Ugly Coral Success Stories?

[uniquecorals]

Ok, let's be honest.

We all occasionally get a colony or frag that starts out as well...UGLY! Browned out, beige, dull....UGLY! We started off with a very ugly light beige piece that somehow my partner saw something in. As coral lovers and propagators, we take chances on seemingly sad and overlooked pieces all the time. Sometimes they never quite develop. Sometimes it takes months and you get something ok. Other times, it takes months and you end up with something really awesome!

Here's one success story:

this rather dull brownish little piece had an interesting morphology that had very tiny, rather recessed polyps. We took a chance on it and grew out a few pieces. It was, ahem- "poop brown". And ugly. Really. After literally months under 400 watt 20K Radiums n light movers, wicked horizontal gyre flow, good water quality, and occasional feeding, the result was spectacular:

We call it our "Bonsai Acro", and it turned out to be a real beauty and a great seller. Go figure. I wish I had some pics of the "before"...I think one of the overlooked aspects of our hobby is the lesson in life that you can learn by having the faith to stand by something that would otherwise be passed by, and watching it blossom into a thing of beauty. I guess it's what we reefers call "love"- perhaps a secret ingredient in coral propagation.

We'd love to see and read about your stories of faith and success with some of those forgotten or otherwise ugly corals that you took a chance on and stood by!

Scott

 

[Scoly]

Def a diamond in the rust! Nice job!

 

[uniquecorals]

Def a diamond in the rust! Nice job!

We guessed right on that one...

 

[chefmur]

I recieved an ugly brown single stick acro as a freebie with an order, he called it a Miami Orchid. I glued it to a rock at the back of my aquarium where I could not see it. One day I noticed some pretty purple coralites sticking up from the back of my tank. I moved it up top under my 20K rediums and it is now one of the nicest pieces in my tank, pale pink body with lavander tips and is about 8 inches wide at the top.It's the first piece that catchs people eye when they firsyt see my tank.

 

[miyags]

I'm sure the collectors on the reef don't just grab the ugly ones to ship over. I bet most of them looked pretty good when they were collected.I bought a browned out prism thats turning out pretty nice.

 

[barbianj]

Here's a rescued one from a friend. It had flipped upside down and was completely brown and rotting. The first picture was already on the road to recovery, it was much worse.

And now. Not bad for a freebie.

<br><br><br>

 

[PolandSpring]

I recieved a Blue Dragon and CC Passion Fruit and they ccame in almost dead. (Due to shipping).. i had faith and glued them down on the rock and didnt touch them.. I came back from college 3 weeks later and they were beautiful and fully colored up! They are now my favorite pieces because of the history I have with them. Its a geat feeling to bring corals "back from the dead"... it makes you feel that your tank is really thriving!

Wish i had a pic of how they looked before also.. ill try to get some pics of them next time im home. The CC Pasionfruit is gorgouss!!

 

[FMF0331]

I sometimes buy frags that needs a bit of help, in the end i always end up with a beauty.
Gotta love mother nature

 

[Connie]

Here's mine:
Before:

After a couple months TLC:

 

[uniquecorals]

I recieved an ugly brown single stick acro as a freebie with an order, he called it a Miami Orchid. I glued it to a rock at the back of my aquarium where I could not see it. One day I noticed some pretty purple coralites sticking up from the back of my tank. I moved it up top under my 20K rediums and it is now one of the nicest pieces in my tank, pale pink body with lavander tips and is about 8 inches wide at the top.It's the first piece that catchs people eye when they firsyt see my tank.

I love that kind of story...I remember a few times over the years when the "freebie" ended up being way nicer than the one I paid for!

 

[uniquecorals]

I'm sure the collectors on the reef don't just grab the ugly ones to ship over. I bet most of them looked pretty good when they were collected.I bought a browned out prism thats turning out pretty nice.

Yup- you just never know. Sometimes, you just get a feeling about a coral....

 

[uniquecorals]

Here's a rescued one from a friend. It had flipped upside down and was completely brown and rotting. The first picture was already on the road to recovery, it was much worse.

And now. Not bad for a freebie.

<br><br><br>

That's an awesome success story!

 

[uniquecorals]

I recieved a Blue Dragon and CC Passion Fruit and they ccame in almost dead. (Due to shipping).. i had faith and glued them down on the rock and didnt touch them.. I came back from college 3 weeks later and they were beautiful and fully colored up! They are now my favorite pieces because of the history I have with them. Its a geat feeling to bring corals "back from the dead"... it makes you feel that your tank is really thriving!

Wish i had a pic of how they looked before also.. ill try to get some pics of them next time im home. The CC Pasionfruit is gorgouss!!

Yeh, I'll bet the CC Passionfruit is nice! One of my personal faves, actually! It's amazing that even roughed up corals can, many times- spring back to their former glory if given time and TLC!

 

[uniquecorals]

I sometimes buy frags that needs a bit of help, in the end i always end up with a beauty.
Gotta love mother nature

Another example of the power of faith and patience!

 

[uniquecorals]

Here's mine:
Before:


After a couple months TLC:

That's awesome, Connie! We had a few Symphillia and a Fungia that we accidently placed on a low shelf out of the light for several weeks. They wre just bleached out to nothing..tragic error). We placed them back up in light and flow, and they are bouncing back remarkably. I guess it just shows that you should never give up on a coral!