Tissue loss, should I frag out?

a.browning

New member
I have had a poccilopora for about 2 months. It only had a few branches when I got it and has grown extremely well. Last week, overnight, one of the branches completely bleached out. All other branches looked great so I let it be. Now another branch has bleached. I'm not sure why, I haven't changed any parameters in the tank and there were no obvious reasons why it would start to bleach.

Will each branch die off since a couple have now? I had planned to frag out the good branches in case it's started a mass recession of tissue. If anyone has better advice, let me know!

Water Parameters:

Calcium: 460
Alkalinity: 9.15
Magnesium: 1340
NO3: 0
PO4: .01 ppm
Ph: 8.2
SG: 1.025

Water is tested with salifert, P04 tested with Hanna P04 meter, and SG tested with refractometer.

Tank info:
55 Gal - 2 years old
SRO 2000 skimmer
Aquaticlife 4-bulb T5 fixture with ATI bulbs
Coral about 3/4 way up in the tank

Here is a picture of what it did look like:
0302021902.jpg


What puzzles me is that I have literally done nothing but water changes, demands are met with Kalk in my ATO. Should I frag the good branches or let it be?

Thanks
 
I would let it be, watch the coral and if it seems that the "bleaching" is spreading than frag the remaining colony and save what you can
 
If my phosphate were .01 I really would be excited because I would know I could feed my tank more food. More food equals more growth. I think most reefers really under feed their tank. More food generally always helps. As does a water change. It could also be that frog spawn sending out a sweeper.
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys. Although it looks close, the frogspawn is about 4" away, camera angle I guess. I'm sure it could have 4" sweepers but I've never seen it happen. One thing I thought of, I replaced 2 of my 4 ATI bulbs 2 weeks ago, and then this started happening 1 week ago. I did not acclimate the new lights since I only replaced 2 of the 4. Could this cause the damage? I will check if its bleaching or tissue loss next time I'm home.
 
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