Bridsnest bleaching question

[Aaron Gustafson]

I was doing a little maintenance and culled some Xenia near the base of my ORA Birdsnest and noticed a section near the base had bleached (see attached). The coral has insane polyp extension (like 1/2-3/4") so it seems happy, but I wanted to know if this is usual for Birdsnest corals when parts get shaded.

Any warning signs I should look out for in terms of predators, etc.?

Btw - my params are good.

Side:

Front:

 

[Tahoe61]

Sheltered areas with lower lighting and flow will present as pale compared to the coloration of the coral exposed to the most intense lighting. If you see tissue in those pale areas I would not be too concerned.

 

[Damon]

I recently lost like 90% of a large birdnest colony which I had fragments throughout the tank. Each of them had grown substantially(from 1.5" frags to 6-7" colonies) over the past year. All off a sudden and overnight, they just dropped off.

Nothing else did it, nothing else showed any signs of slowing down, nothing else showed stress. I made a few calls and was advised that they do that sometimes. They will grow great and then all of a sudden RTN.. I still have a few smaller 2" mini colonies, but I'm not putting much time into them, and I will be trying to keep them small.

My point to posting this, is just to advise that they really seem to be a strange breed of animal.

I hope yours doesn't do as mine, though mine was the green/pink. your(I have one just like yours) BOP is just like mine, and mine has been going strong. Strangely, mine is on the sand bottom encrusted in an old clam shell. I have a blue clam on the sand bed also, so the light levels are decent. But the flow is simply the undertow from my vortechs. I am not sure of the flow at that level, but I'm sure(pretty sure at least) it's nowhere near what it is around the main water column.

Note2 on Tap Pro

 

[RKLion]

It will heal it was competing for space with the previous coral that was there

 

[Aaron Gustafson]

Thanks everyone! I think I discovered the culprit: an emerald crab that developed a taste for the polyps. I caught him munching last night & yanked him out. Back to the LFS for him!