Another bleached Acro?

[One Reefing Boi]

Pretty stumped again. I lost an acro a few months back the same way, but that one I lost was brand new so I chalked it up to poor shipping or acclimation or just luck.

then I had another sps (not sure what kind tbh) do the same thing. Go from perfectly colored up to white in 48 hours about 2 weeks ago. It had been in my tank for about 6mo (didn’t grow at all but was still colorful and had polyp extension)

now this happened in the last 36 hours. It was just starting to grow and the color was beautiful! It was a “little red Ferrari” and one of my fav new pieces. Same thing. Bam.

I have a bunch of LPS (5 torches and 4 hammers and 1 frogspawn and GSP and zoas and ric mushrooms) and they are all happy and extended and ok color.

testing water after work today so will update but has anyone seen this before? I have a few other SpS (forget what kinds tbh) but I have a birds nest and it looks phenomenal as well as a few other pieces.

is there something that is known to cause this (like crazy alk swings or something funky)?

thanks!

 

[dedragon]

acropora are definitely the hardest corals to keep if anything changes, any "crazy alk swing" or any other parameter swing can kill an acro fast. How is nitrate and phosphate?

 

[One Reefing Boi]

acropora are definitely the hardest corals to keep if anything changes, any "crazy alk swing" or any other parameter swing can kill an acro fast. How is nitrate and phosphate?

Not entirely sure - i have to test after work tonight and will update the thread. Probably a bit high if I had to guess, at least PO4 because I have been struggling to get nitrate off 0 because my algae uptakes it all so quick and I have been feeding a bit heavier to try and combat that

 

[dedragon]

Im still figuring out the correct balance for my tank with PO4 and NO3. Mine hit zero over a year ago and my acros began to bleach and die, once I raised em a bit, I got dinos, raised em more (NO3 2.5, PO4 .03), got cyano. But my acros looked better and began to grow. I kept my levels the same and turned the refugium light on during the day and cyano went down. Acros are a struggle for some of us, me included. Sometimes it seems easier than it is seeing the amazing tanks on the forum

 

[dedragon]

how are you keeping calcium, magnesium and alkalinity stable because that will impact them as well

 

[ZoWhat]

Come to the Darkside of LPS and swear off SPS

Its less stressful here....

 

[One Reefing Boi]

how are you keeping calcium, magnesium and alkalinity stable because that will impact them as well

Dosing but haven’t dosed in awhile because life got in the way.

 

[terraincognita]

Bleaching is often from too little light.

What's your lights? Where is it in the tank? Looks pretty low can see zoa's in the background.

Also possible flow issue.

 

[One Reefing Boi]

Come to the Darkside of LPS and swear off SPS

Its less stressful here....

Honestly I looked at my tank this morning and thought “how many more torches can I fit in here” and “how does my par and flow look for an all LPS tank?

 

[One Reefing Boi]

Bleaching is often from too little light.

What's your lights? Where is it in the tank? Looks pretty low can see zoa's in the background.

Also possible flow issue.

It’s at 240 par and decent flow in between my Nero 5 and 3 that pulse randomly through the day. My GHA and Bryopsis tell me I have pretty solid alternating flow lol

 

[terraincognita]

Also you can kill off that bryopsis with Fluconaze.

Apparently this brand is magic:

 

[terraincognita]

Give us your Alk, NO3 and Phos when you can test.

Most likely not enough nutrients then 240 Par should be A-Okay, not the best but it's enough.

or the nutrients that exist are being sucked up by the algae vs the coral

Unless your merchants are keeping them at 400+ Par.

 

[One Reefing Boi]

Give us your Alk, NO3 and Phos when you can test.

Most likely not enough nutrients then 240 Par should be A-Okay, not the best but it's enough.

or the nutrients that exist are being sucked up by the algae vs the coral

Unless your merchants are keeping them at 400+ Par.

Yeah I doubt they are THAT high but will have an update here shortly. Working the late shift lol... but also a note - could be low or because my lights are still on acclimate mode because I added a 3rd AI Prime because my par was way too low. My par rn is prob more like 180 right now because it still has 30 days

but again. It went from legit perfectly looking to this in 36 hours hence why I don’t thinkkkk it’s so much a par issue but I’m not entirely sure

 

[Biokabe]

Also you can kill off that bryopsis with Fluconaze.

Apparently this brand is magic:

I've used Fluco a few times and it's always been effective, generally without any negative consequences. I have heard isolated anecdotes about coral crashes after Fluco use, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

 

[One Reefing Boi]

I've used Fluco a few times and it's always been effective, generally without any negative consequences. I have heard isolated anecdotes about coral crashes after Fluco use, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

Give us your Alk, NO3 and Phos when you can test.

Most likely not enough nutrients then 240 Par should be A-Okay, not the best but it's enough.

or the nutrients that exist are being sucked up by the algae vs the coral

Unless your merchants are keeping them at 400+ Par.

what about vibrant?

 

[terraincognita]

what about vibrant?

Never used lots of mixed reviews.

some rave.
Some say did nothing.
Some say ruined their tank lol.

I think also depends on the user and them using it properly

also what else they have going on in their reef. Have seen some using it while 100 other things going on wrong and blaming vibrant.

 

[dedragon]

vibrant is a form of carbon dosing which will drop nitrate and phosphate to zero, i wouldnt carbon dose, more problems than its worth

 

[LegendaryCG]

I doubt it was light that caused it to die overnight. Alk swings seem to be the fastest killer from what I’ve seen.

 

[One Reefing Boi]

I doubt it was light that caused it to die overnight. Alk swings seem to be the fastest killer from what I’ve seen.

Give us your Alk, NO3 and Phos when you can test.

Most likely not enough nutrients then 240 Par should be A-Okay, not the best but it's enough.

or the nutrients that exist are being sucked up by the algae vs the coral

Unless your merchants are keeping them at 400+ Par.

Sorry for the delay — crazy fam stuff going on rn.

so looks like my alk is superrrr low so I’m sure that has something to do with it

 

[landlubber]

to me its just looks like the result of instability.
not regularly dosing, inconsistent nutrients, low alk.
SPS just do not tolerate volatility well and should values swing they generally just die without giving a chance to fix the issue.
in my system i measure stability in terms of months of solid parameters