Help!!! Mili and other SPS losing color

abirozy · Jul 9, 2014

Hello

Relatively new to the hobby and got my first SPS recently at a live auction. I received a mili and a few others.

1) When they to here, they were bown and in the pic, one was multi colored and other was neon green. Do they arrive brown and "color up"??

2) on my mili, I notice that over the course of one day, parts are turning white. I dipped before i introduced the coral, so hopefully it was not pests. I am keeping it on the bottom to acclimate to tank and was planning on moving it up. I have a jbj 28 gallon nano with a reef radiance dm 132e led light. I have the first channel (Whites, red, orange, green) on at about 70% and channel 2 (blues and violet) at about 80%

archaic37 · Jul 10, 2014

1) sadly it happens, vendors post pics of a nice piece and when you get it, it needs coloring up. This is usually because they frag the colony and the frags lose some color from stress and the lighting intensity may change when they put it in the frag tank before it gets sold.

2) generally if parts are turning white it is either Slow tissue necrosis or rapid tissue necrosis. Where on the piece are they turning white?

I would turn down your whites just a little bit it sounds like you are using a lot of white. I would also raise the pieces up a little bit. SPS can brown out if they do not have enough light and that can sometimes lead to STN/RTN. Flow is also a huge factor in SPS

Touring · Jul 10, 2014

Brother take pics and get your money back. the pics should be what they looked like in the auction. who was the seller?

Bolanos · Jul 10, 2014

It's common for sticks to come in brown after shipping but is your tank even ready for sps?

Touring · Jul 10, 2014

Bolanos said:
It's common for sticks to come in brown after shipping but is your tank even ready for sps?

thats a good one. everyone always thinks the OP's parameters are for SPS.

post a pic of your tank and parameters please.

abirozy · Jul 10, 2014

Touring

I think you are right about the necrosis, I see some of the brown hanging off. It is now almost all white as is the only other SPS I got. I had placed them on the bottom to acclimate. Also, I hope the Coral-RX did not kill them. Please find attached a pic of my tank. As far as flow, do they like a lot or little? As far as parameters, you will have to excuse me as I am new to hobby, but here is what I THINK you mean. Please let me know if I am missing something:

Red Sea Pro Test Kit:
KH:10.4
MG:1300
Calcium:500

API Test Kit
PH: 8.2
Nitrates: about 20-30
Nitrites, Ammonia,: undetectable with my test kit.

Temp: around 80

Thanks

Adam.

footballdude2k3 · Jul 11, 2014

Your nitrates are a bit high, that could be contributing. Most acros that I have ordered as frags, do come in brown, even from reputable places, just because something is brown, is not a reason to worry. When you see flesh leaving, that is where you want to start worrying, along with bleaching. You tank looks to be mature enough to handle SPS. The first thing I would do, is a couple of water changes to bring your nitrates down as close to 10 as possible. Any chance you have room for a sump to help add to the water volume, and the macro algae in there would help bring the nitrates down as well.

Last, I would actually have your nitrate tested with a second test kit, because from what I am seeing in the pictures, you do not have much algae growth, which would likely be expected with nitrates that high. I have never had one of the all in ones, but do you have a section in there with bioballs? Those can raise the levels of nitrate in your system if you did not take them out.

abirozy · Jul 11, 2014

footballdude2k3 said:
Your nitrates are a bit high, that could be contributing. Most acros that I have ordered as frags, do come in brown, even from reputable places, just because something is brown, is not a reason to worry. When you see flesh leaving, that is where you want to start worrying, along with bleaching. You tank looks to be mature enough to handle SPS. The first thing I would do, is a couple of water changes to bring your nitrates down as close to 10 as possible. Any chance you have room for a sump to help add to the water volume, and the macro algae in there would help bring the nitrates down as well.

Last, I would actually have your nitrate tested with a second test kit, because from what I am seeing in the pictures, you do not have much algae growth, which would likely be expected with nitrates that high. I have never had one of the all in ones, but do you have a section in there with bioballs? Those can raise the levels of nitrate in your system if you did not take them out.

I am planning on doing some water changes, but did one recently and don't want to decimate my nitrifying bacteria population by doing too many water changes. I have been doing about 2.5 gallons twice weekly. Also, I have taken out the bio balls and unfortunately I don't have room for a sump,

footballdude2k3 · Jul 11, 2014

Forgot to mention, the Coral Rx did not do this, every piece of my coral gets dipped in there. If you are going to start getting into acros, I highly recommend a way trying to get a small QT system setup in case you get something that has red bugs or AEFW.