Bleached Corals

[Devin R.]

Should bleached (dead) corals be removed from the tank? Can they cause ammonia to go up?

Thanks!

 

[grant778]

It probably depends on the type of coral.

 

[syrinx]

Once there is no tissue on the coral- it is just calcium. That is assuming that it is a stony coral! If anything a coral skeleton will colonize with bacteria and actually consume ammonia.

 

[goldencoralfarm]

If only one or two coral in your tank, and you run skimmer+carbon, they shouldn't be a problem. Try to move them to lower light or in the shade may help.

 

[rgulrich]

Shouldn't be a an issue, as pretty much all reef rock is coral, either recent or older and overgrown. Just keep the skimmer and filter going and you'll be fine. I've even kept a couple large pieces from earlier tank disasters and used them for reef rock - foundations for the next generation of coral. Some of the frags I've picked up over the years simply didn't take and died, too. For those I couldn't tug loose I simply let them get overgrown first with coralline algae and then coral. Now they blend in as part of the reef.