. I will take them in front of microbubbles and send them along with him, w/o resizing. or if he prefers, he can take the photos himself.
and Organism- do you know me? what's w/ the personal vendetta to attempt to villify me? i know you and i got the micros from the same place and maybe what YOU ended up with was bleached, but maybe that's something you should take up w/ the supplier, instead of this passive aggressive displacement, and trying to make me look bad? or maybe you're speaking on his behest? or maybe by knocking another seller of micromussa, maybe you think it'll ramp up your own business? either way, i implore you reefers on RC to look at motives instead of taking their statsments for face value.
Mike Bae
i have no idea what the heck my tupperware trick is.
