Plate coral bleaching?

[Oberst Hajj]

We have a had a plate coral for several months now and it has been doing fine. Every once in a while it will seem like something has upset it, not being inflated as much as normal, but always returns back to normal after a few days.

I thought that this same thing was happening again, so I was not too concerned about it. But now it looks like it is bleaching as well. Below are normal and now photos...

(sorry for the poor quality pic for this one)

As you can see, it's tentacles are still out but they are kind of translucent and it is mostly deflated.

The only change I've made to the tank in the last several days was adding a carbon/GFO reactor. I would occasionally spot feed it some raw shrimp, but I have not done that in a couple of weeks.

Water parameters as of yesterday are:

Alkalinity: 7.28 (bringing that back up into the 9 range)
Ammonia: 0
Calcium: 500 (with my clam gone nothing is really consuming Ca and I have stopped dosing it)
Magnesium: 1200
Nitrate: 5 (it used to hover around 10)
Nitrite: 0
Phospate: 0

 

[sbash]

Any temperature fluctuations in the tank?

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Yes. My canopy fans got switched off on the 10th and I just turned them back on on the 15th. My tank averages about 78.55 when the fan are functioning, but during that 5 day span it averaged 80.48. Not much of a change and this plat coral did fine with similar daily swings back when I was running a MH light (that change was made months ago, so not the cause of this lose of color).

 

[Oberst Hajj]

But speaking of the lighting, I did run only blues on my Radion to combat an algae for about two weeks. I just switched back to a 14k lighting scheme about a week and a half ago. I don't think it is getting too much light (only running the Radion at 25%), but I will take a PAR reading tomorrow to make sure.

 

[Holy_makerel]

Feed it like 2x a week. Fungias love to eat, and need to. I'd start there.

Here's most of mine haha couldn't fit him all in the frame. About 8" across now

 

[FarmerTy]

When mine look like that, its because of too much light. FWIW, I never feed mine and have 25+ in my frag tank.

 

[DSC reef]

It could be a reaction to the GFO. Stripping water to fast can make LPS unhappy.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Feed it like 2x a week. Fungias love to eat, and need to. I'd start there.

I'll try feeding him today, but the last time it was deflated it would not eat. But it's tentacles were more withdrawn that time as well.

It could be a reaction to the GFO. Stripping water to fast can make LPS unhappy.

This has been my prevailing thought as well. My tank is still very young, so I'm going through some algae issues. I added the carbon/GFO to help combat that. I also thought running those two would allow me to feed the fish and corals more without making the tank too dirty.

 

[Holy_makerel]

When mine look like that, its because of too much light. FWIW, I never feed mine and have 25+ in my frag tank.

Really, never? Not even broadcast feeding? Glad they're doing well for you. All my research told me feeding them is very important. Mine gets a little bit of everything from phyto and reefroids to pellets and my frozen blend i feed the tank. Probably picks up a little food almost every day and target fed once a week.

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

Thats not bleaching its tissue recession. You can see the skeletal ridges of the plate coral.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Thats not bleaching its tissue recession. You can see the skeletal ridges of the plate coral.

Any suggestions on what to do? Just last week it look perfectly fine.

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

Any suggestions on what to do? Just last week it look perfectly fine.

Tbh not not too sure if its tissue recession or bleaching. Did something fall on the coral?

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

Any suggestions on what to do? Just last week it look perfectly fine.

Tbh not not too sure if its tissue recession or bleaching. Did something fall on the coral?

 

[Oberst Hajj]

I took a PAR reading and that shows 67 PAR on the sand bed next to it. So I'm pretty sure it's not due to too much light.

Also it's tentacles were extended some, so I spot fed it a larger chunk from LRS Reef Frenzy and it gobbled that right up! I think that is a good sign. How often should I try spot feeding it while it looks bad? Can I over feed it?

 

[Holy_makerel]

I took a PAR reading and that shows 67 PAR on the sand bed next to it. So I'm pretty sure it's not due to too much light.

Also it's tentacles were extended some, so I spot fed it a larger chunk from LRS Reef Frenzy and it gobbled that right up! I think that is a good sign. How often should I try spot feeding it while it looks bad? Can I over feed it?

Yes, you can overfeed. If you feed it a large chunk I'd feed once a week, smaller stuff 2x. Slow is better. If you see it poop then it will be ready for more the next day. Goodluck!

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Yes, you can overfeed. If you feed it a large chunk I'd feed once a week, smaller stuff 2x. Slow is better. If you see it poop then it will be ready for more the next day. Goodluck!

Thanks. I guess it depends on what large and small really mean. I'll let the family know to watch for it pooping.

 

[DSC reef]

If your tank is young then algae issues are normal. I'd take the reactor offline and see if that helps. I had a similar reaction when using GFO. Turns out I didn't need it, stripped the water too fast.

 

[Holy_makerel]

Thanks. I guess it depends on what large and small really mean. I'll let the family know to watch for it pooping.

I'd consider large to be a piece of krill the length of the mouth or so

 

[Katrina71]

I feed ours once or twice a week.

 

[DSC reef]

LRS reef frenzy is a favorite of all the LPS in the reef tank. I'm a believer in feeding as well.