my on going trouble with tricolors....

[surfn]

sigh...my continued problem with keeping the color of tricolors. this has happened to EVERY tri-color acro (valida or other) that i've ever owned. they are supposed to be completely purple w/ green polyps.

but after several months in my tank, they turn a light brown w/ blue tips and green polyps.

this awesome frag came from da6d2003's colony:

about a month after i aquired it, starting to get pale.

and here it is now, bright blue tips....with no purple.


does anyone else have this problem with tri-colors? i would prefer to keep it a purple color.

da6d2003 do you have a current pic of your colony? is it still purple?

 

[I-K@ndY]

I see bite marks on pic 1 and in pic 2 lower bottom...not sure maybe pics thats causing them but try dippin them cuz I know AEFW go after tri color first... its better to be safe ... .... nice piece though....

 

[twon8]

those purple need very high flow and light to keep the purple color. also might want to check your alk., as mine tend to fade if alk is a bit low.

the purple parts are the new growth, which you will only have in well lit and high flow parts.

 

[surfn]

I see bite marks on pic 1 and in pic 2 lower bottom...not sure maybe pics thats causing them but try dippin them cuz I know AEFW go after tri color first... its better to be safe ... .... nice piece though....

bite marks?

i definitely dont see that. and there are no signs of tissue recession. the coral is perfectly healthy as far as i can see, and has doubled in size in 4 months. it just didnt hold its purple color.

 

[surfn]

those purple need very high flow and light to keep the purple color. also might want to check your alk., as mine tend to fade if alk is a bit low.

the purple parts are the new growth, which you will only have in well lit and high flow parts.

not sure if i can get it in any higher light or flow. its sitting right next to my oregon tort in the brightest part of the tank, directly under the bulb (7" under water, bulb is 8" over the water).

flow should be good too, in fact i may need to glue it down b/c it keeps moving due to the flow.

alk should be spot on at 10dkh, although i'll test again to make sure it hasn't dropped.

my radium bulb has crapped out though, i definitely need a replacement.

do tricolors purple up more under 10k light? does 20k light make it do what its doing in the 3rd pic?

 

[I-K@ndY]

bite marks?

i definitely dont see that. and there are no signs of tissue recession. the coral is perfectly healthy as far as i can see, and has doubled in size in 4 months. it just didnt hold its purple color.

Ok maybe the pics are making those spots... I have a friend who has the same problem he got a purple bonsai with deep deep purple and in some time losses it... the last resort was dippin it and he was amazed that he got the worm... If it looks healthy as what you say then you have a different problem maybe lowering them? I have mine on the middle of the tank and maintains it purple... anyway keep us updated and saw your tank thread " AMAZING" ,,,,

 

[da6d2003]

Sorry to hear about your problems. It really sounds like you are doing everything right. After I made that frag my colony ended up in 3 pieces. Very soon after that I had the mini crash. That particular coral (all 3 pieces) bleached. Here are the conditions of the 3 pieces now. All are under 250w DE 14k phoenix bulbs with vho actinic lighting.

Llight flow-8" of water-light purple base with dark purple tips
Medium flow-6" of water-very light purple base with light purple tips
hight flow-4" of water-white base with purple tips.

CA 440
Alk dKh 10.9
Mg 1450
ph 8.1 - 8.3
temp 74-75F

I honestly think that they seem to do best with lower flow and very consisitent water parameters. In the past I've always kept this coral about 3" from the surface so I can't explain what's going on now. When I 1st got this coral it was bleached to begin with and took many many months to get it's full color back.

FWIW, during this same crash deal my garf bonzai coral totally browned out for about 50 days. It's now almost back to all purple and all the green polyps are back.

I also feed the heck out of my tank.

 

[surfn]

well, i definitely know i have a very nutrient low tank.

no way i can blast it with more light and less flow. the futher it goes up the higher the flow in my tank.

maybe it will purple up as it gets larger as with its history since you've had it.

but i've always had this problem with my tri-colors for several years. i had something for over a year and was always brown w/ blue tips and ended up sending to azurel (who keeps no sps mind you). after several months in his tank it turned completely purple.

so then again.....maybe its a nutrient thing....

 

[twon8]

well, i definitely know i have a very nutrient low tank.

no way i can blast it with more light and less flow. the futher it goes up the higher the flow in my tank.

maybe it will purple up as it gets larger as with its history since you've had it.

but i've always had this problem with my tri-colors for several years. i had something for over a year and was always brown w/ blue tips and ended up sending to azurel (who keeps no sps mind you). after several months in his tank it turned completely purple.

so then again.....maybe its a nutrient thing....

try feeding your fish more, see if it darkens..

 

[surfn]

try feeding your fish more, see if it darkens..

i've been limiting the food i put in the tank allot lately b/c i'm trying to starve out this dictoya algae prob i got going.

i pretty much only do flake food every other day. and frozen blood worms once a week.

 

[twon8]

i've been limiting the food i put in the tank allot lately b/c i'm trying to starve out this dictoya algae prob i got going.

i pretty much only do flake food every other day. and frozen blood worms once a week.

that likely explains the light colors, i read somene had success with a naso, but that fish is a bit big for your tank.

 

[surfn]

that likely explains the light colors, i read somene had success with a naso, but that fish is a bit big for your tank.

yeah, i've been talking to marvin about getting one in. he said he can get a 3" one from hawaii.

i'm willing to do it just as a temporary solution, then i'll find a home for the tang once i'm certain the algae has been erradicated.

i feel like i am much better off finding a small naso than a small rabbit fish. and a rabbit fish will definitely tear up my zoas. but i'm willing to take that chance to get rid of the algae.

 

[da6d2003]

yeah, i've been talking to marvin about getting one in. he said he can get a 3" one from hawaii.

i'm willing to do it just as a temporary solution, then i'll find a home for the tang once i'm certain the algae has been erradicated.

i feel like i am much better off finding a small naso than a small rabbit fish. and a rabbit fish will definitely tear up my zoas. but i'm willing to take that chance to get rid of the algae.

I still have a foxface rabbit in my tank. It hasn't messed with my zoas as of yet. I had a magnificent for about 3 years before he decided to munch on them.

 

[gflat65]

Let me know how that works for you, Al. I've noticed the same stuff popping up in my 120 and 125... I'm gunshy on Rabbits (Scribbled Rabbit took out 8 colonies in 4 days after being in the tank for a few months and not touching them...). To its credit, it did take out all of the razor caulerpa before it took out my zoas (and acans...-razor came back, acans didn't).

 

[BigBadZoaDaddy]

yeah, i've been talking to marvin about getting one in. he said he can get a 3" one from hawaii.

I see sm 2-3" Vlamingi tangs all the time around me.

 

[twon8]

i think a foxface rabbitfish is pretty safe with zoas, mine has been in tank with zoas for 2 years and never bothered any, and he was in a tank for 3 years+ with zoas before that. ive heard the other rabbits can be more risky,

i would go with a naso before a vlamingi, iirc naso's don't quite as big.

 

[aquarius77]

I have tri color issues as well. Mine is a wild peice and grows like mad but i can never get any good color out of it?
I am not a mad scientist when it comes to sps but i think i have the basics covered, i expect more than brown. I have taken frags and placed them in different situations and i either get light brown or i get white with purple ish tips. This coral had good color when it was bought but...

This is one of my frags i took of it shortly after moving it into high light.

this is the base of the wild colony that i grew out after a good hacking, (i had redbugs and was not sure what the problem was at first so some things got chopped thinking i was helping them) its getting decent light in these pics.

These frags were not getting enough light.

I have a peice now, the one in the first pic that i have had in high light and flow for some time and its not impressing me. It has a real light base and faint purple tips. I have another peice that i is nearly white from the light but im not going to move it because it has good PE and is laying down a killer base, i will take some pics and post them soon.

From what i can tell it likes the light. My system has been fairly nutrient starved since its been setup and i relate my pale colors partly to that. I have just added a few more fish and i am doing less water changes in hopes to bring some colors back.

Each sps peice i have reacts different to changes in the aquarium. I find the tricolor to be really sensitive to alk swings.



Edit:

I dont have any frags of anything to get rid of, i know it looks like im farming but i got rid of all of it. I only have what i intend to keep now.
I just wanted to make that clear, i was called commercial on another site because of some pics of eggcrate and frags and thats far from the case.

 

[aquarius77]

Here is the same frag as the first picture after getting lots of light for a good period of time. I took this pic this morning, i also noticed the mother stump has lost its purple tips.

 

[J. Montgomery]

My tricolors (mostly the world famous Richmond Tricolor) tend to be purple for the new growth, and a darker brown in the older areas. Placement depth in the tank has not significantly affected the color of mine (I have two colonies).

 

[Azurel]

Here you go Surf.....This the one you sent me it's actually a little deeper purple then that......It also has a fluorescent green highlights on the tissue that I couldn't capture with the camera. It is in high flow about 5 inches from the surface under direct lighting from a 250 14k Hamilton SE ran on a Icecap e-ballast.