Rainbow Trachyphyllia Color Changing Help

[Corals.com]

Yes, the lower light and lower flow should help. Change of scenery can make a huge difference too. Just to give you an idea, I keep my Trachy in an 8 foot by 3 foot tank with only 2 Radion G4 Pros and they love it. They’re also in low flow and thus low light as well.

I’d also stick to meaty foods like Brine shrimp.

 

[Katrina71]

I think my tank might be perfect for it

 

[eLReef]

wow, that's quite a change. At this point I don't think the pink colors will return by themselves unless you change something or start dosing to try and improve them. I haven't used them, but I'm thinking of the Red Sea coral colors. They link iodine and potassium with pink and red color. You could be deficient in either of these.

It could be the difference between your tank and the sellers too with lighting and placement. We've been seeing a lot of these crazy trachy colors recently and its not unheard of for suppliers to do questionable things to corals that we wouldn't normally do in our home tanks; like blast them with a lot of light to get these colors to come out.

Thank you. I might do another ATI test. I had one done before I got the trachy and my potassium and iodine was fine. Hmm It is strange why only half of it lost the color though.

It could be a light thing.It looks like the right side of your trachy is close to the end of the tank.Is the left side getting more light?

Yes, it is to the right side of the tank. Hmm not sure. It’s possibe. It is directly under my Radion XR15W

@eLReef I am having the same Issue with mine so your not alone. Lets see if we both cant get some help @Fudsey @najer @Robin Haselden @Corals.com Any help Folks?

Yes. That would be great. Getting some good advice. Really appreciate it guys.

I'm guessing a spectrum thing. I've read that corals have been dyed in the past but I dont want to accuse anyone or even know how it's done.

Was thinking the same spectrum or nutrients or a combination of both. Oh wow didn’t know that was possible.

Chemistry of tank can effect colors, I recently had a issue where a magnet rusted in my tank and almost caused a crash.. not sure exactly what metals where released into tank but after the event a solid green favia that I had had for years developed distinct orange stripes in a matter of a couple weeks.

I would say your issue is lighting because only half the coral is effected

That makes sense. If it were nutrients it would not only affect half of the coral. Hmmm.

This was one of the first series of articles I read when I got here. @uniquecorals https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-take-care-of-your-brain-trachys-lobos-etc.148047/

Thank you. I will read it.

Do you also have it sitting on your rock? They can damage their flesh if they are kept on rocks. Maybe it's a reaction to being scratched by the rocks?

Yes it’s sitting on a rock. Hmm not sure. It has a cone like bone structure so I wasn’t sure how to place it in the sand with out the flesh touching the sand. That’s why I put it on the rock where the flesh is over hanging the rock. I will move it to sand when I get home and figure out how I can place it.

It will hate zero nitrates and as above they prefer being on the sand ime.
Do you have a picture of where it is in the tank please, what flow is it in?
Does it ever puff up more than those pics?

DSC_0003 by sshipuk, on Flickr

I have tried to raise my nitrates up naturally but haven’t had no results. I tried using Neo nitro in the past and started loosing a lot of my corals. It was mostly my fault for raising the nitrate levels to fast. I’ll post a picture of location and the flow from my EcoSmart. Before it lost its color it would puff up bigger. Mostly on the side where it lost its color and it will slime a lot.

Trachyphyllia do much better if they are placed in the sand. That gives their flesh somewhere to lay, expand and have support. They are also not a high light coral and do better with medium-low lighting. I’d try another spot in your tank on the sand. Loss of color can also mean too much lighting as well. Wouldn’t recommend overfeeding them either. We’ve had Indo Trachy in our care for the better part of a year, and they have done great with being fed once a week(mysis/brine) and placed in med/low lighting. It could be as simple as a change in placement in your tank. Looks to be getting too much light if it’s high up in your tank and the rockwork may be irritating it as well.

Great advise. Thank you. I will move it to the sandbed today. I tested the PAR using a Seneye and it jumps from 1oo-120. What PAR would you recommend? I will try the mysis Shrimp once a week. I was feeding it twice a week because my nitrates are always at 0.

I have never seen a trachy in the rock work. As stated above, you can try place it on the sand so their flesh can expand properly and give it the right amount of light and flow. My trachy expands beautifully in my low flow part of the tank. I run T5 and led and colors are popping.

The LFS I got it from had it on the rock work. But he only had it for a month or so. I will try moving it to a lower light area. Thanks.

 

[eLReef]

Here is a picture of the location where the coral is placed. I circled the rock in the picture. I’m not home yet so this picture was taken before I got the Trachy. Here are a few other pictures I took of my computer screen of the lighting schedule and flow.


Circled location of trachy.



Morning 11am-1pm, night 5-10pm



Evening 1-5pm



Flow

 

[siggy]

Nice Tank

 

[eLReef]

Nice Tank

Thanks Siggy.

 

[Corals.com]

Thank you. I might do another ATI test. I had one done before I got the trachy and my potassium and iodine was fine. Hmm It is strange why only half of it lost the color though.



Yes, it is to the right side of the tank. Hmm not sure. It’s possibe. It is directly under my Radion XR15W



Yes. That would be great. Getting some good advice. Really appreciate it guys.



Was thinking the same spectrum or nutrients or a combination of both. Oh wow didn’t know that was possible.



That makes sense. If it were nutrients it would not only affect half of the coral. Hmmm.



Thank you. I will read it.



Yes it’s sitting on a rock. Hmm not sure. It has a cone like bone structure so I wasn’t sure how to place it in the sand with out the flesh touching the sand. That’s why I put it on the rock where the flesh is over hanging the rock. I will move it to sand when I get home and figure out how I can place it.



I have tried to raise my nitrates up naturally but haven’t had no results. I tried using Neo nitro in the past and started loosing a lot of my corals. It was mostly my fault for raising the nitrate levels to fast. I’ll post a picture of location and the flow from my EcoSmart. Before it lost its color it would puff up bigger. Mostly on the side where it lost its color and it will slime a lot.



Great advise. Thank you. I will move it to the sandbed today. I tested the PAR using a Seneye and it jumps from 1oo-120. What PAR would you recommend? I will try the mysis Shrimp once a week. I was feeding it twice a week because my nitrates are always at 0.



The LFS I got it from had it on the rock work. But he only had it for a month or so. I will try moving it to a lower light area. Thanks.

Not sure on what par would be best, but I'd try it out in the sand where it's not getting hit by a ton of light from both lights. That might be towards the outer edges so it's not catching light from both lights. That area under your center rockwork may be a good spot too where that sweet scoly is It's just something you'll have to play around with and see where it seems happiest and at a lower par than the current area. Brine would be good to include too, not much nutritional content in mysis alone.

 

[Stigigemla]

I have an Acantastrea thats lost all red color because of to strong light. It became yellow and grey.

 

[Saltyanimals]

+1 on too much light.

I have a trach that lost its vibrant colors and I think it’s the light. I started target feeding and seem to improve since I run ULN but not like it was before. Still puffy just little less awesome.

 

[siggy]

LFS has one, It was in the High light display and totally bleached, then they put it in a low light display and now it is looking like it did 3 months ago. ...Mixed reefs are such a challenge!!!!!ugh

 

[eLReef]

Not sure on what par would be best, but I'd try it out in the sand where it's not getting hit by a ton of light from both lights. That might be towards the outer edges so it's not catching light from both lights. That area under your center rockwork may be a good spot too where that sweet scoly is It's just something you'll have to play around with and see where it seems happiest and at a lower par than the current area. Brine would be good to include too, not much nutritional content in mysis alone.

Ok great, thanks for the tips. I did moved it to the sandbed where it gets less light and flow. It has definitely been puffing up more. The affected side more then the other. I think it likes the new spot. I’ll cross my fingers and hope the red/pink colors come back. Any suggestions on my current light schedule, spectrum, intensity, and flow schedule?

I have an Acantastrea thats lost all red color because of to strong light. It became yellow and grey.

Did the colors ever come back?

+1 on too much light.

I have a trach that lost its vibrant colors and I think it’s the light. I started target feeding and seem to improve since I run ULN but not like it was before. Still puffy just little less awesome.

Keep me posted if the colors come back. This will give me a little hope lol.

LFS has one, It was in the High light display and totally bleached, then they put it in a low light display and now it is looking like it did 3 months ago. ...Mixed reefs are such a challenge!!!!!ugh

Nice. Good to know. I really hope my trachy gets its colors back.

 

[Corals.com]

Ok great, thanks for the tips. I did moved it to the sandbed where it gets less light and flow. It has definitely been puffing up more. The affected side more then the other. I think it likes the new spot. I’ll cross my fingers and hope the red/pink colors come back. Any suggestions on my current light schedule, spectrum, intensity, and flow schedule?





Did the colors ever come back?



Keep me posted if the colors come back. This will give me a little hope lol.



Nice. Good to know. I really hope my trachy gets its colors back.

It sure looks like it likes the current spot better! That's great to see! If your other corals are happy with your current schedule, then I wouldn't go messing with how everything is set up. You don't want to end up compromising your other corals over the trachy.

 

[najer]

Looking very good, leave it there, *wrist slap, don't touch*, the fact it has puffed up more is great, worry about colour at some point in the future!

 

[Stigigemla]

No I still have the Acantastrea under that light.

 

[Flutt3rby3]

B

 

[Stigigemla]

To me it looks just as good. I have huge red Acropora hyacinthus and Montipora capricornis and M. digitata. The digitata has extrem good light red color in 500 PAR.
Under 100 it grows much faster but the color is then the usual - a bit pale orange.
So I am glad for everything yellow.

 

[eLReef]

It sure looks like it likes the current spot better! That's great to see! If your other corals are happy with your current schedule, then I wouldn't go messing with how everything is set up. You don't want to end up compromising your other corals over the trachy.

Just an update. Trachy has started to recover its red in less then a month. Thank you all for your help. I guess it was a lighting issue and not the cause of low nutrients. I did want to get some input on how to raise my nitrates naturally. I added more fish and I feed pellets and 1/4 of cube of froze mysis/brine every day. I target feed reef roids/reef chili, LPS amino acids, Coral Vitalizer 2x a week. I’m also doing 10% water changes every 2 weeks. Nitrates still remain at zero. I run a Nyos Quantum 120 Skimmer and a bellum pax n18 cheato reactor. Lights on the reactor are on for 16 hours (9pm-1pm). I also use marine pure ceramic bio media in both of my filter cups. What do you suggest. Should I not use my protien skimmer since I use a chaeto reactor? Should I just reduce the amount of hours my reactor is on? Or take out all the marine pure bio media?

Looking very good, leave it there, *wrist slap, don't touch*, the fact it has puffed up more is great, worry about colour at some point in the future!

Thanks lol.

To me it looks just as good. I have huge red Acropora hyacinthus and Montipora capricornis and M. digitata. The digitata has extrem good light red color in 500 PAR.
Under 100 it grows much faster but the color is then the usual - a bit pale orange.
So I am glad for everything yellow.

Thanks. I’ll keep my trachy in its new spot. Color is coming back

 

[Corals.com]

Just an update. Trachy has started to recover its red in less then a month. Thank you all for your help. I guess it was a lighting issue and not the cause of low nutrients. I did want to get some input on how to raise my nitrates naturally. I added more fish and I feed pellets and 1/4 of cube of froze mysis/brine every day. I target feed reef roids/reef chili, LPS amino acids, Coral Vitalizer 2x a week. I’m also doing 10% water changes every 2 weeks. Nitrates still remain at zero. I run a Nyos Quantum 120 Skimmer and a bellum pax n18 cheato reactor. Lights on the reactor are on for 16 hours (9pm-1pm). I also use marine pure ceramic bio media in both of my filter cups. What do you suggest. Should I not use my protien skimmer since I use a chaeto reactor? Should I just reduce the amount of hours my reactor is on? Or take out all the marine pure bio media?



Thanks lol.



Thanks. I’ll keep my trachy in its new spot. Color is coming back

That’s great to hear!