Tri-Color Acro Bleaching

bassplaya12 · 04/23/2012, 10:22 PM

We bought a Tri-color Acro last week and over the course of today it completely bleached white.

Our red planet and our acro formosa are both doing fine. Any ideas? All parameters are in check and lighting is x24 cree LED's.

This is what it used to look like

bamf25 · 04/24/2012, 05:56 AM

What are your numbers, and how close are they to your lighting. My first two guesses would be alk or light bleeching. Possibly, it could be starving, or you supplimenting coral food, or how many fish are in the tank?

Mock · 04/24/2012, 06:34 AM

I would guess it was the lighting.....

bassplaya12 · 04/24/2012, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bamf25

What are your numbers, and how close are they to your lighting. My first two guesses would be alk or light bleeching. Possibly, it could be starving, or you supplimenting coral food, or how many fish are in the tank?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mock

I would guess it was the lighting.....

i'll get numbers again today, but it shouldn't be parameters, because my red planet that's been in the tank has been fine ever since we made the switch and is still fine. If it was alk burn would that one not be affected as well? They were on the sand for two days after bringing them home because we didn't want to bleach them (that worked out great no?) There's a clown pair and a damsel.

bamf25 · 04/24/2012, 09:28 AM

How long have you had these corals? You mention you switched something and then 2 days in the sand. If they are new corals, I strongly think it is lighting.

ReefBeforeGirls · 04/24/2012, 11:18 AM

My guess would be the lighting as well. I've bleached a few frags recently by not carefully acclimating them to LED lighting. They came from MH tanks.

consumed corals · 04/24/2012, 02:15 PM

I would drop it down in the tank sounds like light issues to me. I do not have leds but I have 2 400w mh about 18" above tank and I always try to go slow bringing them up to the full blast of light.

bamf25 · 04/24/2012, 03:10 PM

I think we are seeing consistently that LED lights are MUCH brighter than people expect them to be. I am not sure if PAR meters do not measure them correctly or what. I know it is not sps, but I was bleaching a candy cane 20+ inches below the surface with my led setup.

bassplaya12 · 04/24/2012, 04:17 PM

We got them last week. They've been on the sand in the corner where the par is the lowest and our lights have been dimmed since we got them. This happened while they were still on the sand! When we switched from an underpowered t5 for our size tank to led, our redplanet is in the top of the tank and it never bleached. Are the tri-colors more sensitive than other sps?

bassplaya12 · 04/24/2012, 04:19 PM

Also, I'm not exactly sure if they are bleached or completely dead. It looks like there is no flesh on them. They melted away over the span of about 6 hours, before the light was even on for the day

eamike261 · 04/25/2012, 08:46 AM

Scroll down to the bottom of my thread to see are exact specs for the LEDs:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2157526

The rtn started when the coral was in the corner of the tank. The max our lights had gotten to was 450mA on blues and ~400mA on the whites. But it was fine for the 3 days leading up to death, which occurred in 12 hour period.

Our Red Planet has not experienced any issues since the switch to LEDs which was higher and closer to the middle of the tank (except that growth has increased a bit). Same goes for all of our LPS.

Here is something strange: a small (half inch) piece broke off when we were putting it in the tank so we glued it to a different rock. That small piece still looks perfect (which is right next to our Red Planet, i.e. more intense light).

I'm wondering if alk burn is a possibility. We started to dose 2 part B-Ionic. I believe we started around 5 days before we got the new sps. Is this scenario possible? Alk rose over a 5 day period to unhealthy levels, but since it was over 5 days all of our corals didn't appear to be effected. Then when we added the new SPS, the increased alk was too much for them (yes we did acclimate for an hour). But if that is the situation, then wouldn't they have been upset right away? Rather than just die nearly instantly after a few days?

And before everyone yells about dosing without the test kit, we were told that the bare minimum would not be enough anyway (test kits are in the mail) so we would just increase the dose when we knew exactly how much to add.

mc-cro · 04/27/2012, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassplaya12

Also, I'm not exactly sure if they are bleached or completely dead. It looks like there is no flesh on them. They melted away over the span of about 6 hours, before the light was even on for the day

You are describing RTN- rapid tissue necrosis.

bassplaya12 · 04/27/2012, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mc-cro

You are describing RTN- rapid tissue necrosis.

what would cause this?

04/23/2012, 10:22 PM	#1
bassplaya12 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Buffalo/Syracuse Posts: 685	Tri-Color Acro Bleaching We bought a Tri-color Acro last week and over the course of today it completely bleached white. Our red planet and our acro formosa are both doing fine. Any ideas? All parameters are in check and lighting is x24 cree LED's. This is what it used to look like

04/24/2012, 05:56 AM	#2
bamf25 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Central NJ Posts: 1,419	What are your numbers, and how close are they to your lighting. My first two guesses would be alk or light bleeching. Possibly, it could be starving, or you supplimenting coral food, or how many fish are in the tank? Last edited by bamf25; 04/24/2012 at 06:04 AM.

04/24/2012, 06:34 AM	#3
Mock Saltwater Junkie Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Sherwood, AR Posts: 669	I would guess it was the lighting..... __________________ 250g In-Wall, 75g fuge, 40g sump, 20g frag tank, Aqua Euro PS-400, RK Elite, 2x400w 14k Halides, 2 MP40s, MRC-6

04/24/2012, 11:18 AM	#6
ReefBeforeGirls Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: New York, New York Posts: 57	My guess would be the lighting as well. I've bleached a few frags recently by not carefully acclimating them to LED lighting. They came from MH tanks. __________________ I have fish tank, no girlfriend 40g Breeder Mixed Reef \| EuroReef Skimmer RS 80 \| 250w MH

04/25/2012, 08:46 AM	#11
eamike261 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Buffalo Posts: 315	Scroll down to the bottom of my thread to see are exact specs for the LEDs: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2157526 The rtn started when the coral was in the corner of the tank. The max our lights had gotten to was 450mA on blues and ~400mA on the whites. But it was fine for the 3 days leading up to death, which occurred in 12 hour period. Our Red Planet has not experienced any issues since the switch to LEDs which was higher and closer to the middle of the tank (except that growth has increased a bit). Same goes for all of our LPS. Here is something strange: a small (half inch) piece broke off when we were putting it in the tank so we glued it to a different rock. That small piece still looks perfect (which is right next to our Red Planet, i.e. more intense light). I'm wondering if alk burn is a possibility. We started to dose 2 part B-Ionic. I believe we started around 5 days before we got the new sps. Is this scenario possible? Alk rose over a 5 day period to unhealthy levels, but since it was over 5 days all of our corals didn't appear to be effected. Then when we added the new SPS, the increased alk was too much for them (yes we did acclimate for an hour). But if that is the situation, then wouldn't they have been upset right away? Rather than just die nearly instantly after a few days? And before everyone yells about dosing without the test kit, we were told that the bare minimum would not be enough anyway (test kits are in the mail) so we would just increase the dose when we knew exactly how much to add. Last edited by eamike261; 04/25/2012 at 08:53 AM.

04/24/2012, 09:28 AM	#5
bamf25 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Central NJ Posts: 1,419	How long have you had these corals? You mention you switched something and then 2 days in the sand. If they are new corals, I strongly think it is lighting.

04/24/2012, 02:15 PM	#7
consumed corals Registered Member. Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Lake County Ohio Posts: 255	I would drop it down in the tank sounds like light issues to me. I do not have leds but I have 2 400w mh about 18" above tank and I always try to go slow bringing them up to the full blast of light.

04/24/2012, 03:10 PM	#8
bamf25 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Central NJ Posts: 1,419	I think we are seeing consistently that LED lights are MUCH brighter than people expect them to be. I am not sure if PAR meters do not measure them correctly or what. I know it is not sps, but I was bleaching a candy cane 20+ inches below the surface with my led setup.

04/24/2012, 04:17 PM	#9
bassplaya12 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Buffalo/Syracuse Posts: 685	We got them last week. They've been on the sand in the corner where the par is the lowest and our lights have been dimmed since we got them. This happened while they were still on the sand! When we switched from an underpowered t5 for our size tank to led, our redplanet is in the top of the tank and it never bleached. Are the tri-colors more sensitive than other sps?

04/24/2012, 04:19 PM	#10
bassplaya12 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Buffalo/Syracuse Posts: 685	Also, I'm not exactly sure if they are bleached or completely dead. It looks like there is no flesh on them. They melted away over the span of about 6 hours, before the light was even on for the day