SPS bleaching?

[PokeFish]

Is this normal die off due to shading or is it loosing tissue? If so what should i do

 

[Sdoutreefer]

It's definetly dieing. What are you water parameters? Is any flesh hanging off of it?

 

[Formulator]

Sorry, but it is dying. What are your parameters, lighting, and flow? Seeing it right next to that gorgonian is telling me you don’t have nearly enough flow for SPS. I imagine light is suspect also.

 

[PokeFish]

These are my parameters

7/29 i got back from vacation and my magnesium/calc dropped

I did a waterchange + a little dosing to bring magnesium back up, which worked.
My normal levels are magnesium 1320, kh 7.6-8.2 (it kind of swings weekly), and calcium 460

Calcium dropped but i dont trust the test kit because i tested twice and i got 415 and 360 so i decided to hold off on any dosing, i ordered another kit thats coming soon hopefully

 

[PokeFish]

Sorry, but it is dying. What are your parameters, lighting, and flow? Seeing it right next to that gorgonian is telling me you don’t have nearly enough flow for SPS. I imagine light is suspect also.

I run 2 ai primes on a 75 gallon, the lighting hasnt changed for the several months the coral has been in the tank, and neither has the flow

 

[PokeFish]

Sorry, but it is dying. What are your parameters, lighting, and flow? Seeing it right next to that gorgonian is telling me you don’t have nearly enough flow for SPS. I imagine light is suspect also.

It's definetly dieing. What are you water parameters? Is any flesh hanging off of it?

There is no flesh on it!

I have 2 nero 3s and one jebao pump i have a bit farther from it. I also run a larger canister filter. Could flow be a cause of bleaching? Gorgonians have been trowing around it so its possible its getting less flow than before - should i move it to a higher flow area?

 

[PokeFish]

Also during vacation i had 2 acros die off on me because my alkalinity swung all over the place, but this coral seemed to have survived the swing！in the past my alkalinity naturally changed from 7.6-8.2 weekly (notsure if its the test kit, i use salifert) so i consider it relatively stable as of now

 

[PokeFish]

Is this pocillopora also dying? Or normal die off from shading

 

[PokeFish]

Also this is my lighting for each ai prime 16

 

[PokeFish]

Oh i forgot to mention that up until yesterday, small anemone was almost touching it

I noticed die off starting from the part i circled. I never actually saw the nem touching it, but it was super close to the part i circled

 

[Formulator]

It looks like you are losing all your SPS. Swinging from 7.6-8.2 is not very stable or “natural” as you put it. For SPS you want to keep Alk within +/- 0.2-0.3 day to day. How big was the alkalinity swing when you were gone? A single large swing of more than 0.5-1 dkh can kill a lot of SPS. They may just be delayed reactions.

I don’t use LED lighting so don’t know much, but looking at some other threads, the AI prime HD seems to put out about 250 PAR near the mid-top of the tank. There are a lot of other variables like how high the light is off the water and your individual color and intensity settings. 250 PAR is OK for some SPS, but not ideal for some light loving acros. What is your lighting profile?

Maybe someone else with experience using these lights can help.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

2 AI Primes on a 75 is not strong enough for most sps corals, these are nano tank lights meant for 15-20 gallon tanks,. You have them set at about 50%, you should crank them up to 100%, and consider to add more or upgrade. Just to give you an idea, I have AI Prime on a 15 gallon for soft corals (mushrooms and zoa's) set at 70%

 

[PokeFish]

It looks like you are losing all your SPS. Swinging from 7.6-8.2 is not very stable or “natural” as you put it. For SPS you want to keep Alk within +/- 0.2-0.3 day to day. How big was the alkalinity swing when you were gone? A single large swing of more than 0.5-1 dkh can kill a lot of SPS. They may just be delayed reactions.

I don’t use LED lighting so don’t know much, but looking at some other threads, the AI prime HD seems to put out about 250 PAR near the mid-top of the tank. There are a lot of other variables like how high the light is off the water and your individual color and intensity settings. 250 PAR is OK for some SPS, but not ideal for some light loving acros. What is your lighting profile?

Maybe someone else with experience using these lights can help.

What is the lighting profile lol sorry

Yeah it could definitely be a delayed reaction, my alkalinity swung at one point from 5.6-6.4 then to 7.6

But in the past i tested it to go from 7.6-8.2 weekly and all my sps were growing well. The reason i say this is “natural” is because its still within the possible error range of my test kit! However if it truely is changing at that rate then it would be very bad indeed. If it is the cause what would you suggest?

I hadn’t dosed anything and i dont think a 10% waterchange coildve caused it to change so much in 2 days

If its a delayed reaction to my alk swing during vacation what can i do?

 

[PokeFish]

2 AI Primes on a 75 is not strong enough for most sps corals, these are nano tank lights meant for 15-20 gallon tanks,. You have them set at about 50%, you should crank them up to 100%, and consider to add more or upgrade. Just to give you an idea, I have AI Prime on a 15 gallon for soft corals (mushrooms and zoa's) set at 70%

I have had them at this setting always-if i change them will it mess up my whole tank?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Slowly increase 5%-10% per week so that everything acclimates. If you have access to rent a par meter, then you can map out the different par levels in your tank so that you place higher light and lower light corals into the right spot. Most major LFS’s rent them out, it’s worth it.

 

[PokeFish]

Slowly increase 5%-10% per week so that everything acclimates. If you have access to rent a par meter, then you can map out the different par levels in your tank so that you place higher light and lower light corals into the right spot. Most major LFS’s rent them out, it’s worth it.

Okay, would it be worth moving the bleaching sps (not sure if pocillopora is but i think formulator implied that it is) to higher levels first?

I was planningn on doing an iodine dip for the green one and maybe cutting off some frags for the blue one since that one is losing tissue faster

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The corals are not bleaching, bleaching event happens quickly, within an overnight or within one day. These corals are slowly dying from lack of light. Moving them up into more light and more flow should help.

 

[PokeFish]

The corals are not bleaching, bleaching event happens quickly, within an overnight or within one day. These corals are slowly dying from lack of light. Moving them up into more light and more flow should help.

Okay i will move them up. My blue sps (i completely forgot what it is called) has encrusted onto the rock, so ill try to break off the white parts

 

[Cichlid Dad]

The corals are not bleaching, bleaching event happens quickly, within an overnight or within one day. These corals are slowly dying from lack of light. Moving them up into more light and more flow should help.

Agreed, I was able to turn many sps from what I thought was dead white coral back even better than before the crash. It will take work and due diligence. During the crash , if the coral didn't have algae starting to grow on it, it came back.

 

[PokeFish]

Update: i moved them all the higher lighting
A piece did not make it, but the rest are looking much healthier and coloring up!