My cap coral is bleaching on it's tips

[Lew90]

Hello,

I recently took ownership of a 180 gallon reef tank and one of the brown cap corals is what I would call bleaching on it's tips. It did not show any signs before we moved it. Does anyone know why a cap coral would bleach? I haven't ever kept cap coral before so I'm a little unsure what or why this coral is bleaching.

Since the tank and occupants were in very bad shape when I purchased them I'm having to repaint the stand and clean, wash, dry the sand, clean the tank (you get the picture) and everything else that goes with keeping a reef in excellent shape. So currently I have the rock and sea life in a 100 gallon watering troph with a prizm skimmer, Rio 2100 power head and 1-250 metal halide bulb. They have been in there now for about 3 weeks. I'm trying hard to get everything back up and repaired/clean soon. The sand is almost clean and I did keep back a small container to rebuild the bacteria in the sand bed.

Water quality is still not there...working on it. Since alot of things could cause this cap coral to bleach any ideas would be very much appreciated

Regards,
Lew90

 

[Jaymeany]

Compare the lighting. If it is closer /firther away from the light it might bleach. But I'd say the better shot in your water quality/ possibly the temp. How bad is the quality? These are pretty hardy corals but You are stressing it with all the changes. Look at all the changes; Placement compared to light, water flow difference, poor water quailty, possibly temperature difference. Just try to get things stable and try to avoid another big cycle while cleaning everything. You may want to have a friend or LFS hold some of the livestock until everything is stable. Good luck, hope it all works for you!

 

[Anthony Calfo]

agreed... its tough to say for certain, but most certainly stress induced. The worst thing you could do right now is move it BTW. Moving it more than once after the initial move is a surefire way to kill many corals. There is great differences in light over a small range even in aquaria (especially under aged lamps or flourescents in general).

Focus on good water quality, insure that the current light scheme is not excessive (~ 5 watts per gallon is OK) and do not move the coral. Let it acclimate (or not) where it stands. Its the best chance it has.

best of luck/life

 

[spongebob lover]

i'd check your Calcium as see where it stands.
hmm about your skimmer you need to replace that thing hehe, i'm sure most people will tell you the same thing since they seem to not do the job like it supposed to (i have one and it has never gotten any good junk).
I hope you can save your coral, i wish i could help you more but i'm just learning about sps .

 

[moortim]

agreed... its tough to say for certain, but most certainly stress induced. The worst thing you could do right now is move it BTW. Moving it more than once after the initial move is a surefire way to kill many corals.

Anthony, since he is working on setting up the 180 and is planning on eventually moving the coral to it, how long would you think he should keep the coral in the trough it is in now? Does it need to completely recover before it is moved or should it just be in there for a few weeks or so.
I guess what I am looking for is how resilient is this coral and how fast will it recover?

Tim