Acropora Loripes question...

[dailydriven911]

I have a question for ya... When I bought the frag about two weeks ago it was somewhat brown with a green base and green/purple tips. During the last week or so it has slowly turned more white and lost alot of the brown especially where the light is penetrating the coral. Was it just browned out and is possibly returning to it's true color? I found a pic of what it should look like here:http://www2.aims.gov.au/coralsearch/html/001-100/Species pages/42.htm
I'm hoping this is what's going on and that it's not aefw...
All of my other corals are doing very good and my system is newer but fairly stable.

Tank info...
34g current solana cube w/ built in skimmer (works awesome imo)
Currently running elos carbon and seachem phosgaurd in a phosban reactor. Lighting 150w sunpod pheonix 14k with t-5 supplementation. 1850 gph of strong random flow provided by return, 2 hydor k2's and 1 hydor nano.

Tested using elos and api test kits...
temp 79-81 degrees
salinity 1.025 refractometer
ph 8.2 elos
alk 10dkh elos
cal 400 api
mag 1350 elos
po4 less than .02 ppm undetectable on both my elos and api test kit
no3 less than 5 ppm elos

I attached a picture of the coral. Not the best but you get an idea.

Thanks,

Jayson

 

[Jan]

As long as you don't see oval shaped pale spots on a brown background, it's probably not AEFW. Did you treat with iodine dip before putting in the tank BTW?

If it's gotten pale all over it is either just adjusting to your lower nutrient environment, or maybe your lighting is stronger than what it's used to.

 

[dailydriven911]

Nope it's like it goes from green brown to white from the tips to the base. Only where the light penetrates though. I have good pe still too. I should have done a dip but I didn't have any interceptor or iodine at the moment. I know the place where I bought it from treats all of it's corals before going into the display. (as far as I know)

Thanks,

Jayson

 

[Jan]

yeah, from your pic it looks like the pale spots are both facing towards the light...that's probably what it is. Maybe do a search for more photos of loripes.

Here's a thread from Zeovit.com with 3 different pics of loripes:

http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=895

 

[salmonslayer]

RED BUG For sure

 

[dailydriven911]

Tracy yes I have rb I should have mentioned that. Is it irritation or are they killing it?

 

[barrierreefcf]

Hi Jayson,

Your red bugs may be irritating it, but it also may be adjusting to your lighting/nutrients. When we first received that coral 5 months ago it looked like the second picture in Jan's link. Much whiter. With our lighting just being replaced, it had probably browned out due to the old halides. It also could be a combination of the two factors. And yes...everything that comes through the door is still dipped for AEFW and Red Bugs, and it always will be.

 

[dailydriven911]

Hi Jayson,

Your red bugs may be irritating it, but it also may be adjusting to your lighting/nutrients. When we first received that coral 5 months ago it looked like the second picture in Jan's link. Much whiter. With our lighting just being replaced, it had probably browned out due to the old halides. It also could be a combination of the two factors. And yes...everything that comes through the door is still dipped for AEFW and Red Bugs, and it always will be.

Hey Cy thanks for the help regarding this... It is located about 11"-12" away from the 150w bulb. Possibly it could be slowly bleaching? I guess I could move it down a bit and see how it does. Hope to see you guys soon looking forward to your ora/fish order.

 

[kevinpo]

Hello,
It's impossible to tell anything from your picture but A. loripes is highly variable in coloration. It usually exhibits white on the surfaces that receive more light. It is not a high light requiring coral like many Acropora species but will adapt to a wide range of lighting conditions given enough time. It is sensitive to changes in lighting intensity or spectrum by sensitive I mean will change color easily.

Your parameters all look fine for this coral.

HTH,
Kevin

 

[dailydriven911]

Kevin thank you I feel much better now knowing this is likely a shift in color. I may move it down a bit in the tank and see how it does.

Thanks for the helpful information!

Jayson

 

[dailydriven911]

I took the frag out for some better pics... I did a iodine dip and a few small bugs and rb came off but no flatworms. I'm wondering if this is bleaching, transformation or something else...possibly stn? Notice the white side is where light penetrates it...

 

[dailydriven911]

Well I decided to remove it from the tank just to be on the safe side. I'd rather lose out on one coral that 20 of them... Looks like I have more room for something else now...:lol: