pic of torch?? whats wrong??

[bigfun]

hi.
here is a pic of my torch coral, the tenticles started losing the brown color about a week ago, one still has brownish color to it, this is how they used to look, nitrite, nitrate, salinity and ph all good, just did a phosphate sponge last night, lights are T5's, temp is 78 to 79 degrees, i have 2 mexican red leg crabs, skunk cleaner shrimp, clown fish, blue chromis and snails, any ideas??
thanks!!!

 

[Bri Guy]

Calcium??
Alkalinity??
What IS your salinity?

Im not sure of torches lighting needs (high/low) but looks like the zooxanthellae within the coral have died.

Thats odd though, that one still has color???

 

[chris wright]

Do you feed your coral?

 

[DaveJ]

That is bleaching looks like.... how new is it? If its an established coral, have you changed lighting recently? Could also be stress as they will expel when stressed. Alk swings, pH swings and things like that.

 

[bigfun]

ok, well thanks guys, but i think i got this figured out, woke up at 3am this morn to check the tank and the temp was at 71.9!!!!!!!!!!!!! it seems my heater no longer works, and the lighting must have been keeping the tank warm when on? anyway, i'm thinking about getting a chiller/heater, the drop ins scare me now!

 

[DaveJ]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10964236#post10964236 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bigfun
ok, well thanks guys, but i think i got this figured out, woke up at 3am this morn to check the tank and the temp was at 71.9!!!!!!!!!!!!! it seems my heater no longer works, and the lighting must have been keeping the tank warm when on? anyway, i'm thinking about getting a chiller/heater, the drop ins scare me now!

Any heater has the potential to fail... what you need a big visible temp reader. All the heaters on chillers I have seen are not very efficient or reliable. This thing is nice since you can set audible alarms to go off at specific temps.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~idProduct~RB1313.html

And then get yourself a quality heater. Titanium ones are nice, but both won and pro-heat users have experienced issues. I use wons and haven't had any problems, but mine all run on separate controllers so they shut off if it gets too warm.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_AquariumPage~PageAlias~heaters_hydor_theo.html

 

[bigfun]

hey!
that looks great!!
thanks very much!!!!

 

[tmz]

It looks like it "bleached"(expelled zooxanthelae) due to some stressor probably temp but I've seen them survive lower temps than that in shipping. It may recover it's color in time or thrive as it is. Is the one head that didn't bleach shaded/more open to light/ in more or less flow?