new birdsnest bleaching

[the Undone guy]

I've had my 34g solana running for a little while now and saw a big healthy birdsnest at the LFS for ~$25 last night. I picked it up to see how hardy they actually are; turns out they aren't that hardy :eek:

http://www.trtguild.net/images/birdscrop.JPG

It seems to be bleaching from the tips inward. I highly doubt that it is my lighting since the LFS had it running under 250w MHs near the water surface and mine is placed in the middle of my tank under a single 150w MH. After noticing it this morning I got to testing and found that my calcium and alkalinity were low (360 & 8 respectively. ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/phosphate/salinity are great). I got some Kent Marine nano reefs partsA&B and started dosing that hoping to raise those two parameters.

Is this puppy going to survive? After a bleaching like this can/will it grow back? I have found the source of my low calc/alk (hardened salt) and will start 5gal water changes tomorrow with good salt (after it tests good!). I'd like to do everything I can to ensure it's survival, but I'm mostly scared of screwing something else up. This is my first SPS and I'm already failing miserably. Any help/advice you can provide would be of great assistance, thank you =)

[byrdman81]

No matter what lighting it came from and is going to coral should be light acclimated over a period of time. Is this also your fist coral period CA levels are pretty low and I wouldnt imagine nothing being happy with those numbers. Whatever you do make changes to your system slowly to acceptable levels and keep them stable. Stability and 0 N and P are ideal for SPS some people run nitrates at 5 or less and have sucess. BN for most people are one of the easier coral to keep.

[ChicagoReefOne]

I hate to say it, but I doubt the coral will pull through. You can see the white patches of tissue loss all over it, you can see the beginning patches of tissue loss too on nearly every branch--it might be time to frag it.

I run my SPS tank at 8 dKH (but I'm also dosing) but your CA is low. I would retest your NO3--are you using test kits? The API test kit has a false-negative issue if you do not shake the test bottles extremely well for several minutes.

Not to be contradictory to Mr. Byrdman, but IME birdsnest are easy enough to keep as long as your parameters stay in check *all the time,* mine have been super sensitive to NO3 spikes, more sensitive than acros and montis. The tissue loss in your piece looks exactly similar to what I observed my birdsnests doing during an nitrate spike. I fragged the two colonies that were suffering, and while I lost two big, beautiful colonies, it wasn't a total loss.

Good luck!

[krazysps]

birdnest are very touchy from my exp. and first to show signs of something being wrong. fwiw i keep mine in very low light and i get the best pe. and colors there. Ionce tried a frag i cut up high in the light and it bleached to death in just a short few days.:(

[the Undone guy]

Appreciate all the responses. I'm at fault for assuming my calc/alk levels would be fine since the tank is only a few months old and my softies/zoas are doing fine. Turns out the salt I was using ended up hardening and I didn't think anything of it until I tested a fresh batch. Apparently salt hardening means that it wasn't sealed properly and it interacted with the air/moisture; end result is a lower calcium level than it should be.

Seachem Reef salt is supposed to be at around 455 calc when freshly mixed...mine was at a 360 =/

Lesson learned: don't leave your buckets of salt in the sun for multiple years and expect the lid not to crack when you open them with a hammer.