Bleaching Recovery Timeline for Frogspawn?

[JAMDivers]

I have a 3-headed branching frogspawn purchased from a LFS about 3 weeks ago.

It was originally (directly) under a 400 watt MH, the week before I obtained it. The next week when I bought it, it had been moved to the outskirts of the holding tank (away from the main bulb) but still looked great with nice color and expansion.

I have four 65 watt PCs (1-10000K/6500K and 3 420nm/460nm split bulbs). I placed the "frog" approximately 15 inchs beneath the bulbs (tank is 60gal cube; 24in deep). It barely opened up for 2 days. Then I moved it to the sand and it began to come out. In fact by the end of the week it looked much better.

Then I wanted to turn on my one 250 watt 14K MH to begin acclimating the corals to a higher intensity (at one hour per day, gradually increasing it each day; along with PCs which are on a 12hr photoperiod including dawn/dusk). At the end of day two and a 2hr MH run-time, (PCs on for 12hrs) my frogspawn appeared to be bleaching. Too much light I suspected or too intense maybe being right underneath the bulb (on the sand).

So I discontinued the MH, just continued with the PCs, and began feeding the coral mysid shrimp soaked in Selcon. I have not seen the coral actually eat anything, but it appears to be expanding each day to twice it's original size and within the last week has developed some really long sweeper tentacles.

How long of a recovery time should I expect for the zooxanthellae to repopulate the coral's tissues? It was a medium brown color and now it is a light tan color, yet has still retained it's green tips.

Has anyone seen their frogspawns actually "down" it's food? If so, is there anything else I can do to get it to begin eating?

Then my other question is: do I have to wait until the frogspawn is totally healed before trying to acclimate it again to the MH (I have a couple of SPS that could really benefit from the higher light of the MH)? Or should I use a "shade screen" just over that coral?

Any suggestions would be appreciated? As now I'm a little gun shy to pull the trigger on the MH again, as I don't want to kill it or any other coral.

Thanks for any help in advance...

Water chems:
SG: 1.026
NH4/NO2/NO3: 0ppm
ALK: 12dKH
CA: 440 ppm
MG: 1360 ppm
pH: 8.2
TEMP: 78.3 F

Running GAC and Phosguard in small amounts
3-5 gallon water changes every week to 10 days
no fish; inverts/corals only

Enclosed are a few pics:

 

[GoingPostal]

A tank I take care of has a huge frogspawn that several heads bleached due to lack of light, I moved it to a better spot and it took about a month to color back up well from almost clear.

 

[JAMDivers]

Wow, that's quicker than I expected.

How much 'lack of light' are we talking about Postal (types of lamps and/or wattage)? Is this a deep tank? How close to the light is it now?

This is really good feedback to compare by....thanks for taking the time to respond!

 

[Boca Kris]

Do frogspawns require a lot of light? I have one that has 2 of 4 heads shriveled and one is turning white! Could it be lack of light that bleaches it?

Please help as I don't want to lose this piece, its beautiful!

 

[JAMDivers]

Can you post a pic? There are a lot of things that can cause corals to bleach (in my case I suspected it was the new MH light=over exposure/intensity). Tell us more about your lights/water parameters.

 

[Boca Kris]

The parameters I measure for are SG, nitrates, nitrites, Ammonia, Phosphate, Calcium, Ph, and temp. With the exception of temp & SG, none of those ever seem to change and are what they should be. In an effort to keep the SG more stable, I closed the top off, and am now thinking it has made the tank too hot? I've never noticed it to go above 80.

My lights are the Aquactinics TX5 unit (5 x T5's about 18 inches off the top) It seems like even that high off the tank, the light is a bit much for the tank (thought the manufacturer recommends keeping in right on top). If I leave all the lights on, I get little bubbles that form all over the tank, and it seems to really help red algae to grow more quickly. I don't know what the bubbles mean (they are not bubble algae, but appear to just be gas bubbles that formulate on rocks - usually where there is red algae. If I hit em with some flow they come off and rise to the surface and pop...no idea)

So, Im not sure if the tank is too hot, or there is to much/too little light? Kinda lost here....

 

[GoingPostal]

Frogspawns will do well under almost anything, Boca I would say yours is getting too much light.

JamDivers, it is a 260 watt powercompact 50/daylight 50/actinic over a 12" deep tank, very shallow but the bulbs stop a few inches from the one side of the fixture and the frogspawn was in that corner, several heads were blocking others also. I moved it to the center of the tank and fragged a few heads off to allow light to all of them. It colored back up a lot quicker than I expected.

 

[JAMDivers]

Well let's see...

Algae emit oxygen (tiny bubbles) during the day when photosynthesizing (and take it up at night) ...the more light + nutrients = more algae.

You didn't say what your Nitrate or Phosphate levels were but if you have "red algae" (maybe cyanobacteria or more likely dinoflagellates if it's rust colored with lots of trapped bubbles- sorry just hard to tell without pics) then your nutrient levels are probably above normal.

You could employ some reef janitors (Cerith snails like cyano and diatoms) and a good protein skimmer (sorry don't mean to assume - you didn't mention if you had one running) to try to get the water back into shape.

Or simply try smaller water changes more often and siphoning off as much algae as possible during these changes, making sure you are using at least RO water for those changes and your topoff water. In other words, try to slow down the amount of nutrients going into the tank (you may also need to reassess how much you are feeding)and increase nutrient exportation .

Also, just as you found out, increasing the circulation can help by not allowing nutrients to settle on the rockwork where nuisance algae can form. By adding even a small powerhead can help tremendously to keep particles suspended so they can be taken out by the filters.

However, if it is dinoflagellates, then I'm guessing your pH is borderline low. (Remember, if algae takes in 02 at night and release C02 then that can drive down your pH and cause rapid swings over a 24hr timeframe).

If you slowly raise the pH (I mean SLOWLY) via kalkwasser (like a drip method) and raise the pH to 8.4 you will probably see the bloom crash within a week. Be sure to read the directions on the Kalkwasser on how to use correctly.

Sometimes corals can be good indicators to water quality. If your "frog" is closed up it may be due to water quality primarily. Sounds like you may need to start there &/or employ a combination of the methods above to see a solution.

A"white head" on the frogspawn seems to indicate that it has indeed bleached (also make sure it is not in an area of high flow too which could be keeping the others closed).

So, if you have an area in the tank that is receiving slightly less light (not shade, but indirect) you may want to gently move the "frog" there for the time being....but be prepared to try to feed each head small pieces of finely chopped krill or mysid shrimp to supplement it's diet while it is trying to recover.

You will have to be patient, as I finally witnessed mine actually eating a small piece of krill only a couple of days ago for the first time. And my goal is at least 2-3x/week while it is recovering. So keep trying.

Once it starts coming out more, and appears to begin a recovery, you may want to move it up a few inches or out to an area on the sand where it can receive more light and slowly move it into a position.

I hope this helps....try to read a little more on the different types of algaes, making sure to try to identify what you have, as all tanks go through periodic blooms. But this will be key in how to control it before it becomes a nuisance.

You may even want to employ some macroalgae like Chaetomorpha to help take up the excess nutrients and give your copepods an area to breed so they can feed that litlle mandarin of yours.

I hope this helps a little...maybe at least a starting point.

PS- I have half of my tank covered with a glass panel and the other half covered in eggcrate grid to allow for heat release and fresh gas exchange.

 

[JAMDivers]

Thanks Postal, this does help to give me some reference. My tank is twice as deep with about the same amount of light give a watt or two.

So, I decided a couple of days ago to move the "frog" off the sand to about 4 inches up in the rockwork.

As mentioned above, it took it's first handfed meal (after several previous attempts). And today it's color looks a little better. I'll leave it alone and continue to hand feed for a couple more weeks and continue to update this thread.

Anyone with a similar experience to bleaching and the coral actually recovered....we welcome your experience!

Thanks to all so far

 

[Boca Kris]

Yeah, wow! Thats alot of info. I'll try to add some pics of mine soon as well. I tried to spray some chunks of chopped up mysis on it today. Some pieces stuck, but didnt notice much more than that. I removed part of the glass top to see if the temp lowers much. I have no nitrates/nitrites, but not sure about nutrients. I have a Freedom Filter, so I am limited. I have through about removing some of the media from that filter, and throwing in some cheato to see what happens, I think it would get some light cause the skimmer basket on top is clear, and theres room on the sides...just not sure if it would be 'enough' light.

Thanks to all for your throughful replies! I too will keep updating on progress, good or bad! Keep the suggestions coming if you have any more ideas!

 

[O-man21]

Wow! Great Frogspawn! I have some, but it's not nearly as bumpy as that! Looks awesome!

 

[O-man21]

Wow! Great Frogspawn! I have some, but it's not nearly as bumpy as that! Looks awesome!

 

[JAMDivers]

Thanks O-Man21!

I think he is definitely on the way back to land of the living, LOL!

And you are right, he is more "bumpy" than most I've seen. I originally thought it was an Euphyllia divisa because of the way the tentacles look, but I guess it might actually be E. paradivisa because it's branching. Anyone know for sure??? (same coral in all posted pics)

And you are welcome Boca! Here's something you might try (although can be a little less aesthetic if you don't have a sump or refugium)...a small black plastic strawberry container attached to the corner wall (back/sides of the tank) near the surface, held in place by suction cups, and filled with Chaeto. That way it is near the light, it will have some current, and will take up any excess nutrients as well as be easily havested. And from time to time, a copepod or two will fall out into the reefwork for your mandarin. Just a thought.

Definitely get a pic of your "frog" up so we can compare our situations and learn. Take care.

 

[JAMDivers]

Thought I'd update the thread with a new picture of the recovering beast....

Also, I have been studying a Vitamin C thread here on RC and I am going to participate to see if it will help this guy recover faster. I will continue to post updates if anyone is interested.