ricordia browning why?

[MarineTeng]

i have a ricordia yuma that is going from fluorescent sort of light neon green to brown, intially it colored up well and now is turning brown, i was wondering what the causes might be or suggested courses of action
here's a pic of it before it was browning

 

[steve-s]

You've actually gone from one extreme to the other. The light green color is actually the loss of zooxanthellae and not healthy at all. The brown color is the overproduction of zooxanthellae and quite possibley a very good sign the coral may be recovering. Hard to say over the short term.

What has changed in the last week or two?

Cheers
Steve

 

[twilliard]

Steve has that one on the nose

 

[MarineTeng]

hmm, well i hope it colors up well, i liked it when it was fluorescent green though i hope it colors up much better then brown, btw i got it like 3 weeks ago maybe a month, it's under a 175 10k mh

 

[Brenden]

How deep is it in the tank? Looks like it is on the bottom?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

This what it looked like before fading?

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16828

 

[twilliard]

Ya not good at all.
Only luck will help

 

[Blazer88]

I don't think that is one of mine that he has, it looks like a Florida Ricordia. But at Steve said, "bright neon" generally means bleached. Most of the Rics that I have seen have a nice dark base with colored tips. It's probably just getting healthy.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Makes sense.

 

[mcvicker]

I had the same ricordia and my lights shocked it when first introduced. It turned super white like the first picture. Then it turned brownish and now has redish/blue coloration on it, but still with the brown base color. I bet some more color will come back in a month or two.

 

[MarineTeng]

the tank is like 15" deep yes it's on the bottom, it is not one of blazer's rics, i bought it when it was more faded, probably a bad idea but it looks like it's coming around

 

[steve-s]

btw i got it like 3 weeks ago maybe a month

Wait a little while longer for it to regain it's health, a few more weeks minimum before deciding on the next step. You may not appreciate the dark color but for the time being, it will do much better than it was with the lighter color. Moving these corals about too often will actually stress them a fair bit so let this one recover fully before you do. You can easily raise the Ric an inch or so which will lighten up the color some. As I said though, wait at least a few weeks or few months before you do. It has probabley not finished it's color morph just yet anyway.

Do you know what lights the tank it came from had and what elevation it was kept at?

Cheers
Steve

 

[MarineTeng]

well they had it under 2x65w pc geussing 10k and actinic, and they had it at the bottom of a 10 gallon i think

 

[steve-s]

That's really odd the color would darken under a 175w at 15" and lighten with a simple 2x65w PC.

What do your phospahtes test at and where they (previous owner) using any kind of phos removing products?

Cheers
Steve

 

[MarineTeng]

i don't think they were, i don't own a phosphate test but i have been using RO for my water, and there are no fish too feed in my tank

 

[steve-s]

I would ask them. Aluminum PO4 products will cause the loss of zooxanthellae from corals. It could explain the lighter color in the dimmer tank. Corals will also darken in the presence of PO4 which might explain your tank.

Unless your water filter has a DI resin, you most likely still have P in your water unless the tap water is zero. RO membranes alone cannot remove or reduce phosphates.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Handegard]

i don't think they were, i don't own a phosphate test but i have been using RO for my water, and there are no fish too feed in my tank

Are you feeding the corals?

a) if you are, that food can turn into phosphates.

b) if you aren't, do. No corals are 100% autotrophic. The corals that most people think of as photosynthetic rely heavily on the zooxanthellae for nutrition, but they still capture food from the water, and depend partly on this.

If you want to bring a water sample by, I've got all the tests.

I'm not saying I know what is/isn't causing the ric to color, I'm just commenting on the phosphates and feeding....

 

[MarineTeng]

it is an RO/DI, though my tds meter isn't calibrating properly but the last owner reported 0 tds and i've only made 30-50 gallons since then, i'm getting good fauna growth which i'm geussing means there is some stuff floating around as coral food, though i am not intentionally or directly feeding any corals in the tank as of now, thanks for the offer of the tests, though i'll probably just take it into blue sierra or something next time i'm there

 

[Handegard]

Having Blue Siera test it costs me less $ too I just thought I remembered you living nearby...

When I ran my coral only tank for awhile, I spot fed some DTs and some mysis to the corals, depending on the coral (my Tubastrea loved mysis) the day before each water change...

 

[MarineTeng]

ah, well i do live close, it's just i go to blue sierra on occasion, and i don't have to arrange something,