Ricordea all bleached looking
- Thread starter antole
- Start date
I'm going to piggy back onto your thread. I've been experiencing the same thing and have been doing an exhaustive search to try to turn up the reasons. So far I've found a lot of threads like this--someone asks about their Ricordea's bleaching, a couple followup questions but no authoritative answers.
In my situation I've lost one monster three mouthed Ric to this bleaching behavior and currently have two that are also in the process of bleaching. In all cases the bleached section started small--while the rest of the Ric looked healthy. One of my Rics has one mouth and the other... well, I can't count them all. Maybe 4. And, the section that is bleaching looks like it may be splitting (fingers crossed) from the rest.
The above photo shows a section that is starting to bleach. Notice that the nubs are all very small and to the touch it feels "hard" and almost leathery. In fact, while examining the one that I lost (he technically wasn't dead but seemed to be beyond the point of saving) I noted that he was quite firm, not at all mushy like I would expect from a dying coral.
I've read many theories, but most seem to focus on lighting. In my case the Rics are under CREE LEDs, a blue-heavy mix of Royal Blues and Neutral Whites. My current theory is that even though the Rics have been stable in the tank for over 3 months the lighting must be too intense. I've dimmed the lights by about 40% and cut the photo period down in hopes of reversing the bleaching. I'm only on day #3 and haven't noticed it getting better or worse.
If anyone has any input, even unsupported theories I'd really appreciate it! I really don't want to loose anymore Rics!
- M
In my situation I've lost one monster three mouthed Ric to this bleaching behavior and currently have two that are also in the process of bleaching. In all cases the bleached section started small--while the rest of the Ric looked healthy. One of my Rics has one mouth and the other... well, I can't count them all. Maybe 4. And, the section that is bleaching looks like it may be splitting (fingers crossed) from the rest.
The above photo shows a section that is starting to bleach. Notice that the nubs are all very small and to the touch it feels "hard" and almost leathery. In fact, while examining the one that I lost (he technically wasn't dead but seemed to be beyond the point of saving) I noted that he was quite firm, not at all mushy like I would expect from a dying coral.
I've read many theories, but most seem to focus on lighting. In my case the Rics are under CREE LEDs, a blue-heavy mix of Royal Blues and Neutral Whites. My current theory is that even though the Rics have been stable in the tank for over 3 months the lighting must be too intense. I've dimmed the lights by about 40% and cut the photo period down in hopes of reversing the bleaching. I'm only on day #3 and haven't noticed it getting better or worse.
If anyone has any input, even unsupported theories I'd really appreciate it! I really don't want to loose anymore Rics!
- M
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