My Grape Coral bleached while on vacation...now what?

[meegwell]

Hi -

I went on vacation for a week and used an auto feeder and a slow release feeder. Basically, through testing the feeder before I left and whatever went on while I was gone I beleive there was some over-feeding.

I came back to my birdsnest being very pale and my Grape coral totally white, and a 4 inch patch of cyano on the sand bed near where the autofeeder was.

The tank has always been totally stable and healthy, both corals were beatiful before leaving.

The tank is stabalized now just as it was before vacation.

What will happen with this Grape coral? Its tentacles are still out and flowing in the flow....but its totally white (been a week now).

Will the color come back? Is it a gonner? Is there something extra I can do to help?

I've never had this type of issue, tia for any info.

 

[29mixedreef]

Usually when corals turn white is when they become bleached for too much light. What could happen is your lights being on excesively therefore turning your corals white (bleached). What you can do is check to your lights to see if they are runung adequate times of reef then try to shade your corals a bit to prevent further bleach. You can add amino acids and stuff like that but will not further increase the rate of recovery. Patience is going to be your best bet. In time you will see corals regain colors if all parameters reamin stable.

 

[meegwell]

29 - thanks. Its likely not a light issue since the light schedule (7 hours on) and configuration has not changed in a year. I've had teh grape for 6 months and it has been in the same location and perfectly colored, happy, and healthy until the vacation - the tank was stressed I believe becasue of the burst of overfeeding causing ammonia>nitrate>nitrite.

So in time it should come back (my water/tank is totally stable, back to normal)? That is what I was hoping to hear.

 

[Mattewell]

My opinion is test your parameters. See if anything is out of whack. If so do whatever necessary water changes to get them back in line. Continue on with your normal routine. Things will improve with stability.

 

[29mixedreef]

Alright well I hope you corals get back to their color keep everything stable and have patience and everything will turn out okay. Best Regards.