Nursery #3
This is another new nursery #3. Pocilliporidae (Cauliflower coral) and acropora table coral are our two beginning species in this nursery. We also moved a couple of other young encrusting corals into the space. The current was strong during this build. Follow us and watch us grow!
May 2016 New Coral Nursery
Ocean Quest planted this new coral nursery this weekend. The little brown and bumpy stubs are the new corals which were fragged from damaged pieces that were alive though dying on the ocean floor. Thanks to Wes Copley and Explorer Divers. We had a great time. #divingwithpurpose #doingThailandafavorforfree #lightyourcandle
A Huge Rescued Table Coral
Rescuing this coral was a very big challenge, but we did it.
About 4 months ago, this huge table coral was pulled over upside down by a careless boat captain who was pulling in his anchor. It took us about 4 to 5 weeks to get to and attempt to rescue this specimen of hundreds of thousands if not millions of coral animals. When we arrived, nearly half of this colony was bleached white. We feared that much of it was dead. We didn't get to film the flipping of this piece because I discovered that someone had used up all of the memory for my GoPro.
Chunks of the damaged coral colony lay all around, and I wasn't sure that our lift bags would be able to do the job because of the enormous size. I've never heard of someone rescuing a huge, brittle, branching acropora table coral like this before. After attaching 3 lift bags with weight belts to each of one side we added air to the bags, but it wouldn't budge because the coral had begun growing upside down onto some rocks beside it. Robin and I strained and finally broke the bond but couldn't lift the side more than one foot. A large blue spotted ray swam out from under it. On the second try, we strained harder, grunted into our regulators, and managed to get the coral colony onto its side vertically. I jumped across the vertical table and pushed to try to slow its descent to the ocean floor being careful not be trapped beneath it. The massive table coral landed fairly gently back on its proper side where it could receive sunlight and hopefully regain its color and life again. We released the air out of the lift bags and secured them. I was upset that we didn't capture this entire rescue on video as had been planned.
We quickly dusted off the stark white and brown table coral so that the polyps could feed easily and begin photosynthesis. The broken fragments and chunks were gathered and plugged into the very large and possibly dead white area that hadn't received sunlight for several weeks. We departed our new friends hopin
Large School of Fish in Thailand March 2016
I took this footage after propagating some coral in Thailand this weekend. I thought they were beautiful. Not only is propagating corals fun, you get to see beautiful things that need and live among the coral reef.
Plugging acropora coral while diving or snorkeling
I made this video as an example of what you can do if you come upon a piece of coral that has been broken but still has color and may be alive. Plug it! Find a hole or available crevice and plug it. There is a good chance that it will take hold and grow. Make sure that it is not touching another coral.
Plugging Broken Coral Is Simple and Helpful
If you are snorkeling or diving and you see broken coral fragments that are not white, gray, or nearly white, you can give the coral a new chance at life and help the reef by plugging it into a crack or crevice of rock like this.
