Is this bleaching?

[Hooked]

This coral has turned a nice dark red/purple since I upgraded to DE bulbs 3 months ago. But the last couple of days I've noticed some of the corallites look like they've been shaved off and the coral is lighter in those areas. I can still see the polpys in there.

Any idea what this is?

 

[mojoreef]

Ohhhh noooo.....my oh......I think .......Yep thats it alright!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We call it growth sweetie, hehehe


ok I am looking for cover now


Mike

 

[CarlaW]

Yep, you have the growth problem!! Call your local fragger immediatly.

 

[NaH2O]

Katrina, don't mind the smart alick comments.....what do you expect from Pacific North Westerners (yikes...ducking for cover now! :lol: ). I'll hurry up and get my QT set up, and take that coral off your hands....I think it might be in bad shape. . On a serious note.....would a coral that was full color, lighten up like that, even if it hasn't grown any? I interpreted Katrina's post as one day it was dark red, and 3 days later it was lighter in coloration....not new growth. Is that right? I must be reading it wrong.

OK, Mike....I have on my "hick" comment armor

 

[CarlaW]

Nikki, it's a good thing I have a sense of humor . I don't know if this is true or not, but some one told me that it will take a coral 2-3 months to adjust to a new system after it has been moved or fragged. Maybe this is what's happening here, the frag took that long to totally adjust, then it started growing. This is just a guess????

 

[MtnDewMan]

I wouldn't call it growth, but I would call it changing colors at the tips to a more yellow color.

 

[Scooterman]

You guys Krack me Up!

 

[NaH2O]

Chuck - I see what you are saying about more of a yellow color.

 

[kevinpo]

IMO the coral does not appear to have any serious problems. Corals change colors in response to lighting intensities on a regular basis. Many SPS corals have lighter tips, or another color (up to 1.5" long) where growth is rapid.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Hooked]

Mike you can run but you can't hide :lol: I know I have some frequent flyer miles somewhere I can use :badgrin:

--it really doesn't look like the growth on any of my other sps, but I'll go with the experts for now.

Thank you Nikki and Chuck. Maybe I need to try to get a better picture.

I'll keep an eye on it and post if it changes--I know all of you are all tingly inside with anticipation

 

[Hooked]

Admittedly, the quality of the first pic I put up was not too good, but I think this one is a little better and shows the kind of damage that's I'm seeing.

The tissue on the coral in the center of the pic (white area) has been eaten away

 

[Hooked]

And setting in the middle of the damaged area, was a little crab that had until a couple of days ago been living in the first coral pictured at the beginning of this thread.

Here's the little varmit--who is obviously evil

 

[NaH2O]

LOL Katrina - glad you found him before he did any more damage. Let us know how things start to look since he has been removed.

 

[Scooterman]

It still is a little close up to see the damaged area. Cool crab pick BTW.

 

[Maxx]

Katrina,
How is the coral doing now that you removed the crab?

Nick

 

[Hooked]

Thanks for asking Nick. It was doing great, but when I got home tonight some tissue was completely gone from one branch. It was fine last night. I looked around and I don't see anything wrong with anything else. I'll just have to wait an see. Here's a pic of the damage.

 

[Angelscrx]

You might want to frag that piece off or put some crazy glue around the edge that meets th flesh of the coral. It might be stressing or have the early signs of RTN?

 

[Hooked]

Yeah, I thought it might be RTN, so I popped that branch off. Thanks

 

[Elmo18]

I would have done the same. Either snap that branch off or put super glue along where tissue and skeleton meet.

That looks like an Acropora humilis.

- Elmo