Unusual Monti growth pattern

saltyhog · Oct 22, 2015

I've grown this Chilli Pepper monti from a 1" square. In the last 6 months it's growth pattern changed completely as it started growing downward toward the sand. It was approximately 10" across when this started. What would cause this? Should I just frag off all of the downward pieces?

view from above

clee36 · Oct 23, 2015

i would love to hear someones .02 on this as well.

cymbyldesign · Oct 23, 2015

I'm going to assume that because it is an encrusting coral, your frag has reached the perimeter of where it can grow. It appears to be searching. I bet if you placed a piece of live rock next to it you would see it grow over it. Just my observation

Tahoe61 · Oct 23, 2015

cymbyldesign said:
I'm going to assume that because it is an encrusting coral, your frag has reached the perimeter of where it can grow. It appears to be searching. I bet if you placed a piece of live rock next to it you would see it grow over it. Just my observation

Yup, trying to encrust. I agree totally.

jlanger · Oct 23, 2015

Some of my plating montipora colonies would grow like this also.
I don't have a fact-based answer for you, but it could be caused by a couple of factors.
1. Too much light.
2. Water flow.

My best guess is the coral is responding to the water flow in that location in the tank.
My corals that were placed near the substrate would grow like this quite a bit. When the frags were placed higher up and received a different type of flow, they grew into beautiful plates. But once I moved them down towards the bottom of the tank, they changed their growing pattern; downward like your photo. I'm thinking that by being so low in the water column, the coral finds the best flow just along the substrate's surface.
I took my corals and trimmed off the recurving growth and placed them into a new location with more random water flow.
I find that plating montipora corals like to be placed higher up in the water column for the best growth forms. But that doesn't help us in our aquascaping strategies as the corals will shade a large portion of the tank beneath them.

I hope this helps.
Good luck.

FarmerTy · Oct 23, 2015

That's just an encrusting monti that's hit its physical limit for plating. My jedi mid trick did the same thing. They'll plate a little bit but nature takes back over and they'll head south looking for something else to encrust on. Just my 2 cents.

Stephanie11 · Oct 23, 2015

It's still in encrusting mode. I've had plates encrust before growing into a plate and I've had plates just plate from the start.

WetWhistle · Oct 23, 2015

I find if they are encrusting sp but not really plating they will grow down till they hit something they can grow onto. Some that are plating need a certain sized base before they will plate and they will do the same. Put some rocks or rubble under them to grow on. Water flow will also effect growth. If the better water flow is down it will grow towards it. Or they will also grow away from something that is being aggressive to them.

ReefMadScientist · Oct 23, 2015

You have an encrusting Montipora where it likes to grow over the surface of its surroundings: live rock, corals, etc.

Plating montipora tend to grow up and outward.

saltyhog · Oct 23, 2015

Several us got this coral from our club. Everyone else with a piece of it has all plating/scrolling growth, no encrusting growth at all. It grew completely plating for over a year(about 10" across) for me before starting the downward growth. If you look closely in the picture you can see multiple new plating growths above the original growth. I think you guys are right it must be a flow issue though I'm not sure why. I have two MP 40's on the ends and two MP 10's on the back of the tank. If I turn them up any higher I have difficulties with keeping my sand in place. I will probably have to frag it to move it cause that rock is not removable and the coral is stuck to it really well.

jlanger · Oct 23, 2015

I also run two MP40's with two MP1o's in my 120gal, so you're experiencing the same thing I did.
Here's some pics to show that this growth form happens with plating montipora corals.

Mother colonies; placed high in water column.

Frags displaying the recurved growth when placed low in the water column.
Even shows evidence of shading from above and some plating growth.

Frag from same mother colony that was placed at the top of the water column.
You can see the original frag as the darker/denser circular center, and the new growth was definitely plating; even vertically along the back of the tank wall.

I think that if you want to have a plating colony, you'll need to frag some of the small plates off the top of the colony and place them higher up in the water column.
Montipora corals are resilient, so they'll grow just about anywhere; and in any form.

saltyhog · Oct 24, 2015

Great pictures jlanger! That undoubtedly is the answer. Now I have to decide where to put it that will let it grow (it grows very fast) and not take up too much real estate.