ID Help Please

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I purchased this stony coral about six months ago. Its not an acro or monti but is definately an sps of some sort. It's polyps are green with white tips and the hard structure is yellow. It appreciates bright light and strong water flow. I got as close as I could on this photo. You help would be appreciated.

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Please disregard my earlier attachment. This current photo may work a little better. I think this coral may be a palauastrea ramosa discussed on pg 213 of Eric's book.http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/514/59186Palauastrea_Closeup.JPG

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Here's a little further out on top of the coral.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/514/59186Paulauastrea_Ramosa.JPG

Another closeup Photo
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/514/59186P1010057.JPG

[a.fool.for.fish.]

wow sorry i cant help but thats a amazing coral

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Thanks for the reply. There have been a lot of views on this thread but not many replies. I'm just assuming that this one is going to be hard to identify. I still think its a palauastrea ramosa. We may need Eric's help when he returns from wherever he is.

[greenbean36191]

Could you get a pic of the whole colony? That might help if we could see the growth form a little better.

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if you click on the thread just above my second post i took a photo of the entire colony a little further away. It's a really fuzzy looking coral and has very blunt endings. no axial endings like the acro and definately not like a monti.

[greenbean36191]

Sorry, I guess I missed that when I skimmed over the thread. I would guess it's a pocillopora damicornis (sp?) by the growth and comparing the the close-up to one I had. That's nothing more than a guess though.

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thats a very good guess. i wish Eric would have included a photo of palauaustrea ramosa in his book. i know i will never be able to accurately id this coral without doing dna testing but i though maybe someone would recognize it.

[greenbean36191]

Here is a site with pics of all of the known reef building corals so you can compare and see what you think: http://whelk.aims.gov.au/coralsearch/coralid_search.php

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Thanks I'll take a look.

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Thanks for everyones help. I think I'm going to go with Pocillopora damicornis for an ID on this coral. Anthony Calfo suggested it as an ID as well as greenbean. I don't think its form is close enough to Palauastrea ramosa. I was thrown off by the polyp color. If you look at Eric's book on pg 213 he does include a picture of Palauastrea (I was wrong). Palauastrea seems to be more thinly branched than my coral. Plus, its pretty rare in the trade. BTW greenbean, what do you have your coral under as far as lighting goes. Calfo suggested my coral may be slightly bleached due to overillumination. I have 1x250w metal halide and 3x96w pc in a 60 gallon which is less than 20" deep.

[greenbean36191]

I had mine under 250w DE on a 29. Unfortunately I didn't have it long enough to see much of a change in color if it was going to make one because it RTNed after I tried to raise my alk too quickly.

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Oh, thats too bad. It sure is a unique looking coral and from what I can gather grows very quickly. did the rtn occur from the tips inward or from the base? I have been very successful with cutting the RTN branch off before it spreads to the rest of the coral.

[greenbean36191]

It happened from the bottom, but it was just a frag so there wasn't really anywhere for me to break it that wasn't already affected. Hopefully I'll get another one soon. I lost a few of my favorite acros at the same time and I've been concentrating on getting more acros first.

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thats a tough one when it starts to bleach from the bottom up. I have read in Eric's book that when that occurs the coral may be suffering from lack of sufficient nutrients. It's just a guess though. Just like pretty much everything else in this hobby. By the way, nice avatar.