Bleaching=death?

Scizzle · 01/22/2012, 06:06 PM

Few nights ago I bought a favia frag and it looked awesome. Woke up yesterday and the frag looks like it got ripped off the plug it was like 3 or 4 inches from where it was supposed to be and a portion of it got chewed or stung. I have two clowns an emerald a cleanup crew and some ghost shrimp. I have no anemones in my tank. This morning I woke up and it's completely white. Does this mean it's dead? Does bleaching in general mean a coral is dead.

jon99 · 01/22/2012, 06:13 PM

Bleaching usually means dead or dying. Often it's associated with exposure to too much light, but other factors could cause a coral to "bleach"/turn white. What was it leaning against when you found it? What do you think may have stung or chewed it? As a precaustion you may want to move it to an area of lower light to see if that helps it to recover.

sporto0 · 01/22/2012, 06:29 PM

Yes, dead, especially when it happens that fast or rtn (rapid tissue necrosis) as opposed to stn (slow tissue necrosis) which can sometimes be reversed. Sorry for your loss.

michaelr · 01/22/2012, 07:17 PM

No, Bleaching means its extremely stressed and most likely about to die. when a coral bleaches, it releases its zooxanthellae back into the water.(it does this because the polyps feel like that cant support themselves let alone the algae). This usually means it will die because until it is resolved, it obviously cant photosynthesize and therefore make energy. This means you have to resolve the issue and feed it by hand daily to attempt to revive it.

L_Spec · 01/22/2012, 07:26 PM

Bleaching doesn't mean death. Pretty much what michealr said. I would like to add that if the flesh is coming off of the coral, and there is algae growing on it, there is a good chance it's dead.

HOWEVER

I had two zoanthid colonies that bleached on me and also a Hydnophora (SPS). The colonies never opened up and the their mat was quickly disappearing.. I figured they were done for. The Hydnophora turned a very pale emerald green, instead of the dark bold green that it used to be. I made sure that my water perameters were in spec and as stable as possible, as these corals were becoming extremely frail.

Long story short, both my colonies have doubled in size since, but not as colorful as they once were, and my Hydnophora always has its' polyps out now and is encrusting.

As long as the flesh of the coral is still there, you can revive it, imo. Corals are hardier than one might think. Good luck!

zigzag1 · 01/22/2012, 07:48 PM

NO, no, no - bleaching does not mean death. It means ejection of zooxanthellae, usually due to stress associated with a change of conditions. Corals can come back from this if well cared for. Moving the coral to an area of subdued lighting and flow can often help the process of recovering, IME.

Scizzle · 01/22/2012, 07:56 PM

Ok thanks. I had already moved it lower so we'll see what happens.
It was sitting against live rock. I don't know what could of stung it. Maybe a hermit was picking at it. Just sucks when you get something fluorescent Green and it turns white in 3-4 days

Exxotic · 01/22/2012, 08:13 PM

Is the skeleton showing white? or is the coral itself a litte off color with a whitish hue?
If its skeleton then, maybe the water quality is not to par

sporto0 · 01/22/2012, 09:57 PM

Are the polyps still attached to the skeleton? Are you saying the coral looks the same except it has no color now or white? If the flesh has detacthed & you have just skeleton, it's a goner, sometimes you can flip them over into the sand & if anything is still alive & healthy it could regrow back over the skeleton, I have had one brain coral do this but it is a rare occurrence.

Scizzle · 01/22/2012, 11:51 PM

Looks pretty dead to me.

Scizzle · 01/22/2012, 11:52 PM

My parameters are good, so it's not that.

sporto0 · 01/23/2012, 12:17 AM

Technically "bleaching" is the loss of color due to the release of zooxanthellae, as others have stated, but I knew what you were describing & how fast it happened & yes, rest assured that piece is dead, your hermits were just eating the decaying polyps, they did not kill it. If it were stung by another coral, something that small would probably succomb as yours did, if it were a larger colony, it could survive but with a scar about the size or larger of your piece, eventually it could regrow over that piece of skeleton. It's hard to know exactly what killed it, sorry about that.

01/22/2012, 06:06 PM	#1
Scizzle Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Florida Posts: 180	Bleaching=death? Few nights ago I bought a favia frag and it looked awesome. Woke up yesterday and the frag looks like it got ripped off the plug it was like 3 or 4 inches from where it was supposed to be and a portion of it got chewed or stung. I have two clowns an emerald a cleanup crew and some ghost shrimp. I have no anemones in my tank. This morning I woke up and it's completely white. Does this mean it's dead? Does bleaching in general mean a coral is dead. __________________ Various Zoas \| 1 Acan \| meteor shower safastria \| 7 ricordia \| big frogspawn \| 2 non branching and 5 branching Duncan's \| GSP \| pulsing xenia \| mushrooms \| palythoas \| hammer coral \| torch coral \| pipe organ \| orange fungia \| pagoda cup \| two ocellaris clowns \| foxface \| 2 blennies \| 2 bangais \| YWG Current Tank Info: 110 gallon oceanic dual overflow 60" tank \| 33 gallon sump \| 2 Ecotech Radion LED's \| reef octopus skimmer \| reeflo snapper 2500gph return pump \| 2 next reef reactors denitrate and roa \| 2 koralia 1440's for flow \| eheim heater

01/22/2012, 07:17 PM	#4
michaelr Young Reefer Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Missouri Posts: 507	No, Bleaching means its extremely stressed and most likely about to die. when a coral bleaches, it releases its zooxanthellae back into the water.(it does this because the polyps feel like that cant support themselves let alone the algae). This usually means it will die because until it is resolved, it obviously cant photosynthesize and therefore make energy. This means you have to resolve the issue and feed it by hand daily to attempt to revive it. __________________ I wish there was an undo button on reef keeping Current Tank Info: 55 long and 28 gallon biocube

01/22/2012, 07:48 PM	#6
zigzag1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Anderson, Indiana Posts: 1,276	NO, no, no - bleaching does not mean death. It means ejection of zooxanthellae, usually due to stress associated with a change of conditions. Corals can come back from this if well cared for. Moving the coral to an area of subdued lighting and flow can often help the process of recovering, IME. __________________ :beer: Mixed Reef, started 10/2004: 6' BB 125g DT, 100lbs LR, 40g sump, Dual Ehiem 1000 returns, Eshopps dual overflow, JBJ ATO, Vertex IN-180, PM Ca reactor, 250w MH w/VHO Actinic, AC3 w/Aquasurf, Tunze 6105 pair & 40B frag tank 8 Fish, 20+ corals, shrimp, snails, worms, bugs, etc.

01/22/2012, 07:56 PM	#7
Scizzle Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Florida Posts: 180	Ok thanks. I had already moved it lower so we'll see what happens. It was sitting against live rock. I don't know what could of stung it. Maybe a hermit was picking at it. Just sucks when you get something fluorescent Green and it turns white in 3-4 days __________________ Various Zoas \| 1 Acan \| meteor shower safastria \| 7 ricordia \| big frogspawn \| 2 non branching and 5 branching Duncan's \| GSP \| pulsing xenia \| mushrooms \| palythoas \| hammer coral \| torch coral \| pipe organ \| orange fungia \| pagoda cup \| two ocellaris clowns \| foxface \| 2 blennies \| 2 bangais \| YWG Current Tank Info: 110 gallon oceanic dual overflow 60" tank \| 33 gallon sump \| 2 Ecotech Radion LED's \| reef octopus skimmer \| reeflo snapper 2500gph return pump \| 2 next reef reactors denitrate and roa \| 2 koralia 1440's for flow \| eheim heater

01/22/2012, 11:51 PM	#10
Scizzle Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Florida Posts: 180	Looks pretty dead to me. __________________ Various Zoas \| 1 Acan \| meteor shower safastria \| 7 ricordia \| big frogspawn \| 2 non branching and 5 branching Duncan's \| GSP \| pulsing xenia \| mushrooms \| palythoas \| hammer coral \| torch coral \| pipe organ \| orange fungia \| pagoda cup \| two ocellaris clowns \| foxface \| 2 blennies \| 2 bangais \| YWG Current Tank Info: 110 gallon oceanic dual overflow 60" tank \| 33 gallon sump \| 2 Ecotech Radion LED's \| reef octopus skimmer \| reeflo snapper 2500gph return pump \| 2 next reef reactors denitrate and roa \| 2 koralia 1440's for flow \| eheim heater

01/22/2012, 06:13 PM	#2
jon99 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Atl Ga Posts: 817	Bleaching usually means dead or dying. Often it's associated with exposure to too much light, but other factors could cause a coral to "bleach"/turn white. What was it leaning against when you found it? What do you think may have stung or chewed it? As a precaustion you may want to move it to an area of lower light to see if that helps it to recover.

01/22/2012, 06:29 PM	#3
sporto0 Moved On Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Pittsburgh, Pa. Posts: 2,924	Yes, dead, especially when it happens that fast or rtn (rapid tissue necrosis) as opposed to stn (slow tissue necrosis) which can sometimes be reversed. Sorry for your loss.

01/22/2012, 07:26 PM	#5
L_Spec Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Regina Posts: 133	Bleaching doesn't mean death. Pretty much what michealr said. I would like to add that if the flesh is coming off of the coral, and there is algae growing on it, there is a good chance it's dead. HOWEVER I had two zoanthid colonies that bleached on me and also a Hydnophora (SPS). The colonies never opened up and the their mat was quickly disappearing.. I figured they were done for. The Hydnophora turned a very pale emerald green, instead of the dark bold green that it used to be. I made sure that my water perameters were in spec and as stable as possible, as these corals were becoming extremely frail. Long story short, both my colonies have doubled in size since, but not as colorful as they once were, and my Hydnophora always has its' polyps out now and is encrusting. As long as the flesh of the coral is still there, you can revive it, imo. Corals are hardier than one might think. Good luck!

01/22/2012, 08:13 PM	#8
Exxotic Moved On Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 55	Is the skeleton showing white? or is the coral itself a litte off color with a whitish hue? If its skeleton then, maybe the water quality is not to par

01/22/2012, 09:57 PM	#9
sporto0 Moved On Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Pittsburgh, Pa. Posts: 2,924	Are the polyps still attached to the skeleton? Are you saying the coral looks the same except it has no color now or white? If the flesh has detacthed & you have just skeleton, it's a goner, sometimes you can flip them over into the sand & if anything is still alive & healthy it could regrow back over the skeleton, I have had one brain coral do this but it is a rare occurrence.

01/22/2012, 11:52 PM	#11
Scizzle Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Florida Posts: 180	My parameters are good, so it's not that. __________________ Various Zoas \| 1 Acan \| meteor shower safastria \| 7 ricordia \| big frogspawn \| 2 non branching and 5 branching Duncan's \| GSP \| pulsing xenia \| mushrooms \| palythoas \| hammer coral \| torch coral \| pipe organ \| orange fungia \| pagoda cup \| two ocellaris clowns \| foxface \| 2 blennies \| 2 bangais \| YWG Current Tank Info: 110 gallon oceanic dual overflow 60" tank \| 33 gallon sump \| 2 Ecotech Radion LED's \| reef octopus skimmer \| reeflo snapper 2500gph return pump \| 2 next reef reactors denitrate and roa \| 2 koralia 1440's for flow \| eheim heater

01/23/2012, 12:17 AM	#12
sporto0 Moved On Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Pittsburgh, Pa. Posts: 2,924	Technically "bleaching" is the loss of color due to the release of zooxanthellae, as others have stated, but I knew what you were describing & how fast it happened & yes, rest assured that piece is dead, your hermits were just eating the decaying polyps, they did not kill it. If it were stung by another coral, something that small would probably succomb as yours did, if it were a larger colony, it could survive but with a scar about the size or larger of your piece, eventually it could regrow over that piece of skeleton. It's hard to know exactly what killed it, sorry about that.