medi Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 So my awesome wellso is not looking so awesome anymore. The majority of it has bleached almost solid white. I have never had a wellso do this before and am not really sure what is causing it. My best guess would be the water params are too good. My NO2 is 0, NH3 is 0, NO3 reads 0 or undetectable, KH is 9 - 10, CA is 450, Water temp stays between 78-80. Lighting is 2x250 MH with 2x39 T5 actinics. All bulbs are brand new. It is placed on the sand bed in the shade. I do feed when the lights go out, but I have never seen any tentacles come out of the wellso so I am not sure it is eating. Any other ideas? Attached are before and after photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OgreMkV Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 This is from my talk on Saturday. We didn't have time to go into bleaching, but here's what I've found. I'll get this into the FAQ area with links to resources as soon as I can. Coral Bleaching It is not usually a disease and it is different than the white syndrome series of diseases. It is caused by the coral expelling the zooanthellae that provide some of their food supply. (Interesting thing I discovered while doing this research is that corals manufacture their own sunblock proteins to protect them from excessive UV... that's the stuff that makes them glow for us.) Anyway, the coral bleaching can be a fairly common thing and is not always a sign of poor health. Both excess and lack of nutrient can cause this. The best solution to a bleaching even is to A) remove the stressor and make sure that sufficient (but not excessive) nutrients are in the water. This is especially true for nitrogen. In most aquariums, the nitrogen load is much higher than in the ocean. However, if you are running a super clean tank, then injection of some nitrogen may also help zooanthellae production. Rate of ejection. If you notice that over time, the coral is becoming less colorful, that's one thing. A slow change is not as bad as a fast one. If, literally overnight, the coral goes from colorful to white, then a severe bleaching event has occurred. A recent survey of coral reefs has found over 18 causes of bleaching. Many of them are contradictory (i.e. both hpo and hyper salinity will cause bleaching). The important thing is that for bleaching, it may not be the death of the coral. It may just be re-establishing equilibrium with the zooathellae. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph9123 Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Before I sold my wellso a while back I had the same issue your having. My parameter were the same as yours this time. I target fed my wellso at night time and lower the temp of tank to 75-76. Within three days it went back to it's vibrate yellowish green tint all over. Thats my thought on your issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medi Posted August 24, 2010 Author Share Posted August 24, 2010 hmm...thanks for the info. My salinity is 35 ppm. Any ideas how to make sure this thing is eating. I have started feeding everynight in hopes it was just because the lack of nutrients, but I have seen no change in the coral. Also, it still inflates to three or four times its size, and I see no sign of tissue recession on the skeleton itself. It has lost its color very slowly. This has by no means been a rapid event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medi Posted August 24, 2010 Author Share Posted August 24, 2010 Before I sold my wellso a while back I had the same issue your having. My parameter were the same as yours this time. I target fed my wellso at night time and lower the temp of tank to 75-76. Within three days it went back to it's vibrate yellowish green tint all over. Thats my thought on your issue. Well I don't target feed. I just feed the whole tank at once. Maybe I need to try that. As far as lowering the temp to 75 that is not possible because I don't, nor do I plan on ever having a chiller. Hopefully target feeding turns this thing around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 I can't keep these beauties anymore bc my water is too clean. Mine did exactly what yours did. Give it to hydro or Robb. They do well in his tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Mine is a cesspool! Give it to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Going to have to agree with Mark, GIMME, and disagree with Gabriel; mine is worse. Seen my GHA issues?! Hopefully it will recover for you. I feel that most LPS are pretty hardy corals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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