Do you think this montipora can bounce back?

[mattshell81]

So I got this montipora about 2 months ago. It was on my sandbed then a little off the bottom and then a little under halfway up the tank and started to really pale out. It even started to look like some flesh was peeling but I think the dots I'm seeing are still polyps. I have had it back down to the sand for a week now and was just wondering if anyone else had a similar experience and could chime in. The tank has 1 acro that seems alright and 1 birdsnest that was around the same height up as the montip but under more direct light than the monti. My alk is 8.4 cal is 500 and make is 1340. Currently only dosing alk when it hits 8.3 which is every day or every other day because my mag and calcium have stayed stable week to week with water changes. My nitrates were a bit high before but my algae issue I was having is almost eradicated and nitrates are between 0 and 5 when I test and phosphate kit isn't very accurate so I can only tell that they are low but not 0.

 

[A Young Reefer]

parameters seem fine except for the calcium which I think is a bit on the high end . now for the question of "can it bounce back" yes definitely it doesn't look too bad it should recover just make sure that it isn't getting worse .

 

[ScottB]

What did you do to lower nitrates?
What did you do to get rid of the algae?

Vibrant? Carbon dosing?

 

[shakacuz]

if it has flesh/skin left (especially a mouth/polyp), it can recover. no3/po4 dropping rapidly and being close to 0 if not 0 could be the issue here.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

I had difficulty with encrusting Montiporas in my tank early on. Maybe it was just an immature tank. But I think too much light was the issue. Couldn't get a Jedi Mind Trick montipora going. Lost a couple of M. digitata as well. I have a sunset Montipora that has been all over my tank but does the best at the bottom of the tank. With too much light it got pale and receded at spots. I do have 400 watt metal halides and currently it is about 27" from the MH bulb. (it is surrounded by Bird of Paradise seriatopora, purple stylophora and green pocillopora.)

Plating M. capricornis types can take a bit more light.

So definitely be wary of your light intensity.

 

[mattshell81]

I had difficulty with encrusting Montiporas in my tank early on. Maybe it was just an immature tank. But I think too much light was the issue. Couldn't get a Jedi Mind Trick montipora going. Lost a couple of M. digitata as well. I have a sunset Montipora that has been all over my tank but does the best at the bottom of the tank. With too much light it got pale and receded at spots. I do have 400 watt metal halides and currently it is about 27" from the MH bulb. (it is surrounded by Bird of Paradise seriatopora, purple stylophora and green pocillopora.)

Plating M. capricornis types can take a bit more light.

So definitely be wary of your light intensity.

Too much light was my initial thought but my kessil a360wes are only at aroundb70 percent power and it wasn't even half way up but was fairly centered under the one fixture. I attached a photo to show where it was vs where it is now.

 

[mattshell81]

What did you do to lower nitrates?
What did you do to get rid of the algae?

Vibrant? Carbon dosing?

A flucanazole treatment didn't see negative reactions from the acro or birdsnest but it is definitely possible that I had a short unnoticed spike in nutrients as algae died off before I could manually remove it or the refugium could consume the excess nutrients from the algae die off.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Too much light was my initial thought but my kessil a360wes are only at aroundb70 percent power and it wasn't even half way up but was fairly centered under the one fixture. I attached a photo to show where it was vs where it is now.

Maybe give it a week or two more in that spot.

 

[ScottB]

A flucanazole treatment didn't see negative reactions from the acro or birdsnest but it is definitely possible that I had a short unnoticed spike in nutrients as algae died off before I could manually remove it or the refugium could consume the excess nutrients from the algae die off.

Fluc can do some funny things with SPS at times. Glad the others were not affected.

 

[bxclent]

So I got this montipora about 2 months ago. It was on my sandbed then a little off the bottom and then a little under halfway up the tank and started to really pale out. It even started to look like some flesh was peeling but I think the dots I'm seeing are still polyps. I have had it back down to the sand for a week now and was just wondering if anyone else had a similar experience and could chime in. The tank has 1 acro that seems alright and 1 birdsnest that was around the same height up as the montip but under more direct light than the monti. My alk is 8.4 cal is 500 and make is 1340. Currently only dosing alk when it hits 8.3 which is every day or every other day because my mag and calcium have stayed stable week to week with water changes. My nitrates were a bit high before but my algae issue I was having is almost eradicated and nitrates are between 0 and 5 when I test and phosphate kit isn't very accurate so I can only tell that they are low but not 0.

I have the same Monti and it looks like yours. Mine is even lighter during daylight running lights but pops purple under blues