bird's nest polyps only on tips

[testertips]

Hi,

So my bird's nest is growing nicely but only has polyps mostly on the ends. The middle to lower areas have lost their polyps. When I purchased, the polyps were all over... thoughts?

 

[kyleinpdx]

I'm by no means an SPS expert, but are you sure thats not a stylophora?

unfortunately I dont have any good answers to your question, hopefully someone more knowledgeable will make some recommendations.

 

[testertips]

Birds nest I was told when purchasing... regarding why the polyp loss?

 

[Whipples]

It is not uncommon to have some polyp loss on the lower branches that light cannot reach, which may be the case for you. Do you use LED or T5 or MH?

 

[testertips]

It is not uncommon to have some polyp loss on the lower branches that light cannot reach, which may be the case for you. Do you use LED or T5 or MH?

Makes sense... I'm running LEDs

 

[Whipples]

My birds nest does the same under LEDs, and so does my montipora, both of which continue to grow. You can potentially try to increase flow to ensure they are getting food to offset the lower light

 

[Dave_Lim]

Hi,

So my bird's nest is growing nicely but only has polyps mostly on the ends. The middle to lower areas have lost their polyps. When I purchased, the polyps were all over... thoughts?

Your birdnest is quite special even those tip on the bottom shaded from light also have pe at tip only. I suggest frag a branch out pace it higher and feed more watch po4 and no3 level .

 

[SashimiTurtle]

It's common to have some die off in the middle of a colony that gets lower light and flow than the edges... The only ways to try and offset it is increase the amount of light sources and add flow.

 

[jayala12]

Flow related... need more flow to reach middle as it gets bigger

 

[DSC reef]

It's definitely a birds nest, seriatopora guttatus. It looks relatively healthy from the the pic but keep an eye on it to make sure the recession doesn't get worse. They can be sensitive to chemistry swings and light acclimation. IME that species of birdsnest doesn't like to be blasted with flow so gentle polyp movement is plenty. Seriatopora hystix seemed to like a lot more flow.

 

[Dave_Lim]

For comparison pocci and both type of birdnest

 

[SashimiTurtle]

My birds nest... I believe it's the thinest hystix I've seen. The mother colony was about basket ball sized and none of the branches were any larger than what you see here. Pocci right behind it.

 

[DSC reef]

My birds nest... I believe it's the thinest hystix I've seen. The mother colony was about basket ball sized and none of the branches were any larger than what you see here. Pocci right behind it.

A good amount of flow and that hystix will thicken up real quick. Nice piece

 

[BoomCorals]

I think DSC reef covered it. But just to note if areas that are getting light are losing polyps I'd start looking for pests.