long tenacle plates

[Avis]

We had 4 plates that have died in the past month. For no apparent reason Everything seems to be good with water, and we have never noticed any fish picking on them. We had one of the plates for 13 months. Any ideas are appreciated. Happy Reefing.

 

[revsgirl]

Don't take them out! Thought our red plate was dead! Few months later it was havin' babes!!

 

[H@rry]

I can't tell you why they died but I agree that you should never throw out the skeleton. You might be surprised to see babies sprouting all along the edge.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Here's what Bob Fenner says about Heliofungia/long tentacle plate coral on wetwebmedia:

"Helio/Long tentacle plate corals rarely fare well for any length of time... especially if not placed on soft/fine sand substrates. "

As revsgirl pointed out earlier, daughter colonies, called anthocauli, form on a seemingly dead skelton of a parent coral. I bought daughter colonies of a fungia (the short tentacle plate coral) from a friend a couple of years ago. I gave away a number of the daughter colonies as they grew larger, but new ones seem to keep coming off of the tiny remainder of the parent's skelton.

By the way, Trachyphilia (Open brain coral) can also reproduce the same way.

Rising from the dead... kinda spooky, ain't it?

 

[Avis]

Thanks for the information. We will keep you informed if we have a baby plate. That would make me so happy.

 

[revsgirl]

I hope you do!! May you have baby plates in abundance!!