Bleaching Fungia- help!

[Jenz]

hi.
Getting to the point, I've what was a healthy Fungia on the substrate until this morning.
I noticed this morn the polyps weren't out and it was starting to bleach. On closer look it had a 4mm piece of rock lodged in its mouth which I suspect was result of the nocturnal wandering of the Strombus snail. I have since gently removed the rock but not sure if I should turn lights off etc to help him get over the stress.
Advise much appreciated please
Thank you

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

I'm not sure a rock would send it into enough stress to cause it to bleach like that, unless it was a big rock or it pierced tissues. For now I would just give it some time to recover, if it was already used to the lighting then adjusting it or turning it off would provide little benefit for the coral. What are you water parameters like?

 

[Jenz]

hi.
Getting to the point, I've what was a healthy Fungia on the substrate until this morning.
I noticed this morn the polyps weren't out and it was starting to bleach. On closer look it had a 4mm piece of rock lodged in its mouth which I suspect was result of the nocturnal wandering of the Strombus snail. I have since gently removed the rock but not sure if I should turn lights off etc to help him get over the stress.
Advise much appreciated please
Thank you

Hey.
Thanks for the quick response.
The rock was large comparable to the size of the disc (40mm or 1.5inches). On returning from the school dropoff it is looking marginally happier ie polyps out but edges still contracted up with the obvious areas of skeleton exposure
I have been struggling with my nitrate levels as my first marine tank have struggled to balance feeding volumes between fish and coral; started running NOPOx and had been doing a 20% water change using Red Sea Coral Pro salt.
Nitrates are now at 5 but utilising NOPOx my phosphate levels haven't dropped so the past 10days have been using a phosphate remover.
I have a Red Sea e170 and am considering getting a new skimmer if the water changes, markedly reduced feeding and NOPOx can't keep those nitrates, and hopefully phosphate levels down. Financially I am going to have to hold off before organising an in cabinet sump.
Sadly I am aware that am going to have to be patient with the phosphate level drop ie have read to not drop it too quickly so am hoping the corals present aren't too unhappy by the time the phosphate levels are reading at 0.
Thanks again

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Don't tweak too much or stress to much.
With luck it was just irritated.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

I suspect all of the recent changes being made to the tank are causing a noticeable amount of stress for your corals. Corals really like stability and consistency, so as Salty said, try to tweak less and let things run their course. Try to limit your feedings by feeding at the same times every day and use an amount that is easy to remember/replicate. Feeding less can reduce phosphates significantly and your nitrates will start to equalize as your tank matures, it just takes some patience and small tweaks spread out over time.