Fungia dying or starting to make babies?

[joefishtank]

A little back story first. I went to a LFS saw an orange coral skeleton and a different dull green flat disk with an orange rim. Two weeks later they were both alive so I asked if he would sell me a dying coral and it was $10 for a plate coral with 25% tissue. It was showing improvement for a while. The tissue was spreading and expanding with water and the color improving. Recently the color is getting duller and its not expanding(I'm shading it now). I think its turning into a baby factory. The green flat disk I saw at the LFS was actually a fungia trade in that was starting to sprouting babies. If you have any experience growing baby fungia what do you think?

Three week time lapse with the lfs fungia factory at the end

 

[blaxsun]

It's definitely on death's door...

 

[joefishtank]

How long is it going to take to die. I've never seen a coral die so slowly. It looks like it should already be dead.

 

[TnFishwater98]

Bad pic because it’s at a angle

 

[joefishtank]

Bad pic because it’s at a angle

Exactly what I wanted to see. I notice that your skeleton is not white like mine. Did it die all the way and then suddenly start growing new heads? That's what a different LFS owner told me would happen.

 

[Lavey29]

Fungia are known for unexplained sudden death syndrome most not lasting past 4 months. I've had 2 in my tank a year now and both seem strong presently although the small one always wants to be partially covered by the large one even when I separated them by like 6 inches.

 

[TnFishwater98]

Exactly what I wanted to see. I notice that your skeleton is not white like mine. Did it die all the way and then suddenly start growing new heads? That's what a different LFS owner told me would happen.

It was white…. I even moved it to my frag tank. I’ve brushed it from algae in the bare spots once in the past. Not sure really what the next step is. Couldn’t find a lot of info on web. I’ve thought about trying to pluck off or even cut the mother plate in small pieces where the babies are. I’ve ended up just leaving them for now .

 

[joefishtank]

It was white…. I even moved it to my frag tank. I’ve brushed it from algae in the bare spots once in the past. Not sure really what the next step is. Couldn’t find a lot of info on web. I’ve thought about trying to pluck off or even cut the mother plate in small pieces where the babies are. I’ve ended up just leaving them for now .

The owner of my LFS told me I should feed it a lot so they grow faster and when they get bigger they fall off by themselves. If there's space on the plate to get a clean cut it would probably be better than if they grew too close together and have to compete against each other for light

 

[encrustingacro]

From what I know, either only certain species of plate corals can asexually bud, or you have to have certain conditions for it to bud. The only species of plate coral I am sure of that can asexually bud is Heliofungia fralinae, which I don't think your coral is.

 

[joefishtank]

I was told it is a plate coral from Australia. Other than that I don't know the scientific name.

 

[bumpyj38]

It was white…. I even moved it to my frag tank. I’ve brushed it from algae in the bare spots once in the past. Not sure really what the next step is. Couldn’t find a lot of info on web. I’ve thought about trying to pluck off or even cut the mother plate in small pieces where the babies are. I’ve ended up just leaving them for now .

I was in your exact position awhile ago. The answer is leave them on the plate. They will detach when they are ready. Then you need to recover them before they blow under a rock or into another coral. When they detach, eventually another one will grow in its place. There is no telling how long the dead plate will continue to produce but it will just keep going until it stops. I’m up to about 15-20 now.