acropora frag bleaching

[christopherjudd]

hello, I recently got a frag of acropora not sure what kind. first couple of weeks, it was doing fine but now I notice that the bottom part of it is starting to bleach.

alk is at 9-9.2
cal 450

ran out of test kits for mag

any tips?

 

[christopherjudd]

btw I also have a surf and turf acro and a monti digi that seems to be doing fine

 

[jminick2]

is it bleaching or losing its tissue? bleaching is where its turning white but there is still PE, RTN is where the actual tissue is coming off the coral and PE is gone.

 

[christopherjudd]

I think its bleaching, one of the bleached part still has pe

 

[christopherjudd]

heres a pic, just a terrible one

 

[jminick2]

hmm hard to tell in the pic, however bleaching is usually is caused by lights that are too intense and it is odd for it to be doing it from the base.

 

[christopherjudd]

hmm hard to tell in the pic, however bleaching is usually is caused by lights that are too intense and it is odd for it to be doing it from the base.

that's what I though.

 

[nashorn]

Most wild frags have a high mortality rate so I won't worry to much if it's just one.

 

[christopherjudd]

Any other possible issues?

 

[1MP3R1AL]

Could be lighting, but judging by the zoas appearance your tank is underfed. The sps looks like it's dying: no polyp extension, white base etc.

 

[christopherjudd]

Could be lighting, but judging by the zoas appearance your tank is underfed. The sps looks like it's dying: no polyp extension, white base etc.

how many types of food should I be feeding? so far I feed acropower, coral frenzy, Mysis and pellets

 

[christopherjudd]

how can you tell the zoas are underfed?

 

[1MP3R1AL]

Mine looked like that before I fed the tank more... Rise in phosphate and nitrate.

 

[1MP3R1AL]

Zoas looked almost transparent. I was feeding very lightly, skimming way too much. Once I slowed down skimming and fed more it was a night and day difference. Not only zoas, but everything came back to life with vibrant colors.

 

[Big_Boss_77]

Zoas looked almost transparent. I was feeding very lightly, skimming way too much. Once I slowed down skimming and fed more it was a night and day difference. Not only zoas, but everything came back to life with vibrant colors.

Dumb question, but when you say rise in nitrates, what nitrate levels are seeing success at?

 

[rfgonzo]

I think its bleaching, one of the bleached part still has pe

That's not bleaching, it's STN. Check PO4 and NO3 you may need to bring those up a little more.

 

[rfgonzo]

Dumb question, but when you say rise in nitrates, what nitrate levels are seeing success at?

Different tanks will vary, but I personally like to keep mine right around 10ppm everything looks better and grows better for me. I've tried to bring the levels down from time to time and SPS truly suffer for me.

 

[christopherjudd]

stn?

 

[Big_Boss_77]

stn?

Slow tissue necrosis

 

[Big_Boss_77]

Different tanks will vary, but I personally like to keep mine right around 10ppm everything looks better and grows better for me. I've tried to bring the levels down from time to time and SPS truly suffer for me.

10 ppm? That's awesome lol I was freaking out about letting my nitrates get that high. I hadn't been testing simply because everything was looking great... guess that explains a lot