Birdsnest Bleaching

[MrPicasso]

I just recently purchased a large Tubs Birdsnest (Hystix Type) & within the day and a half I'd had it its turned about 30% white. All of my other Sps is fine, even another birdsnest right next to it is fine also. It was originally being kept about 4 inches under the surface with 400watt mh. It looked extremely healthy in his tank. I run 4x54watt t5's on my tank. I slowly acclimated it, and put it on the bottom of the tank. It gets moderate flow on it but not getting pounded. What should I do here? Is the bleaching mean that section is dead, or is there something i can do to help it stabilize and regain its strength? Or is this a tell tale sign that its a goner? There is no polyp extension also. I can see the polyps on the unbleached sections, but there not out. Any help is appreciated? Oh and my water parameters look ok.

1.025 sal.
8 dkh alk
8.2 ph
79 degrees
450 ppm calcium
0 nitrate
0 nitrite
0 phosphate


Thanks

 

[BenJ]

Is it beaching from bottum up or top down ?

 

[MrPicasso]

Random areas, some is on the bottom, which I am not too worried about because with large colonies and it getting restricted flow and light. It may be from shipping stress or the newspaper that was over it, to protect it from pucturing bags. I am starting to see some extension but other sections has tissue rubbed off, or flaked. It could be from rubbing of the newspaper or RTN or just shipping stress. I don't wanna frag it, but if it gets worse I will cut my losses with the flaking section. More toward the back of the colony.


The good:

The Bad:

 

[Russellaqua]

I would immediately remove the flaked sections. These areas won't make it and the necrotic tissue will spike your ammonia levels. I have found that birdnests can be even more sensitive to this kind of stress than acros. If it was only 4 inches under a 400W bulb and you have it at the bottom of a tank under a 4x54W system it may not be receiving enough light. It's hard to say but that would be my guess.

 

[MrPicasso]

ERRRR..... I am going to frag it up. I am going to need some more eggcrate for this one. Its huge. On the brighter side... atleast it grows quickly.

 

[BenJ]

Its appear start from the bottom and the reason could be anything. You need to cut out all the bad part off to prevent the flesh hit other good part ,move it to medium/low light /flow and keep close watching for healing.

 

[Russellaqua]

I wish you the best with it. It's a beautiful coral. Seriatopora histrix is one of my favorites and it's a nice morph you have.

 

[MrPicasso]

Fragged it up. It was a difficult one to frag. The entire back of the colony was flaked from top to bottom, Its alot smaller now (about 4 inches) and still pretty ticked off from all the handling. I would much rather have a healthy small coral than a large dead one, so I am not too bothered. It happens from time to time in this hobby, and usually there's next to nothing we can do about it. I do have handfuls of small frags and a few mini colonies that busted off with it also. Hopefully a good portion of this can make it through the stress and flourish. Thanks for the help everyone..

 

[Russellaqua]

I know exactly what it's like to be in your position. I had a gorgeous 9 inch tabling Acropora listeri that promptly started flaking. It broke my heart to have to chop it up.