Montipora spongodes (maybe?) showing weird coloration

[klimfish]

I picked up what I believe to be a large-ish colony of montipora spongodes a couple months ago from a local reefer. When I got it, most of the coral was a dark pink color, with almost 0 green showing. It's sitting around 160 PAR in my tank with good flow, and within a few weeks the brown/pink has changed into a very light blue/green, with only a few small spots on the coral actually looking neon "green" as expected.

Now this morning look at the coral it appears more "white" than blue or green, and I am noticing that the skin of the monti directly under the polyps is very green, but nowhere else on the coral.

I had heard that spongodes don't like too much light, but is 160 PAR really too much? Or is this just a stage in it coloring all the way to green and I should leave things alone?

All other corals (Duncan, Psammy, Acan, all towards the bottom) are doing just fine, which is why I don't want to mess with things. The monti is mounted in a way to where I would have to somehow get it off of the rock it's on to move it to a lower area of the tank, which is why I'm hesitant to go that route as well.

Parameters are all good, tested this morning as follows

Temp: 79
SG: 1.025
Alk - 8.0
Calc - 440
Mag - 1350
Amm. - 0
Nitrate - 10-20ppm
Phos - <0.1

50 gallon starfire cube tank
2 gyre 330's
Reef octopus SSS110 Skimmer
I run carbon and GFO in a BRS mini reactor
Hydra32HD for light set at about 14K and 70/91 watts

 

[Nick Steele]

Any pics?

I placed mine in too high light too quick and bleached it. Turned down lights and it is now purple base with green/brown polyps waiting to see if it will grow back to green base

 

[klimfish]

Any pics?

I placed mine in too high light too quick and bleached it. Turned down lights and it is now purple base with green/brown polyps waiting to see if it will grow back to green base

I will take some as soon as the lights come up enough, probably around 12PM EST.

The polyps on mine are always fully extended, have great brown coloration. I just can't tell if this color it is now is about to turn green as part of it's recovery from purple/brown, or if it is simply too much light. I've seen some growth during this period as well, so it is consuming Alk etc...

 

[GlassMunky]

Spongodes is never pink. Always green. Not sure what you got if it was originally pink.

 

[Fakegolfnews]

1st pic: when i got it, LFS said it wasnt getting enough light and will color up with a bit more.

2nd pic: neglected on the sandbed (brown)

3rd pic: now, in its happy place. Gets medium/low flow, not a ton cause all i have is return pump. But the return shoots off the glass directly at it. AI prime is about 45% blues/violet, 2% white, 3% red green, i think uv is like 6%. 12 hrs. 10g waterbox, i think 13 inches high

4th pic: 5 months ago, i accidentally left the flow off all night long during winter twice in one week lol. (My apt was 55 degrees, im too cheap for heat) Its come back from one polyp that wasn't stripped. This coral is near impossible to kill.

Hope this helps

 

[klimfish]

Spongodes is never pink. Always green. Not sure what you got if it was originally pink.

The ORA Spongodes has brown pink on it

ORA Spongodes | Montipora sp. | ORA | Oceans, Reefs & Aquariums

Spongodes from ORA is an striking Montipora with an unusual growth pattern.

www.orafarm.com

...I think it's typical on the base/shaded areas?

 

[klimfish]

1st pic: when i got it, LFS said it wasnt getting enough light and will color up with a bit more.

2nd pic: neglected on the sandbed (brown)

3rd pic: now, in its happy place. Gets medium/low flow, not a ton cause all i have is return pump. But the return shoots off the glass directly at it. AI prime is about 45% blues/violet, 2% white, 3% red green, i think uv is like 6%. 12 hrs. 10g waterbox, i think 13 inches high

4th pic: 5 months ago, i accidentally left the flow off all night long during winter twice in one week lol. (My apt was 55 degrees, im too cheap for heat) Its come back from one polyp that wasn't stripped. This coral is near impossible to kill.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the pics! Looks like I should probably move it to a lower light spot. I thought it might be able to handle 160 PAR but apparently not...

 

[GlassMunky]

The ORA Spongodes has brown pink on it

ORA Spongodes | Montipora sp. | ORA | Oceans, Reefs & Aquariums

Spongodes from ORA is an striking Montipora with an unusual growth pattern.

www.orafarm.com

...I think it's typical on the base/shaded areas?

Brown yes, pink no.

 

[klimfish]

Brown yes, pink no.

I think in this case pink/brown is inconsequential, I was asking more about how to bring back the green color anyway

 

[GlassMunky]

I think in this case pink/brown is inconsequential, I was asking more about how to bring back the green color anyway

Just let it be. Lol
As mentioned before by someone else, this coral is almost impossible to kill, and will come back with a vengeance even if only a single polyp survives. I always kept my spongodes on the sand bed and they did great.

 

[klimfish]

Just let it be. Lol
As mentioned before by someone else, this coral is almost impossible to kill, and will come back with a vengeance even if only a single polyp survives. I always kept my spongodes on the sand bed and they did great.

LOL!

Thanks for your input, I'm going to see if I can carefully pry it off of the rock it's glued on now (hasn't encrusted yet), attach to a smaller rock and place on the bottom and see how things go. The colony is about 4"x4", so hopefully it will recover and color up nicely.

 

[klimfish]

Update: moved it lower in the tank, getting around 125 par, now I don't have near as much polyp extension...

 

[Fakegolfnews]

Update: moved it lower in the tank, getting around 125 par, now I don't have near as much polyp extension...

Is it getting enough flow? Mine doesnt need to be blasted but its happiest when its polyps get some movement.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

That last pic looks like it is almost dead. If the polyps stay it might come back ok in time. I have never seen them do that with too much light, especially under 200 par. That coral can take a lot of light ime.

 

[bgilson]

The pic with blueish background is when I got it. Violet looking pic is no. Just a different camera filter. The black polyps are taking over all the green lol. I assume thats good? I have good flow and its middle if tank.

 

[bluerider098]

Looks pretty normal to me.