Montipora colony bleaching

[Tham121988]

I’ve had this montipora colony for almost a year. It has been doing excellent. All of a sudden I saw a white area yesterday and today I see more. I’m not sure what is causing it. I did a water change 2 days ago with the same water I always use. The parameters are below. As far as I can tell, all other coral are ok. I dose coral systems every week and do a water change every Friday.

Salinity 1.025
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite ~0-10
pH = 8.3

 

[sfin52]

what are you using to test. I'm also curious to what the phosphate numbers are. Nitrate and phosphates are needed for corals. .5 for po4 and 5-10 for nitrates.

 

[Tham121988]

what are you using to test. I'm also curious to what the phosphate numbers are. Nitrate and phosphates are needed for corals. .5 for po4 and 5-10 for nitrates.

API test kits. Let me check PO4. Just looking at all of my other months and coral everything seems to be very happy. I have a powerhead above it that had some salt buildup. I wonder if it dropped and got burned by the salt. It’s a weird pattern of bleaching too. Almost like lines. I’ll get back with the PO4 test.

 

[Tham121988]

what are you using to test. I'm also curious to what the phosphate numbers are. Nitrate and phosphates are needed for corals. .5 for po4 and 5-10 for nitrates.

Phosphates are reading 0. Double checked all other parameters and they are 0.

 

[ghostman]

Hows your Alk, Ca, and Mag?

 

[Tham121988]

Hows your Alk, Ca, and Mag?

My calcium is 420ppm
I don't have a test for magnesium
I'll check alkalinity

Its a pico 7 gallon.

 

[ghostman]

My montis are great at telling me if my alk is off. If it gets too low they get a grey cast to them and start to get dull. Too high, and the edges recede a little bit. Looking at your pictures, I might guess flow. As corals get bigger the center may get less flow. How is it?

 

[Tham121988]

My montis are great at telling me if my alk is off. If it gets too low they get a grey cast to them and start to get dull. Too high, and the edges recede a little bit. Looking at your pictures, I might guess flow. As corals get bigger the center may get less flow. How is it?

From what I'm gathering in my situation, is probably I knocked off some salt and it got burned. It is now recovering and looks better today than yesterday. Its actually already growing back over the white areas. Go figure!

 

[IslandLifeReef]

what are you using to test. I'm also curious to what the phosphate numbers are. Nitrate and phosphates are needed for corals. .5 for po4 and 5-10 for nitrates.

@sfin52 0.5 for PO4 is a high recommendation. Did you mean 0.05? That would make a lot more sense.