Acropora turning white

[myyellas2k]

I got a frag of Shock Tart Acropora on Thursday.
When I got it, from the shipping bag and box it was 90% white with some green in the base.
2 days later it’s almost fully white.

I moved it up on the rock, to the highest point of the rock I have just now

Light - Kessil a360 , and a Fluval Sea 25000

My readings -
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5/10
Cal -640
Phos - .5
Mag - 1400
Ph- 8.2
Temp - 79.8

 

[tdileo]

I wouldn’t move it up more. You may be bleaching it from too much light. If anything I would move it down to the middle and make sure it has some polyp extension. When you first received it, did you inform the seller?

 

[chicago]

Think you’re out of luck. Looks like it is. It going to make it. Only live portion appears to be at the base

 

[chicago]

Agree. Looks like not going to make it. Only live portion of that frag appears to be at the base.sorry for double post. Impinge login issues

 

[landlubber]

an coral shipped that shows up 90% bleached is considered dead on arrival and merits replacement. if you didn't share this with the shipper as soon as you accepted the box then you're probably out of luck. none the less, you're going to find acropora difficult corals to keep without pristine parameters that are completely stable and I noticed your calcium is way beyond normal and you didn't mention alkalinity at all which is the most important parameter to watch.

 

[miPapareef]

I don’t see where you listed alkalinity. But with high calcium at 640, either your alk is high or there’s an imbalance. Calcium 380-450ppm and alk 7-11dKH are good ranges.

Check out Randy Homes-Farley’s article in Reefkeeping.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

 

[james983]

I agree with landlubber, most sellers will refund your money if you took photos while still in bag within a few houts of delivery. Of course shipping would still be your responsibility

In the future I would suggest you add SPS low in tank and move them up over time.

 

[Bpb]

If the coral bit the dust that quick then it was either sick/stressed to begin with, an incredibly delicate species, or your own tank chemistry is enough out of whack that it caused tissue necrosis. I NEVER stage my acropora by making them take a ride up and down the glass on a frag rack or spend time on the sandbed. They always go straight to their forever spot on the rocks. Matter of fact the two highest placed acros in my tank are in the brightest light and heaviest flow spot in the tank, and they experienced zero bleaching or stress. No color loss just immediate encrusting and rapid growth. You don’t NEED to move them around all over the tank in an attempt to light acclimate them. If they can’t handle the trip from seller, to bag, to mail truck/plane, to your tank, then there’s something wrong with the coral or your tank. Most acros will do perfectly fine going from bag directly to the top of the rocks (or quarantine)

 

[james983]

I humbly disagree, that said I don’t believe that lighting was the cause. The coral was almost completely white upon arrival, it was dead before you put it in your tank.

 

[Bpb]

I humbly disagree, that said I don’t believe that lighting was the cause. The coral was almost completely white upon arrival, it was dead before you put it in your tank.

We can agree on that second part. But the first part I won’t be convinced otherwise of, nor will I stop recommending it. I actually started having a much higher success rate when I quit shuffling acros around and just put them in one spot and that’s that. Moving them around constantly always caused stress, poor PE, brittle tissue, and ultimately tissue necrosis from excessive handling and having to acclimate to a new set of par and flow every couple weeks.

Again. Not as much of a theoretical opinion of mine, but more of an actual set of guidelines based on years of trial and error. My own experience in the matter directly contradicts conventional wisdom so I choose to follow what works for me

 

[jda]

Looks dead to me.

Any time that you get a bleached frag or any frag that was grown under LEDs, it needs to start low, IMO. I put them off to the side in a frag tank under lower PAR until the color improves... then straight to a mount in the tank. Once I mount them, then they do not move until they have had 6-12 months to do something and then I might try them higher or lower.

If I get healthy frags from T5 or MH tanks, then they go into "normal" light spots in the frag tank where they will stay for their whole time.

Nothing goes straight into the display until they are certified pest-free for a month or two.

 

[BoomCorals]

Pretty sure that is tissue necrosis not bleaching.

 

[olecaptainj]

Uh ya that acro rtn’d/stn’d not bleached. Hope you can get credit or a replacement from the vendor if you bought it from a good vendor that has a 10-14 day guarantee like wwc or boom corals....

 

[Scorpius]

If the coral bit the dust that quick then it was either sick/stressed to begin with, an incredibly delicate species, or your own tank chemistry is enough out of whack that it caused tissue necrosis. I NEVER stage my acropora by making them take a ride up and down the glass on a frag rack or spend time on the sandbed. They always go straight to their forever spot on the rocks. Matter of fact the two highest placed acros in my tank are in the brightest light and heaviest flow spot in the tank, and they experienced zero bleaching or stress. No color loss just immediate encrusting and rapid growth. You don’t NEED to move them around all over the tank in an attempt to light acclimate them. If they can’t handle the trip from seller, to bag, to mail truck/plane, to your tank, then there’s something wrong with the coral or your tank. Most acros will do perfectly fine going from bag directly to the top of the rocks (or quarantine)

I do the same. Dip, remove/cut off of frag plug and then glue on their forever spot. People think I'm nuts, but pioneers usually are labeled as such. lol

 

[chicago]

i do the same.. dip the coral in Bayer.. cut off plug and re-glue.. have strong suspicions that the bayer tends to stay in the old plugs.. i also QT my frags for at least 30 days. better to lose a frag than a huge DT with Angels, wrasses and not to mention years of hard work. been through it.. i now what it feels like..

 

[najer]

As mentioned above, what is your kh, your calcium is way high?
I too think it was never going to make it if it arrived like that.

 

[Livinlocal]

Along with everything said above, your phosphates are pretty high at 0.50. I would try to get that number down

 

[jhuntington12]

Along with everything said above, your phosphates are pretty high at 0.50. I would try to get that number down

I second that....a little bit of rowaphos would be perfect but that thing looked DOA regardless. Good Luck

 

[myyellas2k]

Just to update - I got a replacement for the little guy and the new one is doing perfectly fine - so far haha.

 

[Charterreefer]

Your Nitrates and Phosphates seem high. Ca should come down to at least 500 ppm or lower.
Ideally, in the future, you could get the water parameters of the suppliers to see what their parameters are. SPS coral can be very sensitive to changing water parameters. For example: trying to maintain NO3 at ~ 1-3 ppm and PO4 at ~ o.o1 - 0.02 ppm, dkh at ~8.0, Ca ~420- 480 ppm , Mg ~1400 and salinity at ~1.26 will help alleviate much of the stress the coral will go through being that these are approximately the parameters that most of us strive for (including suppliers).

A good light intensity to start out with should be ~ 300 to 450 PAR...not how high or low it should be in the tank (that doesn't tell you anything).
Placement in the tank doesn't tell you what the PAR is because you need to know the intensity and type of the lighting that is over the tank it came from in order to figure that out. A PAR reading will provide you with a more accurate idea.