Updating coral records new information about specimens you already hold in the Australian Wildlife Traceability System (AWTS): evidence of growth, or a change to a specimen's status (for example, sold, deceased or moved to conservation). You start from the Update Coral tile on the Home screen.

Open Update Coral and scan

On the Home screen, tap Update Coral. The Inventory update screen opens with the instruction 'Press button on your device to scan specimen one by one', an empty Scanned items list (with an EDIT button), and a greyed-out Update coral button. Scan each specimen's tag; they appear in the list and Update coral becomes active.

For scanning help, see How do I choose or change my scanning method (RFID, QR or Visual ID)?

Choose the type of update

After scanning, use the Update status dropdown to choose what you are recording. It has six options:

Option	When to use it
Update status	Record new information about a specimen you are keeping, such as evidence of growth (weight, length, height), a photo and notes. Use this for a routine update that does not change the specimen's lifecycle status.
Deceased	The specimen has died. Records the mortality (with a required reason) and marks the specimen inactive.
Sold Domestically	The specimen has been sold within the domestic market. Marks it inactive and removes it from your active inventory.
Sold as Ornamental	The specimen has been sold as an ornamental. Marks it inactive and removes it from your active inventory.
Conservation	The specimen has been moved to conservation. Marks it inactive and removes it from your active inventory.
Reactivate	Return a specimen that was previously made inactive back into your active inventory.

Record evidence of growth

To record growth, choose Update status, then tap a scanned item to open its detail screen:

On the Capture evidence of growth screen, enter Weight (g), Length (mm) and/or Height (mm), and tap Tap to take photo under Specimen photo to add a photo.
In the Notes field, tap Add notes and type a note (for example, 'Healthy growth observed, good polyp extension'), then tap Add to save and return.

These details are optional. The icons next to the item update to show what you have recorded.

For a focused walkthrough of recording growth, see How do I record evidence of a coral's growth?

Change a specimen's status

To record that a specimen has died, been sold or moved to conservation (or to reactivate one), choose the matching option from the Update status dropdown instead of recording growth. The removal options mark the specimen inactive so it no longer appears in your active inventory. When you scan a specimen that is already decommissioned (deceased or sold), a warning confirms it is decommissioned; choose Reactivate to return it to your active inventory.

For the Deceased, Sold and Conservation statuses (and the mortality reason), see How do I record coral mortality or remove coral from active stock?

Finalise and save

Tap Update coral. The data is saved to the AWTS and a confirmation notification appears (for example, 'Batch updated!' in green), with a dismiss (×) button.

Error messages you may see

If an action cannot be completed, the AWTS mobile app shows a short message. Here is what the messages you are most likely to see when updating mean, and what to do.

Message	What it means and what to do
'Tag not found in system'	Update Coral only works on specimens that are already registered.
'Tag is decommissioned, select Reactivate to restore'	This specimen was marked deceased or sold. Choose Reactivate in the status dropdown to bring it back.
'Tag is consumed, cannot update'	This specimen was used up in a fragmentation or breeding event, so it can no longer be updated.
'Tag is already active'	You tried to reactivate a specimen that is not decommissioned. No action is needed.