My favorite pink birdsnest is getting eaten or receding.

[twelvejewelz]

I have a pink crab with black claws that i think has been eating it,or it could be one of the 2 eunicid worms i have , or lastly it may be the asterina starfish that may be the culprit either way do you think it is getting eaten or just receding for some reason?Here are some progression shots from the beginnig almost 3 years ago up until now.(btw i changed T5 bulb combos multiple times)Please help i dont want to lose this piece cause when it was doing it it was an amazing pink color as well!!

1:


2:


3:


4:


5a month ago)


6now)As you can see the entire inside is almost all white now, and it looks like its clean lines...


another with the Flash and a closeup:

 

[twelvejewelz]

BTW here is the eunicid worm i have in my tank:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=17496036#post17496036

and crab that i have in my tank:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=17436294#post17436294

 

[corbett_n]

I had the exact same thing happen to my birdsnest

 

[JSeymour]

If you look closely at the pics the polyps are still there(atleast on some of the white). That crab could definitely be doing some damage, but I don't think it's your main culprit. I believe this to be flow related. I have noticed this on some of my birdsnest when I changed the flow pattern. I changed it back and alot of the bleached inside colored back up.

It could also be an alkalinity issue. Birdsnest seem really sensitive to shifts in alkalinity(more so than other sps). Make sure you alkalinity is up to par and make sure it stays semi-stable, expecially at night.

 

[buy_baff]

I to think it is flow related.

 

[cagri]

That definitely looks like flow/water chemistry related.

 

[twelvejewelz]

im really not sure that its flow as i have a pink millepora and an ORA Joe the coral next to it and they are doing amazing and their polyps are flowing perfectly as well as a new ORA Hyacinth birdsnest that's doing amazing. In a 20gallon high i have 2 koralia nanos (240gph each) , 1 rio 90 PH (85gph) , an reef octopus bh-1000 skimmer(250gph) and an aquaclear (500gph) for a total of 1315gph which is about 65 times an hour turnover rate. I dose Bionic 2 part every day and my alk is at 4meg/L. What else should i try? should i try and move it?its my favorite coral and it looks like a mess right now :-/ .

 

[twelvejewelz]

Here is a video of the pink millepora and pink birdsnest corals under actinic lighting from 5 minutes ago to show how much flow they are getting.sorry for the bad camera skills lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU4fS6gvYO8

 

[JSeymour]

One thing I thought of when going through your pics. What made you change your bulb combo around so much? Although the color in pic 5 is great, I have a feeling the bulbs are producing alot less PAR(unless there was another bulb change between 5 and 6), than say pic 3(or what ever bulbs got you to pic 3). Cameras mess with the white balance, so a dim pic can come from a bright tank or vice versa. If you can, borrow or buy a Apogee meter and check out your PAR readings for the various bulbs you have, and put the highest on. If you can't do this, go back to the bulb combo you used to get to pic 3. It obviously was strong enough to grow it out thick enough

If it isn't a PAR related issue, then you may have stressed out your coral from just changing your bulb combo around, and it having to adjust. Sometimes in our best effort to make things better all the time, we'll make things worse by stressing an otherwise happy system, out.

Do you dose both(calcium and alk) every day? Most 2-part programs are one, one day, the other the next. What is you alkalinity just before lights on and just before lights out? What test?

Replace your pumps for fewer, more powerful pumps. Your 4 different "pumps" are fighting against each other, slowing each others flow. Although this increases turbulance, it reduces the "torque" needed to get deep inside those branches. I really don't like those nanos. We have them in some small fish only tanks at work, barely blow flake food around. Also, it's hard to judge how much water is going through a skimmer. Depending on how much air is flowing with the water, you could have less than 50% of what you expect.

I still think it's flow.

 

[scionreefing]

what about placement in the tank? have you recently moved it up or down the rockwork lately? that will cause bleaching

 

[twelvejewelz]

nope its the same distance from the light. i did an upgrade though from a 10 gallon nano to a 20 gallon nano. there was no mini cycle at all though. i just ordered a vortech mp20 so well see if it is a flow issue. ill respond to the other questions in the morning thanks everyone.

 

[damac20]

The same thing happened to my BN. As they grow the middle or the colony doesn't get as much light and flow as it would like so it bleaches out like that. At least that's what I suspected of mine.

 

[neoalchemist74]

the same thing happened to my bn. As they grow the middle or the colony doesn't get as much light and flow as it would like so it bleaches out like that. At least that's what i suspected of mine.

+1

 

[twelvejewelz]

the mp20 will be here on monday. Should i just use the mp20 or keep the 2 koralia nanos and the rio 90 and use all 4?

 

[twelvejewelz]

Its starting to look alittle better now. The recession has stopped now. I guess it was the upgrade that must have shocked it. It didnt get new growth where it lost the tissue but its looking alot better than it was and atleast i saved it lol.

 

[Whisperer]

The same thing happened to my BN. As they grow the middle or the colony doesn't get as much light and flow as it would like so it bleaches out like that. At least that's what I suspected of mine.

Bleaching is lightening of tissues, the coral in question has the bottom part totally devoid of living tissue, so bleaching is not the case. I suspect parasitic cause. I would frag the farthest branch and place it away from the mother colony.

 

[T-Boner]

+1 better to have a small frag to start over then nothing!