CAR fading need advice.

[GeoHawk]

I have kept a colony of eagle eyes for years and never had a problem, I just recently started keeping more zoas and so Im not to knowledgeable as to what to do when things start going wrong. So my Candy Apple Reds went from having red to pink last week and my Red Hornets have lost some of their red color.
Before

After

There are three things that have happened between the change and I am wondering which one had the most affect, and how to help them recover. First, when cleaning out my tank 2 weeks ago my rock collapsed and stirred up some sand, I had to redo the rock work (zoas stayed in same place). Second, my tubing from my alk pump came disconnected and I didn't find out for like 5 days and I had a 3 point drop in kh. Third, I started running more GFO, and skimming heavier to try and clear up and algae problem.

Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[BillyC]

You may have shocked them with too much light.

 

[NanoNathan]

my guess is the adding gfo and skimming more. but prob all 3 at once is the real cause. i find zoas can do well in many conditions but when a few things start to change they can be real sensitive.

 

[Dave3112]

In my experience with both Red Hornets and CAR when they started losing the reds my PO4 was high. I got it back in check and the reds came back strong.

 

[Dowtish]

Look into dosing some brightwells vitamin C as well.

 

[GeoHawk]

Thanks for all the help guys! I just thought I should also mention that this is only a zoa problem I have no problems with my sps getting lighter. I have some blastos that I think are going to die, because I cant keep this algae off of them and I think they are getting to much flow, but I can't move them because they are attached to a large rock.

You may have shocked them with too much light.

They have been at the same level for 3-4 months before this happened and grew from 5 polyps to 15+, but do you think I should move them down to sand?

In my experience with both Red Hornets and CAR when they started losing the reds my PO4 was high. I got it back in check and the reds came back strong.

Yeah I am pretty sure my PO4 was high, I also had a CBB die while I was on vacation that may have spiked nitrates even more. hopefully gfo will get it down.

Look into dosing some brightwells vitamin C as well.

I am dosing some vitc iherb powder every once in awhile (like every couple days) Do you think I should increase the dose, or change to brightwells?

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Higher lighting caused mine to go RAINBOW!

 

[ladyreefer1983]

they like nutrients...looks like your CAR's are bleaching...it looks cool because the red can go pink or orange like what happened to yours pink..my guess is your tank has low nutrients compare from where they came from....i dont think stirring sand because of redoing rockscape can cause effect because i do that a lot of time in my tank and i dont see any problems in my zoas/palys...also where do u have the CAR's?looks like u place it high up...when acquiring new zoas/palys i place them in the sandbed or somewhere lower in he tank to test or to get them use to the new environment new lighting etc...then once i see them happy and liking my tank them i move them to here i want them in the tank.
i can see that your rastas look good...if most of your zoas/palys are doing this then u can suspect the alk drop...but if its only the CAR's and red hornets...my best bet is they got shock with the new environment(low nutrients,too much light...etc)..

hth

------------oops sorry didnt read your replies to all the comment...my bad i just woke up and whenever i open my laptop first thing in morning is i go right straight here while eating breakfast

my suspect is the adding gfo and alk drop...how are your other zoas/palys?is it only the CAR's and red hornets?

 

[icemountain]

I am dosing some vitc iherb powder every once in awhile (like every couple days) Do you think I should increase the dose, or change to brightwells?

You should dose vitaminc C iherb twice a day for results and to keep it steady in your tank. I dose it too and do it twice a day.

 

[Dave3112]

they like nutrients...looks like your CAR's are bleaching...it looks cool because the red can go pink or orange like what happened to yours pink..my guess is your tank has low nutrients compare from where they came from....i dont think stirring sand because of redoing rockscape can cause effect because i do that a lot of time in my tank and i dont see any problems in my zoas/palys...also where do u have the CAR's?looks like u place it high up...when acquiring new zoas/palys i place them in the sandbed or somewhere lower in he tank to test or to get them use to the new environment new lighting etc...then once i see them happy and liking my tank them i move them to here i want them in the tank.
i can see that your rastas look good...if most of your zoas/palys are doing this then u can suspect the alk drop...but if its only the CAR's and red hornets...my best bet is they got shock with the new environment(low nutrients,too much light...etc)..

hth

------------oops sorry didnt read your replies to all the comment...my bad i just woke up and whenever i open my laptop first thing in morning is i go right straight here while eating breakfast

my suspect is the adding gfo and alk drop...how are your other zoas/palys?is it only the CAR's and red hornets?

I see a lot of people give this advice when it comes to zoas. Is there any scientific data to back this up? The high nutrient theory is what I'm asking about. I have kept a saltwater/reef set up for 20 years now in some form or another and while I will agree that some PO4 and Nitrate is acceptable in the tank (.03-.04ppm PO4 and around 5ppm nitrate is where I try to keep my numbers) I do not think anything higher is good for color or growth of ANY corals except maybe Xenia and Shrooms . The reds in my corals is how I knew to change the GFO during the summer while my interests were other places besides my tank. They would start to fade then turn to pink and if I let it go too far they would look bleached almost translucent. Yes, I do know that everyone's tanks are different and what works for some doesn't work for others, but I have to stick by my experience in keeping just about every kind of coral imaginable and say that "dirty" or "nutrient rich" water is counter productive to what most aquarists are trying to achieve with their systems. This is just my 2 cents and please don't be offended as that is not my desire.

 

[GeoHawk]

Should I leave them where they are, or move them down until they color up? I am going to keep running gfo to keep phosphate low. The only other thing I can think of is that I bumped my mag to 1700 with tech m to try and kill off any byropsis.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Reef2Reef Aquarium Forum mobile app

 

[BBoley24]

I keep my CARs very low in my tank... Originally I had done a test to display the difference between the closer lineaged "Bowser" and the CAR. I had found that it was impossible to portray a difference between the two because the Bowser soaks up light like JT in crappy movies and the CAR couldn't handle any light at all. I had to split the two up because it was an unfair advantage to have the CAR in high light when it just closed up half of the time. I put him on the sand bed and viola! Opens up like a champ and displays true color. I don't know if this helps as yours seems to be rapidly declining.

 

[Dave3112]

I kept my CAR's about 10" below a 250W 14k Phoenix with a TON of flow and they loved it. Lower in the tank and they got much darker color and lost the yellow highlights..

 

[icemountain]

Here is a picture of mine. I have them sitting at around 600 par under LEDs. They are slight above mid level tank about 12" below the LED fixtures. I got them looking in faded and now they are bright as can be. As long as they are still opening up normally, I think the color should come back. Maybe your water parameters changed that may be causing that color change?

 

[mastaslash]

I think this is how they come up with the morph of Candy Apple Orange. If you move it up, the red will look alot closer to a orange/pink color. Move them lower and you get a deep red/burgundy. JMO

 

[Dave3112]

I think this is how they come up with the morph of Candy Apple Orange. If you move it up, the red will look alot closer to a orange/pink color. Move them lower and you get a deep red/burgundy. JMO

and Bowsers...

 

[BBoley24]

600 par!>!?!??!?!

 

[icemountain]

600 par!>!?!??!?!

Yup. I did just get in new LED fixtures so it might slighty more or slight below but its in that general area. I will have to check again when i am able to get my hands on a par meter. I have a few zoas in that par range actually.

 

[GeoHawk]

I think it was likely a combination of everything both the CARs and Red Hornets open well they are just faded. The algae I have been trying to get rid of is dying off so I will stop increasing mag, but continue to skim heavy and change carbon frequently. Not sure if this is really it or not considering how well my other zoas and sps are doing. I think I may move them down to the sand when I decide I want to put my arm in the tank. It also seems like they are still reproducing. Odd stuff wish they would keep there color.