HELP!! Normal birdsnest growth or early bleaching?

[FutterBingers]

Hey all. I’ve had this birdsnest for about two weeks now. Everything has been, and still is, fine, I believe. The polyps are swaying in the current as normal but the tips of the coral are white. I’m not sure if this is normal growth, or if this is early bleaching. Please help!
I have attached pictures and my tank params

salinity- 1.025
Ca- 470
Mg-1470
Alk-11.8
Nitrates-0
Ammonia-0
Nitrites-0

I know the alkalinity is pretty high, but I wanted to be sure this is bleaching before I attempt to lower it. I should also mention that my meteor shower cyphastrea has started receding as well. Could high alkalinity be the culprit of this as well?

 

[GlassMunky]

nothing looks out of normal to me, no tissue loss or anything.
most likely just the tips growing

 

[Reefs and Geeks]

Looks like a bit of tissue regression on the right to me. Doesn't look like bleaching. Has your alk been stable?

On my birdsnest corals, the tips will look rounded most of the time (like yours), and when they are growing and before the branches split at the tips, the tips will look white and pointy. The white pointy tips will last a week or two before they grow out enough to round off again.

It's not uncommon for a bit of tissue loss on birdsnest coral from time to time. They are pretty resilient and normally bounce back with no intervention. I had a small frag years ago that was in bad shape, maybe 30-40% of the tissue was dead with algae growing on it. Thought it was a gonner, but it bounced back and is now over 18" across. Just keep alk stable and it will likely be fine.

 

[Softhammer]

I’d lower the Alk and be sure to keep it stable. In my experience birds nests are always the first to die if the Alk gets out of whack. It’s always been the canary in a coal mine for me.