Red Planet semi-bleached...what to do

[bshow24]

I don't have pictures but I took a look at my tank today and the top side of my Red planet was a light pink (bleaching) and there was zero polyp extension. The underside was it's normal green with red polyps fully extended (Note, the light had been on for only an hour). I immediately turned my lights down and some PE is occurring again, but there are also some smoother sections where I can't even see where a polyp would extend from. I know 100% it was from the light, as I just changed the program last night after moving the coral to its permanent spot.


Other than making sure the light intensity stays low, is there anything I can do here to make sure the coral recovers, or is it too late for it to recover?


Just for info's sake, my tank is a 28 gallon (21 height). The Red Planet is about 8 inches under the water. I have a Radion XR30, was running at 70%, now at 50%, 9 inches above the water. Thanks for help in advance!

 

[NaturalReef]

Are you sure its bleaching? My red planet is light pink to white on the top third which is the actively growing portion. Red planet showing green is usually low light and red hues is high light. Pictures would help greatly if you can grab some.

 

[bshow24]

Here are some pictures I was able to grab with no light (had to go quick before work!)

First picture is of the bottom side of the Red Planet...this is what the entire thing looked like before the lighting catastrophe:

This next image is of the top side of the coral. As you can see, much less polyp extension and lower color...although it does have a lot more PE than yesterday:

It's not white on the top when light is on, it is a light shade of pink. What worried me most was the lack of PE.

 

[NaturalReef]

Thanks for the pics......it could be a light thing or a lack of nutrients. Def. lost some color. I would lower the lights, especially the uv as that seems to bleach coral pretty fast at high settings. What are your levels? And how do you feed the tank?

 

[bshow24]

I'm assuming lighting since it was an "overnight" thing. The coral was great on Tuesday night, made my lighting adjustments, and then Wednesday after just an hour and a half of mostly blues, this happened. It was directly under the lens, and I know radions tend to up the par in that area.

My biggest concern right now is the recovery of the coral. Now that I've adjusted the light and everything is back to normal, will is recover?


Tank Parameters:

Temp: 79
Nitrate: .4 ppm
Phosphate: 0
Calcium: 430
Mag: 1300
Alk: 10 dkh
Salinity: 1.025

Feeding:
I overfeed my tank, I have a pair of mating clownfish that eat like pigs..so I know there are a lot of nutrients going in. Definitely don't think thats an issue

 

[NaturalReef]

Yes, don't worry it will recover. Been there, done that. Rapid recovery for me was 30-40% heavy blue about 25k lighting. Blue light heals coral. Good, stable water parameters and good nutrients till the azoox recover. You will see improvements within a week. I purchase cheap bleached frags from my lfs and use this recovery technique with great success. As long as you find and fix the problem, corals will recover. They are pretty resilient....when parameters continue to decline and you cant find a solution is when you worry

Also with a dkh of 10, you need to keep up with nutrients which it seems you are. Lower dkh will support ulns. I learned this the hard way.

 

[bshow24]

Awesome!

Thanks for the help and the tip on Alk. I'd actually prefer it to be around 8, but if everything is growing and looking good, I'll take it!