Is this stylophora? And does it look ok?

[KonradTO]

Hi all,
As title, this frag arrived as a gift from my lfs 2 weeks ago. He called it seriatopora but il looks like stylophora milka to me.. also 2 weeks ago looked more "fluffy" with more polyps open than now. Could low nitrates or low light make it less "fluffy" or its normal?

 

[KonradTO]

Also, as a comparison the seriatopora calendrum looks fairly ok for now. They get same PAR

And this is how it looked last week

Since then I moved it to a permanent spot a bit higher up in the rockwork (maybe 10cm higher)

 

[KonradTO]

Anyone?

 

[Lavey29]

I don't think it's a stylo maybe a pocilopora or something similar. Here is my green stylo for comparison.

 

[Lavey29]

Here is my pocilopora which appears similar to yours and whiting out also in the shade under the top branches.

 

[KonradTO]

Here is my pocilopora which appears similar to yours and whiting out also in the shade under the top branches.

Yes it looks much more similar. Does it occasionally retract the polyps? I am not sure if has similar requirements to the s.caliendrum specimen, but it looks less happy

 

[vetteguy53081]

Appears to be stylo and partially bleached. What is wrong can be:
Too much water flow
Too much light (moderate to medium good)
Alk high
Calcium low
Low phos (range .04- .08)
temperature warm
Salinity too high

 

[Lavey29]

Yes it looks much more similar. Does it occasionally retract the polyps? I am not sure if has similar requirements to the s.caliendrum specimen, but it looks less happy

It does retract somewhat at night but during the day the top half stays fluffy with PE and not much going on with the shaded bottom half. I got it as a free frag maybe 3 months ago.

 

[Lavey29]

My green stylo does not get fluffy PE. It stays relatively smooth looking as tou see in my picture which is different then your coral you are asking about, however I do have purple stylos that have more fluffy PE like yours.

 

[KonradTO]

Appears to be stylo and partially bleached. What is wrong can be:
Too much water flow
Too much light (moderate to medium good)
Alk high
Calcium low
Low phos (range .04- .08)
temperature warm
Salinity too high

The hardest to evaluate is always flow. I have a wavemaker on the opposite side of the tank, running at maybe 50% power.
Light is definitely low
Alk is ok (8dKh)
Calcium ok
Temp ok
Salinity was like 26ppt and now I corrected to 25ppt.
It might be low phos maybe? The hanna url gives 0.03

 

[KonradTO]

My green stylo does not get fluffy PE. It stays relatively smooth looking as tou see in my picture which is different then your coral you are asking about, however I do have purple stylos that have more fluffy PE like yours.

Yeah mine was more fluffy last week. Everything started looking a bit worse since
1) i moved it to another spot
2) cleaned some gha around while running bubble scrubber, water got dirty and all the polyps retracted for a while. After that they did not came back completely.. mm weird that the other frag looks still good. Maybe its more resistant..

 

[vetteguy53081]

The hardest to evaluate is always flow. I have a wavemaker on the opposite side of the tank, running at maybe 50% power.
Light is definitely low
Alk is ok (8dKh)
Calcium ok
Temp ok
Salinity was like 26ppt and now I corrected to 25ppt.
It might be low phos maybe? The hanna url gives 0.03

Yes- Phos low, high salinity upsets them .
You said Calcium ok - What level is calcium as calcium and alk work together. Calcium and alkalinity need to be in balance.

 

[Lavey29]

Yeah mine was more fluffy last week. Everything started looking a bit worse since
1) i moved it to another spot
2) cleaned some gha around while running bubble scrubber, water got dirty and all the polyps retracted for a while. After that they did not came back completely.. mm weird that the other frag looks still good. Maybe its more resistant..

The green stylo I got for cheap looked like a dead rock but over the last 3 months it is thriving again. I think they are way more resilient then acros.

 

[KonradTO]

Yes- Phos low, high salinity upsets them .
You said Calcium ok - What level is calcium as calcium and alk work together. Calcium and alkalinity need to be in balance.

I think last week was 480ppm. Alk hovers around 7.7-8.3, I am still trying to find out the right amount for the doser. Calcium is steady around 480 since last year, I suppose for now water changes can keep up, so I am dosing only sodium carbonate

 

[vetteguy53081]

I think last week was 480ppm. Alk hovers around 7.7-8.3, I am still trying to find out the right amount for the doser. Calcium is steady around 480 since last year, I suppose for now water changes can keep up, so I am dosing only sodium carbonate

Try to keep CA at 400-430. Youre not way off