Help my War Coral!

[Scotticus]

I have had a war coral for over a month and it has been growing and doing fine. Suddenly within the last week parts of it have started to bleach out. I have not change anything in the tank like lights or salinity. I have been using a nano particle accelorator which is basically all the trace minerals and elements you would add to your tank, but are broken down into nano particles so the corals can just absorb and use them with out having to metabolise them. I have a birds nest that is growing so fast all the tips are white while it waits for the flesh of the coral to catch up. Could it be just the war coral is growing a skeleton so fast that the fleshy part of the coral is stretching to keep up or should I be worried I might lose him. please help

 

[slapshot]

Doesn't sound good. I would check your tank with a red light at night and see if something is attacking it.

 

[ritter6788]

Hard to say but IMO LPS don't get white growth tips like sps do. I have a red and green war coral that turned a horrible color under my MH. When I switched to LEDs it colored up nicely and has been that way for over a year. Not sure why but it looks great now.

What are your tank stats?

 

[darryl_v]

They dont like very much light at all.....in the shade or at least on the bottom IME/

 

[Scotticus]

My params are great, I am currently using to t8s ( I know they are ancient but its only ten gallons) I have a 10,000k and an actinic running. It is placed closer to the top maybe thats the problem.

 

[mcarroll]

I have had a war coral for over a month and it has been growing and doing fine. Suddenly within the last week parts of it have started to bleach out. I have not change anything in the tank like lights or salinity. I have been using a nano particle accelorator which is basically all the trace minerals and elements you would add to your tank, but are broken down into nano particles so the corals can just absorb and use them with out having to metabolise them. I have a birds nest that is growing so fast all the tips are white while it waits for the flesh of the coral to catch up. Could it be just the war coral is growing a skeleton so fast that the fleshy part of the coral is stretching to keep up or should I be worried I might lose him. please help

Can we get a picture?

Be sure it's bleaching and not actually missing tissue. You may have to look closely since all the color is missing, but typically in Favia the skeleton is quite distinctive and will look different.

Doesn't sound good. I would check your tank with a red light at night and see if something is attacking it.

+1

My params are great, I am currently using to t8s ( I know they are ancient but its only ten gallons) I have a 10,000k and an actinic running. It is placed closer to the top maybe thats the problem.

I keep my Favia in very bright light with no issues, FYI.

Great = ???

How old are your T8's?

After a month seems like a long time for a Favia to bleach, IMO. Do you know what kind/intensity of light he was raised in? They are adaptable, but if the difference from before to now was drastic, bleaching is still a possibility. If you feel this is your culprit, just cut your lights back to 3 or 4 hours per photoperiod. Every day or two (or three) after that add another hour or so back to the photoperiod until you are back to normal. Also, it will help to move the Favia out of the bright light and into a low light, or indirectly lit area while it heals.

Personally I doubt it's the light and wouldn't do any of that to start with - I'd be up late for a few nights watching what happens with the coral as Slapshot suggests above.

And please post a picture!

-Matt

 

[jonbar1]

Keep an eye on your alkalinity and any coral nearby that could be stinging it. Do you feed it? I never saw the tentacles on mine or the rapid growth until I started spot feeding.

 

[Scotticus]

Mcaroll my lights are barely 6 months old, and it is weird that it was doing good for the first month. I stay up late almost everynight just watching the tank and have never noticed and warfare so far. I do occasionally spot feed it when I catch it with its tentacles out. I can see the skeleton underneath the flesh, It doesn't look like it is missing any flesh it looks more like it is just stretched very thin. I am perplexed cause it did so good for a month, even grew to cover the plug that it was on.

 

[ritter6788]

I couldn't keep mushrooms happy under t8s. They would stretch for light.

 

[Scotticus]

My red mushrooms are doing great, Same with all my zoas and all my other corals, it's very frustrating.

 

[fjpod]

Not meaning to hijack, and this thread has been active for six months, but I also have a war coral that has lost much of its red, while maintaining bright green fluorescent mouths. Over the past year, it has grown in size and other than the loss of red color looks like it is thriving. It puts out tentacles at night. Feeding it doesn't seem to make a difference. All my other corals are doing very well and seem to have better than good color. Why just the war coral?

 

[DaNkness]

Not meaning to hijack, and this thread has been active for six months, but I also have a war coral that has lost much of its red, while maintaining bright green fluorescent mouths. Over the past year, it has grown in size and other than the loss of red color looks like it is thriving. It puts out tentacles at night. Feeding it doesn't seem to make a difference. All my other corals are doing very well and seem to have better than good color. Why just the war coral?

Fjpod I'm having the same issue w my red and green war coral, green mouths, but the red is paling on two areas of the coral, I've researched this common problem a lot where tanks are doing great but the war coral just starts to slowly loose its red coloration. The best information I've found as to the culprits is exessive Amino dosing, there are some really great threads that explain the cause and effect of overdosing AA's. Let me know if y'all have had any success in saving yalls war corals please.

U can see the war coral on the bottom left

 

[mcarroll]

What are your current and past test numbers like for ca, alk, mg, no3 and po4?

 

[DaNkness]

What are your current and past test numbers like for ca, alk, mg, no3 and po4?

Ca- 450ppm,alk-10.5,mg-1300-1350ppm, no3<0.1, po4<0.1

I did two 25% changes in my he last week, dipped it in revive, and just moved it into the shade on the bottom today

 

[mcarroll]

These guys would like a lot more nutrients in the water and should not be phobic of light or water flow. They adaptable to both!

Independntly, phosphates are protective in high-light situations and necessary for repair during light acclimation....nitrogen too.

I'd do everything possible to stop stressing him out, including finding his permanent place in the tank, putting him there, and most likely leaving him there more or less permanently so he can adapt to local conditions.

Again, he'll be much better off if the tank is being well fed, or at least not starved, during this period of adaptation.

2¢

 

[DaNkness]

Thanks, Since I moved him into the shade he's already gotten a lot of his red color back in one area of his paling and I've started target feeding him gently with reef chili instead of just a general broadcast but my only concern is that although he seems to be on the mend I don't see the tentacle extension at any point of the day/night or when feeding. So hopefully once he has fully recovered he'll start extending his tentacles again also.
All in all thanks for the help I'll repost a picture soon if he continues to mend.