Help new cali tort frag is bleaching

[redwingrob40]

Hi,

I was hoping someone could help me, I got a new cali tort frag last week and it was fine the first day, now slowly I have noticed that here are small areas that are turning brown and look like they are bleaching out. The polyps have also been retracted. All of my other corals seem to be doing fine.... and don't seem to be having any issues. I added a green birds nest the same day and it is doing very well, so I am a little puzzled.
Params are-
PH- 8.4
ites- 0
ates- 0
am- 0
Ca- 450
Alk- 9.6 DKH
Mg- 1400
temp- 80

All params seem okay to me? I also dipped the cali for 10 min in coral rx before adding as well.... Could this just be stress from the move from one tank to another??? What can I do to stop this? Thanks for your help.

 

[Iskandar]

did you do freshwater coral Rx dip ? It could kill it.

 

[redwingrob40]

did you do freshwater coral Rx dip ? It could kill it.

Nope, saltwater mixed per directions on the bottle.

 

[Arkayology]

You have to sit back and watch it. It is normal for some SPS to brown out when moved from one tank another. If it starts to STN, you need to frag of viable parts asap to try and save it.

What lighting was it under and what lighting do you have? How close was it to lights before and how close now?

 

[redwingrob40]

You have to sit back and watch it. It is normal for some SPS to brown out when moved from one tank another. If it starts to STN, you need to frag of viable parts asap to try and save it.

What lighting was it under and what lighting do you have? How close was it to lights before and how close now?

How can you tell if it is STN? Is that when parts of the coral turn completely white? Sorry still kinda new to SPS and I really don't wanna lose this piece.

As for lighting it was under I think 400w MH in the old owners tank and it was on the sand maybe 3ft from the lights... In my tank it is under 4 T5's about 9-12 inches from the light. Do you think I should move it down and let it get used to my lights? I was figuring that placement going from MH to T5 would be about the same (of course I could be way wrong).

 

[SHADYreefer]

STN-slow tissue necrossis

Moving it lower in the tank can help and never hurts.

 

[Dog boy Dave]

Leave it alone. Worse thing you can do is stress it any more by pasting glue on it or chopping it up. if you water is right and you have no pathogens then it will recover. If not then nothing you do will save it anyway.

 

[toothman]

I would say ph is high, mag is high and kh is high. Should be 8.2-8.3, mg 1250-1300, ca 420 and temp is absolutely better at 77-78.

 

[Pallobi]

personally, i think if you have stronger lighting than it was used to, that may be the culprit... corals need light acclimation imo... its not uncommon for my new peices to bleach goin into my tank when the previous system didnt have as strong as light... alwasy best to start them lower in that case... GL

 

[redwingrob40]

Thanks for the responses everyone, I am going to move it down and see if it starts to heal up.

 

[toothman]

Cali torts love a lot of light and flow and food. This is a picture 6 inches under the water with a 400 watt 10k 4 inches above the tank.

It would be a good idea to move it down to heal it for bit. But I still think you should adjust your water parameters.

 

[redwingrob40]

Cali torts love a lot of light and flow and food. This is a picture 6 inches under the water with a 400 watt 10k 4 inches above the tank.

It would be a good idea to move it down to heal it for bit. But I still think you should adjust your water parameters.

Thanks, for the advice on the params. I am going to let my alk come down to the 8.3 range, Ca to the 430 range and let mag come down as well. May have to look at some cooling fans because the tank has run at 80 since day 1, and this is with no heater.

Hopefully moving it down will help it heal.