Do I have AEFW?

[burton14e7]

This past year is the first year I've successfully started keeping SPS in my 20 years of the hobby so I do not have a lot of experience in this realm and I'm hoping to lean on you guys!

I was doing my weekly aiptasia patrol today and saw the backside of my Fox Flame looking kind of strange. Sometimes I see my SPS recede at the base when the branches are blocking light but this is in unobstructed light. What do you guys think is going on? I did a turkey baster blast and didn't see anything fly away that looks like AEFW but since I've never seen one before other than pictures online I don't know what I don't know.

 

[lolgranny]

Can’t tell by photos if it’s aefw. It looks more like bleaching then anything.

 

[ReeferBean]

You'll see patches of tiny circular bite marks most of the time on the lower portions of the acro or the base.

 

[burton14e7]

Thanks gents. I'll let it ride out if it's just having a bleaching fit. The white nodules on the base is what made me think they could be bite marks.

 

[lolgranny]

Thanks gents. I'll let it ride out if it's just having a bleaching fit. The white nodules on the base is what made me think they could be bite marks.

It almost looks like those are the start of new Cora lites is all. You look like you have PE and you’ll have substantially less on it if you did have aefw. Just keep a eye out

 

[zack801]

I think you're ok. Color looks good and like previous post said there is still good PE so doesn't seem like anything is bothering it. Take a closer look under white light and check for the signature circular bites. Should be easy enough to see on the smooth skin of the fox flame.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Doesn’t look like aefw, I agree with @lolgranny
Looks like new growth. If it starts working inward toward the vertical branch then it’s bleaching or stn. Keep an eye on it

 

[burton14e7]

Thanks for putting my mind at ease gents. I'm pretty sure I could have willed it into reality if I had worried hard enough.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Do you know what par it’s receiving? If not what are your lighting details?

 

[burton14e7]

I do not know what par it's at. I reduced my photo period by 2 hours about a month ago though, the screen shot is what I'm running now, I had too much algae on the sand bed so I figured I would give it less photo period. I have two XR15 pros and 4 ATI Blue+ ATI bulbs about 9" off the water. The T5s go on at 12:30 and turn off at 9 pm. I've had the fox flame since April 2018. It mainly just puddled onto the rocks in front of it until about 2 months ago it started the crown that you see in the photos.

Other things of note that I've screwed up in the past few months that could be stressing it out:
ICP results from last week attached, MG was low and I added some BRS MG solution over the week to bring it up. I keep my alk around 7.85 most of the time but I've had it go up to 8.1 and 7.5 over the past three months when I didn't notice the intake had increased from not testing for two weeks and had to bring it back up. It's been back around 7.85 for a few weeks now.