Birdsnest turning white

Discussion in 'SPS Corals' started by lmr2o, Jan 11, 2012.

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  1. lmr2o

    lmr2o Millepora

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    I bought a fairly large birdsnest a little over 3 weeks ago. When I bought it there were small white parts near the bottom and the tips, but it's spread. Heres some pics

    Days 1-7 it was on the sand.

    Days 7-14 I moved it up a few inches
    [​IMG]

    Days 14-21
    [​IMG]

    A closer look at it when I moved it to the top
    [​IMG]

    And here it is today
    [​IMG]

    I had to have moved it too close to the light too soon - right? It's back at the bottom now, is there anything I can do?
     
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  3. Tmobo

    Tmobo T-Rev

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    I'm no sps expert but I would say that looks pretty far gone. Maybe frag off the pieces that are still alive and place them midway up and see how they do over a couple weeks. Also check your params and see if anything is out of whack
     
  4. lmr2o

    lmr2o Millepora

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    thanks - I did frag two pieces yesterday and will probably get any more tips that still have color fragged. It was my first sps but I knew it looked bad.

    params since i've got it have been
    salinity 1.025
    calc 420-440
    mag 1240-1320
    alk 6.5-8dkh (been raising it slowly .3dkh every night to get it up)
    ph 8.2
    nitrates 5

    lighting is two mh 250w 14k and two t12 actinics
     
  5. Atticus818

    Atticus818 Eyelash Blennie

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    Sadly it's tissue is coming off. It is pretty much done. How stable have those parameters been? Because they all look good, even the low alk would be fine, however if there is alot of movement in those (I.e up and down with water changes, or over/under dosing) that would be the cause.

    Looks to be a fair amount of algae in the system too, so that trate reading may be a bit off. What test kits are you using?
     
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  6. lmr2o

    lmr2o Millepora

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    Thanks for the reply, they've been pretty stable as far as I know, the calcium started dropping to 380 a week ago and I brought them back up to 420 over that time. Raising alk slowly, and ph went from 7.8 to 8 to 8.2 over the course of a week when dosing the alk.

    I'm using salifert for alk, red sea for mag, and api for everything else.

    I think the algae you see is gfo dust that got into my tank and made a mess. (another story lol)

    So this kind of loss looks like it's caused by fluctuating params rather than poor light acclimation?
     
  7. rlman41299

    rlman41299 Skunk Shrimp

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    what kind of lighting was it under before you bought it? looks like 250w MH is too strong for it. i used to use 150w MH before and my birdsnest was only placed halfway of the tank and my tank is 24"deep.
    your sps might have been stressed with too much light.
     
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  9. lmr2o

    lmr2o Millepora

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    I'm thinking(hoping) it was a light issue. They were under t5's at the fish store.
     
  10. Ashevillian

    Ashevillian Pajama Cardinal

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    I hope you the best! I just added a Bird of Paradise SPS and JUST NOT glued it to the LR pretty high in the tank, I was debating placing it on the lower 2/3 portion but I think it looks good where it is. It's about 8" from my Panorama Pro modules and I'm hoping it's not too close but a lot of people use huge MH as seem to do wonders!

    Really hope you can save that coral, it's a pretty one!
     
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  11. lmr2o

    lmr2o Millepora

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    thank you! i'm gonna frag the tips and see if I can save some
     
  12. Atticus818

    Atticus818 Eyelash Blennie

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    I don't know then. You parameters having that small of a shift shouldn't hurt that much. Even the light acclimation seems fine. I could have just stressed from the move and started getting STN. It seems like you did thinks right. What kelvin bulbs are you using? Also what color (more blue more white?) lighting was the store using?