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Bleaching Brain Coral

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    Posted: April 17 2012 at 1:41pm
Hey guys.  I have a folded brain that has got me somewhat puzzled.  I got it about 2 months ago and it was a beautiful vivid red and green.  It has now bleached out to a light pink and the green is hardly visible.  I feed it at least twice a week with a mixture of krill and mysis soaked in reef nutrition supplement.  It takes it actively.  My tank is 75 gallons with a 30 gallon sump.  I recently upgraded to this tank, it was previously in 65 gallon tall, on the sand floor 36" below 36 3watt LED's.  All my other coral are doing well, I have a clam growing under these LED's and anemone's, candy cane, frogspawn...  Water parameters:
SG 1.026
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: 5 ppm
phosphate 1ppm
calcium 500
Mag 1400ppm
pH 8.2
I don't have an alk test kit at the moment but the stable pH and Calcium would indicate it is  within desirable parameters.  Nitrate and phos up a little bit from the move, (new sand bed new dry rock) but this coral started bleaching in the old tank with 0's across the board.  It is now on the sand bed 20" below the led's.   I'll try and post photos later.


Edited by SkylerS - April 17 2012 at 1:44pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SkylerS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2012 at 1:45pm
On a side note a i have a maze brain 2' away that is doing very well, same light and flow requirements right.. so what to do?

Edited by SkylerS - April 17 2012 at 1:47pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SkylerS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2012 at 7:15pm

This is the brain when I got it on January 30, 2012.

And here it is today 4/17/201
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SkylerS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2012 at 7:51pm
As you can tell the coral is inflated and the tissue is "healthy" minus the reduction in color.  Any help guys?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kellerexpress Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2012 at 12:04am
Do you ever spot feed?
IM 30L
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I had the same thing happen to one of mine, never figured it out.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SkylerS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2012 at 12:19am
2-3 times a week krill and mysis.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SkylerS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2012 at 12:25am
Originally posted by bstuver bstuver wrote:

I had the same thing happen to one of mine, never figured it out.
did it die or just stay bleached? It's crazy, they are listed as one of the easiest LPS. haha.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bstuver Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2012 at 12:49am
That one died:( I had another one that I had had for over a year that was just fine when this one did that.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SkylerS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2012 at 4:29pm
I found a really good article in a blog by Reef'd Up on the forum here.  she has brought back many a coral from the dead and I'm going to implement her method.  I'll keep this updated.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ReefdUp Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2012 at 5:26pm
Hey!  Sweet!  Sorry I didn't get on here and post sooner.  Your parameters look fine for that coral, and your feeding schedule looks good (keep it up since it's bleached.)  It's extending tissue, which is a great sign.  Zooxanthallae loss can be from multiple reasons (in fact, I was just reading not too long ago about the life cycle of zooxanthallae...and how some corals can lose practically all of it just b/c of that life cycle.) 
 
What's the feeding response of it like?  How is the flow around it?  Is that a bare spot in the sand to the right of it? If it is, the flow may be too high (especially since the side that's bleaching is the side near that bare spot.)  What's your temp? 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SkylerS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2012 at 5:46pm
Temperature is 77 degrees. And what do you mean by bare spot? All the tissue is intact. No tears or necrosis. The flow is enough to cause gentle swaying of the flesh but not actually fold it up. I'm gonna feed it twice a day with aquadine Marine pro dura flake. I'll post a pic in a week and see if there's any improvement.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ReefdUp Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2012 at 6:13pm
I mean on the sandbed...looks like there's no sand behind the coral in the 2nd pic where there's a big black splotch (like the flow blew it away.)
I haven't had much success with flake food and corals in trouble. Haven't tried that one though.
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SkylerS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2012 at 7:01pm
Originally posted by Reef'd Up Reef'd Up wrote:

I mean on the sandbed...looks like there's no sand behind the coral in the 2nd pic where there's a big black splotch (like the flow blew it away.)
I haven't had much success with flake food and corals in trouble. Haven't tried that one though.
 

No, that black spot is actually a colony polyp rock.  The photo was at an odd angle.  And the duraflake isn't actually flake.  It's like pelletized flake.  I'll show you.
Does this look like it will help?
Regular flake on the left, duraflake on the right.  They sink like pellets and are hard.  They soften quickly in the water.  If you think I should switch to something else, I'm open to your suggestions.  I'd hate to lose my brain.  hehe
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ReefdUp Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2012 at 7:51pm
Ahhhh, ok, I get it now! Thanks for the tank shot.
 
Hm, that food is probably ok as long as the coral will take them. I'm not a big fan of that ingredient list (not very natural IMO), but it's probably fine.  I find that if a coral is eating then nutritional value isn't terribly important.  If a coral isn't eating, I try to find the best food that will stimulate a response. 
 
From looking at your tank shot, it looks like the bleached part is the part that is more in the shade. I hate telling people to move a coral to more light in an LED tank, but it looks like that might be part of the cause. Have you tried moving it to a higher light area?
 
Zooxanthallae can leave a coral for any number of reasons, including too low of light. Have you had anyone test your PAR? I'd have that coral at about 150.


Edited by Reef'd Up - April 18 2012 at 7:51pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ReefdUp Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2012 at 7:53pm
Actually, I don't think I'd feed gobs of that food to the coral.  It has copper sulfate in it.  In small doses it probably won't do anything bad, but I would try to limit how much that coral takes in.  I'd go back to the mysis.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SkylerS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2012 at 8:05pm
I will try moving it up.  It's weird, because they are listed as low/moderate light.  But I have a nice flat spot at which it will get better light and be easier to feed.  Mysis it is.  It just gets a little tough because the shrimp in the tank don't seem to care too much about feeding the coral pellets but the second mysis and krill hit the water they are like rabid wolves.  I actually never read the ingredients on the food until I took that picture for you and I noticed the copper sulfate and went "hmmm" haha  No, i have not had PAR tested, i wouldn't even know where to find someone to do it...  But i figure if they clam and the anemone are making it, there should be adequate light right?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SkylerS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2012 at 8:08pm
And the entire coral is bleached, it's just the parts that were green seem to have bleached the most, the red had hung in there very well, but no where near as vibrant as it used to be.  At night it still fluoresces well.  I'll get that pic up.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ReefdUp Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2012 at 8:10pm

Eh, it's just a suggestion to move it up.  It's hard to tell what's causing the problem...nothing else stands out to me.  I'd move it up a little bit (not a ton), and wait a week or two.  If the bleaching continues, it's not the light, so move it back.  If the bleaching goes away, keep doing whatever you're doing. 

 
I'm sure someone in the club has a PAR meter...now getting it to you may be another issue.  Is the coral as shadowed as it looks in the photo?  Are the clam/anemone that shadowed too?  How long have they been there?  Sometimes those "meaty" type corals appreciate more light than people think (they inflate their tissues to spread the zooxanthallae out over more surface area).  In higher light, they tend to inflate less.
 
   
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SkylerS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2012 at 8:20pm
This tank is only about a week old, moved it over from a 1 year old 65.   The clam has been in the tank for over half a year and has grown 2 new chutes in it's shell since then.  The anemone has been there almost the whole year and has split 2 times since then.  The clam and anemone are about 10" down from the LED's with no optics.  Previously they were down about 20ish inches from the led's with 60' optics.  The brain started on the sand floor 36" down from the leds with 60' optics and is now 20" down from the led's with no optics.  The spot I'm thinking I could move it to would be about the same height as the clam and anemone (they live on the same rock) about 10-12 inches down.   I would like to get my PAR tested, just need to know someone.  
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