Purple deaths.... Brown morph?

[MA4446]

I had these "purple death" zoas in my 55gal:bounce2: for a month now. As it grew, I saw that the frag turned brown. I almost thought it was dying so I moved the frag to mid tank level. The frag grew more heads that were a nice purple color. Now another head is turning brownish color... Am I doing something wrong or is this a natural "purple death" morph?

Details
Tank height is 20inches tall
Using T5 compact 48inch fixture with 6x 22inch bulbs
3on each side.
1-bright white
1- actinic
1- fiji purple

 

[MikeandNicole]

Generally it has to do with lighting. The bluer and lower the frag is generally the more purple it will be. If you have lower k lighting, it will get more brown. You just have to find the sweet spot in the tank.

 

[KoralKeith]

Place lower in the tank

 

[organism]

I just had the same thing happen with a new frag of them, then noticed the ones on the bottom that were getting shaded by the top polyps were neon purple. Put them in some shade so we'll see, lower light seems to be the way to go.

 

[MA4446]

Thanks guys i will try that and let you guys know my results...

 

[Jarred1]

Shade them a little and the will turn purple again.

 

[gmpolan]

+1, same thing happens to my colonies

 

[j.p. harrington]

ive got 3 frags of of purple deaths from 3 different places all at the same level in the tank and in the same tank.
one is on the browner side of purple one is just a mid dark pruple and the last one is a beautiful deep almost glowing purple.
i think it depends on where they came from as to how much they color up as i said i have 3 probably 30 polyp frags from 3 different ppl and none are the same
(you could also do this with eagle eyes as they seem to be about 10 different morphs on them as well)

 

[mykol]

I ended up with a frag of about 12 heads at a swap this last weekend. I noticed once home with them they are brownish as well. if I put them in a lower lit spot of my tank, will the already brown polyps change to purple? Also, has anyone tried using the "fuel" chem/addative for this?

 

[iheartJMS]

My purple deaths also like to be shaded with lower light. They turn brown if they're not otherwise they're a nice purple.

 

[jeff@zina.com]

...will the already brown polyps change to purple?

The polyps will appear different colors depending on lighting and the amount of zooxanthellae in them. They will change based on these two factors, so yes, your brown polyps will color up. Throw them under pure actinics to see them really pop with a false color.

Jeff

 

[mykol]

yeah, i see them at night when i have my actinics going as "dusk" and they look a lot better. I'm going to give them another day, because i'm running them under crappy light vs what the previous owner had. If they don't start coloring up a bit more, i'll try and move them a bit lower (sand)

 

[Nvizn]

Correct, I find both Nuclear Greens and Deaths look best in a low lighted area of my tank.