What Coral Is This

[Slothman]

I recently bought what I think is some type of encrusting sps coral, I got it for cheap.
I was wondering if anyone had any other info on this coral. It’s a whitish base with pink polyps.
Is this coral bleached since it’s white? Or is it fine since the polyps are colored and there. And if it is supposed to be white how do you know if it bleached?? Lolol
Sincerely a wondering reef enthusiast
Reef specs: 20l, kessil a80, fluval50 and minI hob refugium

 

[stella1979]

Hi! Welcome to Fishlore!! I too have a 20L reef tank and I'd love to see more of yours.

It's hard to be sure but it certainly could be a type of montipora. Would you please share a picture with the blues turned down? The white lights aren't always the most flattering but they are the most revealing and make for the easiest ID's.

I don't know of a white coral... and the pic just isn't revealing enough for me to see how much polyp extension it's showing, so I can't really make a judgment call on the health (or what we often refer to as the mood of the coral, i.e. is it happy or mad?) I do have a montipora myself that is blue on the edges with a very pale green coloration inside and red polyps, known as a JedI Mind Trick... perhaps you could Google a picture and compare it to what you see. You might also want to look at montipora capricornis, (or montI caps/plating montis), or maybe I'm way off. Maybe a cyphastrea that's a little mad? To be quite honest, the polyp extension doesn't look great in the pic above, but that can be totally normal for a new coral... and even an old one. I've got a few that pout now and then for no apparent reason at all, one of which is another coral you might like to look at for an ID. Maybe it's porites. A whiter pic will help.

 

[Slothman]

This is the best I can get with the tuna blue at its whitest

 

[Slothman]

New pictures

 

[stella1979]

It can be pretty tough to be 100% from pictures, but I do think you've got a montipora coral there and it does appear to have a softer look, kinda like the JedI Mind Trick variety, so I'd hazard a guess that you have an encrusting montI rather than a plating monti.