Stylophora bleaching due to light?

Chrille26 · Jun 28, 2020

Hi! I moved this Stylo barely 1 inch closer to the lights, and it has lost all color between its polyps. Would you say this bleaching is due to the coral getting too much light at his new spot? All other sps look good.
Also can this Stylo adapt to the new spot, so I can leave it to acclimate or is moving it down my only option at this point?
Thanks for any advice!
Before move:

Pic of it today:

vetteguy53081 · Jun 28, 2020

Since its closer to light, reduce whites by 5%. It could also be that the water flow is different.

jda · Jun 28, 2020

If so, it is quality, not quantity. Those things can take well over 1000 PAR from MH or even out in the sun. They cannot take that much LED light. It could also be mad because you touched and moved it. It looks OK to me in the photos.

C. Eymann · Jun 28, 2020

Could be light related but whats N/P at? are polyps been retracted like that all the time now after the move?

BTW looks like thats actually a sertiapora you have there, S. caliendrum maybe?

Graffiti Spot · Jun 28, 2020

Yea looks like a birdsnest to me too. I agree it should be able to handle the light just fine if it moved not that far. I would also say it looks like nutrients have been lowered and may have stressed the zoox in the coral. Or you moved it to a much higher par spot without knowing but I have never seen that coral pale like that from too much light unless it was already stressed from the start. Check your nutrients and let us know what they are. Looks pretty cool like that imo though I would just be careful because they are sensitive to changes even though it’s an easy to grow coral.

Chrille26 · Jun 28, 2020

Thanks for all the replies! It is correct that it is a S. Caliendrum, I made a mistake in the top post, thanks for the correction there.

I just lowered my whites by a bit to see if it will recover. My No3 is at 10 ppm and my Po4 is undetectable with Salifert, I had a period with dinos so I have been trying to increase those since, so I have had a increase in nutrients in the tank.
The flow is definitely stronger at the new spot so that could absolutely be affecting it, the polyps have been retracted since I moved it.
The coral had no signs of stress before the move, and it has been in the same spot for about 3 months showing good growth so if something was stressing it before, the move surely pushed it over the edge.

Should I just leave it alone right now and see if it recover or should I move it to a spot with lower light and lower flow?
Thanks again!