Birdnest polyps turning brown?

[OriginalUserName]

Hi guys, I'm fairly new to SPS. My tank is well established but was sitting pretty much as a FOWLR for the past couple years due to a massive crash. I got it going again and my corals have been doing well. Recently I added some SPS.

I was checking the tank out this morning and my pink green tipped birdnest's individual polyps are starting to turn brown. My parameters all look good. Alk is at 10.2, pH is 8 or 8.2, no nitrates, not sure of phosphates but I run a lot of chaeto and my lfs tested a week ago and they looked good. I also am running some purigen and carbon. Temp at a solid 79. SG at 024

Everything else in the tank looks happy (including other SPS that look healthy if a bit drab) I have had this guy placed for about 2 weeks now and I've been ramping up the lights to get it to color back up as it has been a pale pink instead of bright pink when I got it.

I have some more corals coming in tomorrow so I may do a water change to be safe. I'm suspecting it is just getting to just much light so I dimmed my fixture quite a bit. I do run a long photo period so that probably doesn't help. (7am to 9pm).

Thoughts? This is a diy led that I've used on LPS and some Sps in the past. Perhaps this one coral is getting a spotlight from a single led. I may add a defuser. After dimming the lights by maybe 30% and giving it a half hour or so most of those brown sections went away. I doubt the coral could really respond that quickly to lighting changes so maybe I'm just freaking myself out. I'm going to reduce my photo period and see how it goes.

 

[Danh Ngo]

No nitrate? Are you dosing some kind of AA? Where did you place the coral? If you are running at 0 nitrate and no dosing, the coral will not be happy because of the low nutrient.

 

[29bonsaireef]

It was pink when you bought it? That looks like a standard Guttatus. They will always have a brownish/tan color polyp except at the tips. New growth will be green. Looks a little bleached, but close to normal for that species.

 

[vic5hands]

Could be looking for flow

 

[OriginalUserName]

I'm running very low nitrates, my test is old but reading at zero and I tested at my LFS about the same. I have a ton of light on my biocube fuge but I'm not running a skimmer since last week.

It was pink when you bought it? That looks like a standard Guttatus. They will always have a brownish/tan color polyp except at the tips. New growth will be green. Looks a little bleached, but close to normal for that species.

It is described as orange, but looked more pinkish to my eyes. Liveaquaria sold it as a "Green-tip Orange Birdsnest Coral, Aquacultured ORA® " When it arrived it had a green tinge to the ends of the polyps and a nice pink/orange color elsewhere. The areas with the black spots are mostly retracted. I also see some of the same on my green birdnest and red planet. That gives me more information actually. Going to do some searching tonight and see if I can find similar pics. It's not a pest or anything from what I can tell.



Flow should be solid. I have the Icecap 1k Gyre going from 30-100%, my return, and a koralia 425 on 50% wave mode in my 29 cube.

 

[OriginalUserName]

Not much so far. Found a similar picture but no update from the poster. :/

http://chucksaddiction.thefishestate.net/coraldisease.html

The burrowing worm pics look worryingly similar.

Ahh, now the conundrum. Pull them out and dip or let them be.

 

[29bonsaireef]

It is definitely the Green-tip Orange Birdsnest that ORA sells, I have a bunch of it. How new is your tank? A new system with low nutrients could cause trouble for SPS.

 

[OriginalUserName]

It is definitely the Green-tip Orange Birdsnest that ORA sells, I have a bunch of it. How new is your tank? A new system with low nutrients could cause trouble for SPS.

It's new and old. The system was just FOWL for a year or so after a big crash. Around Jan 1 I moved and took the opportunity to restart it. Same rock and fish etc. I think I feed my fish fairly heavily but based on lack of pest algae I think the tank is doing well at staying low nutrient. I wonder if I've done a little too far in that direction with my fuge. I know the ideas about ULNS are in debate currently. I'll back off a bit on the nutrient export and watch my nitrates closely.

 

[29bonsaireef]

I'm all for low nutrients in a mature reef tank. A newer tank is a different story.. but if you have older mature rock work you should have some nutrients. Assuming all of your params are stable. I would say the lighting may be causing issues. Either too much or not enough. Do you have any idea on par?

This is the type Birdsnest that you have. From my experience, this is the typical color pattern for it.

 

[Danh Ngo]

It's new and old. The system was just FOWL for a year or so after a big crash. Around Jan 1 I moved and took the opportunity to restart it. Same rock and fish etc. I think I feed my fish fairly heavily but based on lack of pest algae I think the tank is doing well at staying low nutrient. I wonder if I've done a little too far in that direction with my fuge. I know the ideas about ULNS are in debate currently. I'll back off a bit on the nutrient export and watch my nitrates closely.

Well, I would say because your tank is new, if you just started it in Jan. Because after thr crash, restart mean the tank most likely go from beginning. Sps not usually do well in a new tank. IMO tank is not really mature, posible swing can cause problem too

 

[OriginalUserName]

Double post

 

[OriginalUserName]

Not sure on par, but I have 28 leds cree, mostly 3-ups. I had the blues channel up to maybe 70% and the white up to 25%.

I left the frags on the sand bed for a week and then moved them to their spots and started to ramp up the lights. I'm not melting my plating monties that are not at dissimilar heights so I'm confused as to what's going on. My light is powerful, but nothing crazy. I had a frog spawn that was able to handle it nearly maxed out. I would have expected my SPS to come in expecting a decent amount of light off the get go.

 

[OriginalUserName]

My Nyos nitrate kit isn't in yet so I ran and picked up a fresh API kit (only Petco was open). Still zero nitrates, PH is about 8, calcium is probably at like 600 or so (too high but not a huge deal?). Alk is still good. Cutting back the photo period a bit. I'll try to feed heavy and see if I can get my nitrates up a little.

 

[CarChase]

My WWC Purple Polyp Birdsnest turned brown and the polys turned white as well and I cant figure out why. My tank is relatively new (started the Tank in November 2017). Could it be a reaction to a different spectrum than what the coral was originally grown under?

 

[OriginalUserName]

My WWC Purple Polyp Birdsnest turned brown and the polys turned white as well and I cant figure out why. My tank is relatively new (started the Tank in November 2017). Could it be a reaction to a different spectrum than what the coral was originally grown under?

In my case I'm pretty sure now that this is a nutrient issue. From what I've read super low nutrients can cause the coral to look pale. Also seems like they can ramp up their colonies of algae to produce more of their needs. I have started feeding heavier and hopefully nitrates etc will start to tick up.

I also went ahead and ordered a Kessil a360n. With the known par levels it puts out that is one less variable for me.

Adjusting to a different but adequate source of light should be a short term dip in color not something long term (I think).

 

[OriginalUserName]

Quick update. Things are looking much better. I've been feeding the fish more, added some nitrate rich water from my mangrove growout tank, and doses some phytoplankton. Nitrates are still almost zero but the corals are much happier looking and starting to color up. I'm expecting good things as I start ramping up the Kessil.

The pic needs major color correction but it gives the main idea.