SPS newbie here

[becon776]

ok got all the frags mounted and glued in I tried to minimize any time they spent above water.
Now I've learned quite a bit about a lot of different corals but am a definate newbie when it comes to SPS.

Questions: After acclimation when in my tank the blue millie and neon green millie let go of what looked like a layer of snot. some kind of mucous. Is this normal or should i be geeking out?

Also the blue tort my fav of the frags doesn't seem to have it's polyps out or at least not like the millie's do... it that bc it is a more delicate coral and takes longer to acclimate or because it's polyps are just not the same length as the millies?

Any general informational page about sps and which is what and their care would be awesome!

 

[dalbrecht]

The slime they put out is normal. Tort's don't have the dramatic polyps that the millies have, but there should be some extension when it's acclimated.

A bit of current will help the mucous to dissipate. It's a normal aspect of their defense & feeding apparatus.

 

[becon776]

what gives?

what gives?

OK I got this coral from millie about a month ago... I always check on it... they had it in a tank with pc's so I figured what the hell...It is front, up high directly under the 175 10k, lots of flow and I just wanna get your opinions... it this thing dying on me? Bleaching? The polyps are still out and it is now a toothpaste mint green. I mean really light green it was brownish b4.
Before=

After =

u can also see the blue millie from the meet next to it.

 

[becon776]

but I cant get a good representative shot of this sucker under actinics.. it glows bright green like no tommorrow.

 

[ReeferMac]

Looks like an A. sarmentosa in the first pic. They do really well under strong lights. I don't know why it's bleaching, there are lots of reasons that could be.

- Mac

 

[becon776]

is it bleaching? the pic is deceiving .. it isn't white it is bright green almost like a mint / toothpaste green and under the actinics it shines brighter green than the brain or octobubble... I am trying to figure out if it is or not. polyps still out. it didn't change one part at a time rather the whole piece gradually changed... wondering if this may be a color change in response to the higher lighting? I dunno.. I hope it is a color change because it is pretty sweet looking right now. How can I tell for sure? or if it is dying how do I know?

 

[ReeferMac]

For me, it's one of those things you just 'get to know' a coral after a while. If things still look healthy to you (and it's just a bad photo), then it may likely be just color shifting. Moving from a PC lit tank to a MH lit tank, is fairly drastic. Most of the examples of that species of coral I've seen are a light teal/green color, with pinkish tips, so... it could very well be it's just acclimating. From the pic however, it's hard to tell, that's pretty stark white on my monitor.
When it's dead, it's dead, you'll know... algae starts to grow on it and everything, overnight, it's very certain. They can expel their zooxanthellae in response to new environments, which appears as bleaching, but they are simply 'adjusting' to the new conditions (boy, is that an over-simplification).... but if the tissue is still intact, and there's good polyp extension at various times, you're still in good shape. There are a few predators that have been going around, that also cause Acro's to 'bleach' in appearance, which is also a possibility.

- Mac

 

[becon776]

ok got it confirmed... talked to millie and the frag came out of HER home aquarium... it is supposed to be that mint greenish white there is a pic of the mother colony hanging up in the invert room. Phew thought that was gonna be my first sps casualty. Thanks RM!!!

 

[nwrogers]

That is good news becon! Keep us posted on how it colors up. I will be interested in seeing some progress pictures in 6 months. I hope it colors up nice. I got a blue tenius frag from Keith a few months back. It is looking awesome now. It is great to watch how SPS corals color up differently in different tanks over time!