superman monti question

[Tracey2]

I have 2 superman monti aquacultured corals in my tank doing great but when I try a wild ocean speciman it slowly turns white from the outside in, I have tried twice, any suggestions. I don't think I will try another but I recently added other monti's to the tank and would like to avoid problems.

 

[dvanacker]

when you say aquacultured....do you mean tank grown or cultured in the ocean?

Wild and mari-cultured corals are not as hardy as captive grown....also they may or may not colour up or retain their original color. This really rings true with acropora but some montipora as well.

 

[daveonbass]

I was under the impression that aquacultured implied only tank raised. And that maricultured was from frag farms in the ocean...and then wild was from the reef.

Now I wanna know...

 

[allsps40]

^^ Correct. Maricultured sps tend to have the same issues as wild though because they are pretty much wild. The difference is maricultured are clippings from the reef that are grow on racks just off the reef and are cared for by people for sale on the market. This way smaller clippings can be taken from the reef then grown off site and refragged for sale. They are still grown in the ocean very very near the reef and still grown with full sunlight in most cases. Wild sps are just cut from the reef and shipped to sellers. Mariculture is a way to provide wild caught and grown sps in a sustainable manner.

 

[t4zalews]

With all the aquaculture availability of this coral, why go wild? And if the answer is wild is more colorful, thats simply not true

 

[Tracey2]

I really didn't know the definition of aquacultured etc but the 2 I have in the tank that are doing well I was told when I bought them that they were aquacultured, they are pretty but the red polyps are not as red(more brown/red) and the base is not as vivid blue.

Twice I have tried what I was told was the real deal supreman monti wild from the ocean, beautiful colour and they seem fine for a month or so and then they start to turn white from the outside in until completely gone.

Recently I added a beautiful sunset monti, not sure wild or not but I would love to avoid any problems.

I have read one possiblity might be that I am low in potassium???? Any other suggestions?

 

[dvanacker]

A lot of people in Canada use the term aquacultured for ocean cultured. This gets confusing to me. I think they have the right idea in the states by reserving the term aquacultured for aquarium grown and mari-cultured for ocean cultured.

Sounds like you have yet to get a nice superman....most mari-cultured and wilds will never be as nice as the real superman....and as you have noticed...not as hardy.

If you see a nice superman in someones aquarium for months and its still nice....or you know it was completely aquarium grown....well than you know that it can retain the colours and is a hardy....a good aquarium specimen. I always advocate aquarium grown corals over wild and maricultured for this reason. Like I said..its even more problematic when talking about acropora.

 

[allsps40]

I really didn't know the definition of aquacultured etc but the 2 I have in the tank that are doing well I was told when I bought them that they were aquacultured, they are pretty but the red polyps are not as red(more brown/red) and the base is not as vivid blue.

Twice I have tried what I was told was the real deal supreman monti wild from the ocean, beautiful colour and they seem fine for a month or so and then they start to turn white from the outside in until completely gone.

Recently I added a beautiful sunset monti, not sure wild or not but I would love to avoid any problems.

I have read one possiblity might be that I am low in potassium???? Any other suggestions?

You most likely need to place them under higher lighting. My Superman monti did not have that great of color until I placed high under my 250w MH.

 

[SinisterReefer]

My Superman was a dull color until I gave it more light as well. Now, it is a vibrant blue with the red polyps more spread out giving it a nice color

 

[Tracey2]

This is interesting advice, I was told to put them low under a cliff. The 2 aquacultured ones are very low, the 2 real deal sm monti's were about 3/4 of the way up the tank under 4-80W T5's 1 led strip and 2 vho's. Maybe I will try to move one of the aquaculted ones up and see how it looks.

 

[Tracey2]

My sunset monti now has what looks like a piece missing from the side, totally white, what could this be I really don't want to loose this piece. It is sitting high on a frag rack.

 

[Tracey2]

Almost 2 weeks later my sunset looks much better since attaching him to the rock, no more blowing around on a frag rack.

I have moved one of my aquacultured supermans up a bit, still looking the same colours but it has only been a week and he is still only about half way up.

 

[allsps40]

This is interesting advice, I was told to put them low under a cliff. The 2 aquacultured ones are very low, the 2 real deal sm monti's were about 3/4 of the way up the tank under 4-80W T5's 1 led strip and 2 vho's. Maybe I will try to move one of the aquaculted ones up and see how it looks.

This is simply wrong info. Superman monti loves lots of light. Mine came from a tank with 400W 20K Radiums and it was about 3-4 inches from the water line, about 12 inches from the 400W MH. The red and blue color of the mother colony are bright red and deep blue very vivid.