RFA losing color

[Just John]

I received a RFA in the mail 2 days ago. It was bright orange and bright yellow. It stayed open and looked great with bright colors and 100% happy all day. The next morning it was dull orange and a very pale green. It had lost a ton of color in about 12 hours. Other than the color, It has looked happy since then and been completely open. I fed it something and it ate fine. The color has not improved at all. All of the softies and the few LPS as well as the 5 new corals that came with it are completely fine. Any idea what could be going on?
@Ron Reefman you know quite a bit about these, don't you?

Phos: 0.02
Nitrate: 2.0
Alk: 8.2
pH: 8.2
Sal: 1.026

 

[blaxsun]

Can you post an image or two?

 

[Just John]

Can you post an image or two?

Here is the before, but with my phone camera you cannot really see the difference somehow. It's not great with colors I guess.

before: Bright orange and yellow. Now it is much darker orange and very pale green.

 

[Goaway]

Nems are one creature I have witnessed on dramatically changing colors over night. I have no answer why. Any current pics?

 

[shakacuz]

do note that colors do morph under different lighting. this RFA may have been used to a different PAR or even type of lighting (LED, MH, T5, etc). not only that but it is fairly new in your tank and probably still adjusting. give it some time! if it bleaches or begins to bleach then parameters could be the culprit, but based on the parameters you posted. all should be fine, maybe bump the po4 to .05

 

[Just John]

Nems are one creature I have witnessed on dramatically changing colors over night. I have no answer why. Any current pics?

Pic just above your post. Says why there is no new picture - basically the colors on my camera stink.

 

[Goaway]

Pic just above your post. Says why there is no new picture - basically the colors on my camera stink.

The pic above, is that the normal size? In other words, once the nem settled in. Did it expand?

 

[Just John]

The pic above, is that the normal size? In other words, once the nem settled in. Did it expand?

It expanded some more to look about the same as the other two I have.

 

[Goaway]

It expanded some more to look about the same as the other two I have.

I asked because, just like yuma mushrooms. Vendors will poke at them to get them to retract. That makes them overly colorful. I imagine rfa are just like that. Once they relax, the color looks a bit more dull.

 

[Just John]

I asked because, just like yuma mushrooms. Vendors will poke at them to get them to retract. That makes them overly colorful. I imagine rfa are just like that. Once they relax, the color looks a bit more dull.

Wouldn't that be gone by 30 hours or so? It shipped one morning and looked bright until I turned out the lights the next day.

 

[Just John]

I guess I'll just wait it out and see what happens. At least it doesn't seem to by dying. Thanks for the input everyone!

 

[Just John]

This has happened just today. It retracted and when it just came out it was showing the while lines in the center. Bizarre! I think it's turning into a new mushroom, lol.

 

[Goaway]

This has happened just today. It retracted and when it just came out it was showing the while lines in the center. Bizarre! I think it's turning into a new mushroom, lol.

Never kept an rfa ling term. Gl.. Not sure what's going on.

 

[Ron Reefman]

JustJohn, I don't get here (R2R) as often as I use to. And yes, I have a fair amount of experience with RFAs.

I think lighting could be an issue, however, I think it would take days if not weeks to make a big change in color. Especially when it's bright one day in your tank and not the next.

Do you know what your PAR is at the depth of your RFA? If not, what kind of lighting are you using and at what levels? Here is why I ask. The most colorful RFAs come from deeper water, like 30' deep or more. RFAs from 10' to 20' have some good color, but not like the deeper ones. I only snorkel in very shallow water and I see lots of RFAs (I have a special spot in the Keys). The water is only 2' deep there and ALL the RFAs are very lacking in color, especially color that fluoresces under blue light. They are mostly off white, tan, brown, some black and rarely some with green tentacles that do fluoresce.

So, IMHO you may have too much light (trust me, this is just a wild guess based of some real world experience).

I have one RFA I kept when I sold all the livestock along with my 90g DT system. It's now in my new 16g 'all-in-one' DT. It has a non-fluorescing burgundy face and the tentacles that fluoresce like crazy are VERY gold color with tiny green specs in them. In my old system is was doing OK under higher PAR (200), but it looks better now in my small tank that is running at lower PAR (just under 100).

And I'd also echo what others have said about giving it time. These nems are quite hearty, so I don't suspect there is anything really wrong with ours. And if you play with some environmental conditions like PAR, nitrate or phosphate, you may see an improvement over time.

I hope this helps?

 

[Just John]

JustJohn, I don't get here (R2R) as often as I use to. And yes, I have a fair amount of experience with RFAs.

I think lighting could be an issue, however, I think it would take days if not weeks to make a big change in color. Especially when it's bright one day in your tank and not the next.

Do you know what your PAR is at the depth of your RFA? If not, what kind of lighting are you using and at what levels? Here is why I ask. The most colorful RFAs come from deeper water, like 30' deep or more. RFAs from 10' to 20' have some good color, but not like the deeper ones. I only snorkel in very shallow water and I see lots of RFAs (I have a special spot in the Keys). The water is only 2' deep there and ALL the RFAs are very lacking in color, especially color that fluoresces under blue light. They are mostly off white, tan, brown, some black and rarely some with green tentacles that do fluoresce.

So, IMHO you may have too much light (trust me, this is just a wild guess based of some real world experience).

I have one RFA I kept when I sold all the livestock along with my 90g DT system. It's now in my new 16g 'all-in-one' DT. It has a non-fluorescing burgundy face and the tentacles that fluoresce like crazy are VERY gold color with tiny green specs in them. In my old system is was doing OK under higher PAR (200), but it looks better now in my small tank that is running at lower PAR (just under 100).

And I'd also echo what others have said about giving it time. These nems are quite hearty, so I don't suspect there is anything really wrong with ours. And if you play with some environmental conditions like PAR, nitrate or phosphate, you may see an improvement over time.

I hope this helps?

Thanks very much for the detailed reply! When I put it in I set it in a lower par area. I don't know what the par is, but it's not very bright. The light is an led that came with an AIO tank I had. It's ok, but not fabulous. I was just really surprised that it lost so much color between when the lights went out and came back on after it had been fine all day. I guess I'll see what happens!