Help: New SPS frags lost color when sprayed with baster

[mokusei]

Hi,

Last week I bought 2 new SPS frags to add to my reef tank: Green Cactus Pavona and Finger Coral Porites. I thought that these were doing fine until I sprayed each of them with my target-feeding baster. I have read that corals benefit from spraying to clean away detritus. When I sprayed them, it seemed like they immediately lost their bright coloration and turned greyish in the areas I sprayed. Also, spraying the porites loosened and blew away a very thin, transparent layer from the entire surface of the frag (mucus?). Overnight they have both regained some of their coloration in the spots where I sprayed. But I'm now worried about their health.

About my tank: It's a 6 month-old 10 gallon reef tank with live rock and a 2" sand bed. I have been keeping Zoanthids, Ricordea florida, Rhodactis, Green Star Polyps, Montipora Cap, and Candy Coral, as well as a juvenile Honey Damsel and a Rainford's Goby. About 3 weeks ago I added some Chalice, Acan echinata, and Encrusting Montipora frags. These all seem to be doing fine. I have been running a Rio 50 and an AC70 (with reverse-period chaeto fuge) and doing partial water changes with RO water 1-2 times per week. For a long time I kept the specific gravity at 1.22 with my auto-topoff unit, but I recently increased it to 1.24 by topping off with saltwater. Ammonia: undetectable, Nitrite: undetectable, Nitrate: 0-2.5ppm, Temp: 78-82, Ph/Ca/Mg: untested. I have been running 2x24W Actinic T5HOs + 1x32W PC (6700k) for 11 hours/day.

My amateur guess at the problem: Corals bleaching due to stress caused by insufficient lighting (in the store the frags were in a shallow tank under MH) and/or flow. Spraying them sped up the process. One other possibility is that they didn't like being target fed mysis, cyclopeeze, baby brine shrimp.

What I have done about it so far: Changed lighting, added flow, stopped target feeding. Yesterday I replaced my lighting with a 2x65W 50-50 PC fixture and moved the SPS corals up higher in my tank (~6"-8" from the fixture). I also added a Koralia Nano for additional flow.

Questions:
Is spraying SPS forcefully with a turkey baster a bad idea?
Did I spray away mucus, dead coral flesh, zooxanthellae, or nothing (ie did the coral just retract)?
Is this normal or a sign of stress/poor health?
Is the stress more likely to be due to a lack of flow and light or water params?
Is it OK to mix Ricordea florida and Rhodactis with SPS?

Any help/info/suggestions welcome.

mokusei

 

[Logzor]

First of all there is a difference between bleaching and losing coloration. If the tissue is still alive, it has not bleached out.

I suspect the coral simply closed up.

 

[mokusei]

Thanks for your reply. It's hard for me to tell whether or not the tissue is still alive on the Pavona since the skeleton ridges and polyps are so small. I think the Porites tissue is alive, but as far as I can tell its polyps haven't been extended since I bought it last week.

Anyone have input on my other questions?

 

[StrategicReef]

don't blast SPS with a baster, if there is some sand on it bast very lightly, think as like you would like to rinse your eyeball

 

[mokusei]

OK, squirting an eyeball - I like that comparison.

Luckily the Porite polyps have just started to open up for the first time, so I must be doing something right.

 

[29reef]

The flow in the aquarium should take care of the corals needs. You might need to get another powerhead in your aquarium. Long term care of your corals will require a larger aquarium you might want to try to look into one before you continue to buy corals. I feel a standard 60 gal works well.

 

[mokusei]

I upgraded my flow yesterday from a Rio 50 + AC70 to a Rio 50 + AC70 + Koralia Nano. I'm thinking of exchanging the Koralia Nano for a Koralia One.

My next tank upgrade will likely be to a 29 gallon. Unfortunately I don't have room for a 60 gallon in my apartment.

 

[jackson6745]

I just have to clarify. A bleached coral is still alive. If it goes through tissue necrosis where flesh peels off completely, then it's obviously dead.
Bleaching is not STN or RTN.





If you're not sure if the coral is alive, place it in low light and wait to see polyp extension over the next week or two. If it starts growing algae on it, it's gone.

 

[tahoe61]

Turkey baster

Turkey baster

I have used a turkey baster for years to blow off my rocks, feed inverts and spot feed some sps, I have never had a problem. I figure if SPS can tolerate the currents and tidal zones a turkey baster is not going to hurt them. I would focus some place else. Your tank is not that old, and if you are not testing for Ca+, Alk or Mg you are going to have problems until you know at what baseline your tank runs at. Changing out lighting often causes color changes in SPS. Your SG needs to higher as well, SPS do better around 1.025. And lastly you should have no problems keeping any Ricordia and SPS. You are working with a small volume of water so you have less room for error. Pics of your tank are always good and I hope this help alittle.

 

[mokusei]

@Jackson: Thanks for the clarification. I'll continue to watch for tissue death. I have polyp extension now on the Porites, but I've read that the polyps on Pavona are too small to see?!

@Tahoe: Thanks for the tips. I'll try to post a full tank shot soon and work on slowly raising my SG to 1.025. All of my frags are pretty small so far (1"-2"), so I'm hoping that until they get larger, the Ca and Mg absorption rates will be pretty slow and that I can maintain steady levels with weekly partial water changes (easy for me to do with a 10 gallon tank). I guess I should just bite the bullet and start testing for Ca, Mg, Alk.

 

[mokusei]

I attached 3 pictures - 1 FTS, 1 Porite, 1 Pavona. Sorry they're so blurry - need to set up my tripod next time. At least they show the lack of coloration in some spots. They were both uniformly green when I bought them.

 

[mokusei]

@Tahoe: BTW, I think I used an incorrect abbreviation earlier when I said I am not testing for "Ph". I have been testing for pH, but not for phosphates, general hardness, or carbonate hardness.

 

[mokusei]

In retrospect I came to the conclusion that these two frags bleached due to the stress of changing water and/or light conditions. When I sprayed them with the baster I was just speeding up the process. The porites fully recovered. The pavona eventually changed to a reddish brown color and have still not fully recovered.

I since learned that both of these frags were collected and not aquacultured or maricultured and my experience has shown me that collected corals are not as hardy as cultured corals.

 

[ChicagoReefOne]

I since learned that both of these frags were collected and not aquacultured or maricultured and my experience has shown me that collected corals are not as hardy as cultured corals.

Not to mention the potential damage to wild reefs. Supporting mariculture or aquacultured corals makes sense for multiple reasons other than hardiness.