Acropora bleached after "heater mulfunction"

[ashish]

I purchased a green fiji acropora 11 days ago from Liveaquaria. It was doing great with amazing polyp extension until I left for my bachlor party. I left this past wednesday and just got back today to find the entire coral White.. Shocker for me as I never had my stony's bleach so fast. I was informed the heater was at 84 wednesday night and told my staff to try to keep the temperature at 80-82degrees (they failed and it's no one's fault). I can estimate my tank had temperature swings of 75-85 degrees for 5 days strait. My heater was turned to 61 degrees and still was on. Luckily all my other older acroporas and corals seem to be fine (which I now realize have become extremely hardy).. You hear about corals bleaching but no talk's regarding successful rehabilitation of bleached corals. All Reefers ask the same questions "what's you salinity, ca, kh, ph, etc".. I think the major quetions to be asked is "how did you acclimate to lighting, how old is your tank, how much LR and fish do you have, what's you protein skimmer...etc. Temperature swings are the leading cause of bleaching ACROs in the wild. I have witnessed this first hand and my new heater will arrive tomorow. My tank parameters are stable and this is all temperature related..

My question is:

Is there any hopes for this coral to begin regenerating assuming temperature and parameters are stable from today-on? Should I just remove the entire coral and consider it dead? Should I target feed it and wait a few weeks? has anyone experienced this?

 

[Red_Blenny]

Is the colony completely white? I had a frag that's hanging on by a coralite and it's still alive. I almost threw it away until I noticed a tiny 'brown' spot...

 

[ashish]

Completely white...I just took a better look at it - I don't think it has a chance...

 

[Red_Blenny]

You can break it up and add it into a calcium reactor if you have one. If not, you can clean it up and keep it as store decoration or add it into your garden.

 

[ashish]

You can break it up and add it into a calcium reactor if you have one. If not, you can clean it up and keep it as store decoration or add it into your garden.

lol...thanks....How about I stick to buying captive grown species and stop buying wild caught garbage

 

[epicurus84]

lol...thanks....How about I stick to buying captive grown species and stop buying wild caught garbage

Why, wild acro's are most of the time way better looking. (question is can we keep it like that).

Anyhow i would say buy two smaller heaters so they won't overheat you tank. But are big enough to just keep it warm.

 

[kaserpick]

I'm sure you've thought of this already, but having some kind of controller would help to prevent this issue. Heaters fail from time to time, and sometimes that means they get stuck ON. Having a controller for temperature doesn't mean hundreds of dollars, either; you can look into Ranco Temperature Controllers. They're not too bad on the wallet. Of course, you could look into aquarium controllers, too.

Sorry for your loss!

 

[Peter Eichler]

Temperature swings are not the cause for most bleaching events in the wild. In fact temperature swings within the range that you describe are quite common. Typically sustanined temperatures above the seasonal range is the main cause for bleaching events.

Lastly, if it's truly just bleached and hasn't loset any tissue, there is hope. But, it will be a long tough road back for that coral.

 

[ashish]

my tank is in a public building and temperature are checked daily.. even with that said they still could not keep the temperature from swinging. The temperature outside effected the malfunctioned heater. i estimate the temperature went from 74degrees to 84degrees in 4 days. This was 100% reason for my newer acropora wild caught for bleaching completely white...

 

[ashish]

I am moving this tank to my house in NJ after seeing this tank neglected for 5 years whenever i am away. The skimmer was not even changed with multiple notes on when to change it. I plan on starting a small frag tank in my house and getting into the coral business from home first. I will take this as a lesson in how important controllers will be especially in a home where no one is...

 

[ashish]

I just got a eheim heater as I heard they are more reliable...