elegance Archives - Coral Ever After

Portfolio of Rescued Corals: Before and After

reefdup Rehabilitation January 24, 2025January 24, 2025Acan, acropora, Coral, Dying Coral, elegance, Euphyllia, Frogspawn, Micromussa, Rehabilitation, Rescue Coral, Scoly, Scolymia, Torch, Zoanthids 0 Comment

Before and After of a Dying Homophyllia Coral

This is – by no means – my complete portfolio of rescued corals with before and after photos. Honestly – it’s just what this little hobbyist website could handle without bogging down too much (please let me know if the site starts acting like it’s 1995 on dial-up). In the early days, I didn’t document my rescued corals – because I didn’t think I was doing anything unusual or interesting to anyone else. So, there aren’t many photos of the early rescued corals with before and after images for comparison. I have documentation that I’ve successfully rescued over 300 corals in my home aquariums, but I don’t know where the true number really is.

Photo Composition

In showcasing this portfolio of rescued corals, I’m often asked to show the “before” corals in better lighting and in the same orientation as the “after” photos. As you can see, some of these photos go back over a decade (and a few back over 15 years). That was the age of dinosaurs, when I had to pull out an actual camera, try to remember all the manual settings, add the dates, upload and edit everything in a program, and somehow not lose the files after years of device changes… In other words, I’ve improved alongside technology. But, care of the coral during intake is my first priority (and not getting an Insta-worthy image).

Another consideration (that I have yet to solve) is… when to take the “after” photo? Should I take the “after” photo when the coral is just fully healed, or should I take the photo when the coral is at its full, mature glory? During the rehabilitation process, I try to photograph all corals monthly, and for the “after” photo, I typically use the first photo where the coral looks actually “good.” However, there are a few success stories, where I just love to show the coral as a thriving colony years later.

Photo Layout

Each photo “block” within the portfolio of rescued corals has two images: the “before” image is on the top, and the “after” image is on the bottom. Both images should have dates when the images were taken to help give a timeline between the two for comparison. On the top right of each set is just my categorizing nomenclature.

Coral Categorization

And, regarding nomenclature, I nearly gave up trying to recategorize my system after the latest round of scientific re-naming (e.g., a lot of coral in Lobophyllia were reclassified into Acanthastrea, Scolymia was reclassified as Homophyllia). I tried to categorize everything correctly here, but who knows anymore. If you see something under an old name, please just consider it a legacy item within this portfolio of rescued corals.

Gallery: Portfolio of Rescued Corals

Note: Some images have links to the full story of the coral’s recovery (this is a work in-progress; more will be added later).

Catalaphyllia Rehabilitation

reefdup Catalaphyllia (Elegance), Rehabilitation January 17, 2021February 25, 2022catalaphyllia, Coral Restoration, dying, Dying Coral, elegance, Rehab, Rehabilitation 0 Comment

Catalaphyllia Rehabilitated Before and After

This dying elegance coral (Catalaphyllia) came in on 24 November 2012 covered in aiptasia anemones and flatworms. Although I believed the flatworms were just Waminoa (nuisance, but not parasitic), but the previous owner was convinced the flatworms were actually parasitic. At the time, reports of LPS-eating flatworms were becoming more prevalent, so I wasn’t about to take chances.

This photo shows the coral in a dip to remove the flatworms and any other unseen parasites. I had to manually remove the aiptasia (chopping off parts of the old skeleton).

Only two days later (26 November 2012), and the coral was looking much better. (Only one piece of the Elegance is shown here.) With good water quality, I was hoping the coral would grow well.

Unfortunately, even seven months later (16 June 2013), the coral had not grown. Many rehabilitated corals often have stunted growth for about six months or so (some have had stunted growth for about two years). The coloration was significantly better though, with beautiful pink tips and fluorescent blue streaks reminiscent of lightning in the center.

Shortly after this photo was taken, the coral was permanently rehomed.