WTH Coral Bleaching!!!!!

swclown · 03/15/2007, 02:16 PM

I noticed yesterday a colony of acros looked a little whiter than usual, but I didn't really "notice" it. I come today and look and the whole original colony is white. There are frags that are fine and other acros that are fine. WTH???!!!
These corals in question are at the top of the tank and the tips are in and out of the water but they've been there for over a month and have been fine.
No recent changes at all.
I haven't checked calcium and alk in a while. I'll do that but the Ca reactor "looks" fine and that has never been a problem.

Anyway I'll do some checks but what do I do with the corals that bleached? They obviously don't have algae cells anymore so are they dead? They have extended polyps but again they're all white. Do I need to isolate them from the other sps that are close? Do I need to remove them from the tank?
This sucks.

poissonist · 03/15/2007, 02:51 PM

wait a few days so that you see that algae grow on your corals . Then you understand it is dead!! that is all.
Many reasons your coral is dead...
it is good idea to test Ca and Mg and KH AND ph AND nITRATES AND PHOSPHATES; and better idea to do it regularly even if it cost a little because it is good for you to see the aquarium evolution.....

swclown · 03/15/2007, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by poissonist
wait a few days so that you see that algae grow on your corals . Then you understand it is dead!! that is all.
Many reasons your coral is dead...
it is good idea to test Ca and Mg and KH AND ph AND nITRATES AND PHOSPHATES; and better idea to do it regularly even if it cost a little because it is good for you to see the aquarium evolution.....

You're preaching to the choir about testing. I test all the time in most instances and give people a hard time for not doing so. And the "polyps" I saw were just dead tissue. ) :

Turns out a huge colony is gone. The original colony. It seems as though when I changed timer settings two days ago for daylight savings I set something wrong and a 250 watt MH was coming on at like 2:00 in the morning. The corals under that light were getting like 2 hours of "sleep" and they stressed out.

plyle02 · 03/15/2007, 05:44 PM

Yea like stated above, wait for the algae to take over. It is what happened when I lost 2 full acro colonies at the same time, I found out it was from a bio-erosive type algae that they are always suspect to, but usually don't effect healthy corals. These corals also did not die over night, and everything else was totally fine with all params in check, so I thought. I will chalk it up to what I think was a phosphate issue, at the time, I did not check because I assumed my refugium was exporting them. I later checked, and they were higher than should be for coral growth. I now run a phosban reactor, and couldn't be happier with my water quality. I would double check flow, light bulbs, and what corals are surrounding. Other than that, welcome to the wonderful world of SPS keeping....lol... Good luck!

Slamajama · 03/15/2007, 06:00 PM

any pics?

03/15/2007, 02:16 PM	#1
swclown Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Baltimore, Maryland Posts: 507	WTH Coral Bleaching!!!!! I noticed yesterday a colony of acros looked a little whiter than usual, but I didn't really "notice" it. I come today and look and the whole original colony is white. There are frags that are fine and other acros that are fine. WTH???!!! These corals in question are at the top of the tank and the tips are in and out of the water but they've been there for over a month and have been fine. No recent changes at all. I haven't checked calcium and alk in a while. I'll do that but the Ca reactor "looks" fine and that has never been a problem. Anyway I'll do some checks but what do I do with the corals that bleached? They obviously don't have algae cells anymore so are they dead? They have extended polyps but again they're all white. Do I need to isolate them from the other sps that are close? Do I need to remove them from the tank? This sucks.

03/15/2007, 05:44 PM	#4
plyle02 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Lake Helen, FL Posts: 5,526	Yea like stated above, wait for the algae to take over. It is what happened when I lost 2 full acro colonies at the same time, I found out it was from a bio-erosive type algae that they are always suspect to, but usually don't effect healthy corals. These corals also did not die over night, and everything else was totally fine with all params in check, so I thought. I will chalk it up to what I think was a phosphate issue, at the time, I did not check because I assumed my refugium was exporting them. I later checked, and they were higher than should be for coral growth. I now run a phosban reactor, and couldn't be happier with my water quality. I would double check flow, light bulbs, and what corals are surrounding. Other than that, welcome to the wonderful world of SPS keeping....lol... Good luck! __________________ Perry "Anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die" ~Buddha~ Current Tank Info: 50 Gallon AIO Cube, Aquamaxx WS-1 Skimmer, LED/ Hybrid 4x24 watt t5

03/15/2007, 06:00 PM	#5
Slamajama Registered Member. Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 54	any pics? __________________ No Headache...No sweat Mon Current Tank Info: 120 Gallon Reef Set-up

03/15/2007, 02:51 PM	#2
poissonist Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: france Posts: 135	wait a few days so that you see that algae grow on your corals . Then you understand it is dead!! that is all. Many reasons your coral is dead... it is good idea to test Ca and Mg and KH AND ph AND nITRATES AND PHOSPHATES; and better idea to do it regularly even if it cost a little because it is good for you to see the aquarium evolution.....