Live rock and shells are turning white!??

Discussion in 'Live Rock' started by gigafish, Apr 25, 2007.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

  1. gigafish

    gigafish Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2007
    Messages:
    55
    Location:
    Queen Creek, AZ
    Hello,

    If I hadnt seemed to break two digital cameras in two weeks time I would take pictures to show what I am going to try to describe, but I cant. Anyways, I have noticed over the past week or so that all of my live rock seems to be getting white patches almost like it was bleached, or cleaned really really well. I thought it was just areas that my crabs and snails had been hanging out until the shell on my 2 inch hermit crab started to turn white as well. Does anyone have any experience with this?
     
  2. Click Here!

  3. geekdafied

    geekdafied 3reef Sponsor

    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2006
    Messages:
    3,941
    Location:
    TX
    sounds like bleaching.... What kinda lights ya got?
     
  4. Tangster

    Tangster 3reef Sponsor

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2006
    Messages:
    5,644
    Location:
    Va/Ct
    Lights have nothing to do with it what are the Ca and Alk and Magnesium levels ? also with just the rocks if you have a Urchin they will tear the corallin up but the hermit shell makes me think its more of a problem with the water parameters..
     
  5. gigafish

    gigafish Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2007
    Messages:
    55
    Location:
    Queen Creek, AZ
    Well, its a FOWLR tank and I dont have an urchin, I have standard fluorescents, and I dont have coraline on my live rock probably because of the lights. The calcium and magnesium I dont know, and I would have to wait until the weekend to find out because my closest lfs is 40 miles away and I can afford my own test kits right now. My alk is at 4.0. That number has been tested with more than one type of kit. (salifert, instant ocean)
     
  6. amcarrig

    amcarrig Super Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 4, 2004
    Messages:
    9,219
    Location:
    CT
    I'm a bit confused. If you are getting white patches on your rock and your hermit crab shell is looking bleached, what "color" were these things before you noticed the white spots?
     
  7. gigafish

    gigafish Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2007
    Messages:
    55
    Location:
    Queen Creek, AZ
    Everything was dark brown, you know, the color of live rock before the coralline grows on it.
     
  8. Click Here!

  9. coral reefer

    coral reefer Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2006
    Messages:
    4,860
    Location:
    Wonderland
    Coralline algae will bleach under sub par conditions, however, if it is small white areas within the coralline algae, it could be a growth spurt, so to speak...
    The white spots on your live rock could be a death on your live rock like a sponge or other dead organism on or within your rock.
     
  10. Linda

    Linda Feather Duster

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2007
    Messages:
    231
    Location:
    Sacramento, California
    In the last few days, I've noticed the same with my live rock. There are large patches of white - almost looks like someone came in with a scrub brush and scrubbed off the brown algae. However, I did notice a few little buds of red (coralline?) algae. Calcium levels are at 440; pH is low, however - 7.8. Don't know about the magnesium - don't have a test for that one.

    Tank is a 29g Nano. Lights: 2 - FSL 8000K 36w & 2 - AquaLux 36w Blue. I leave the lights on about 9 hours a day.

    I've been performing weekly water changes and last night I changed the activated carbon and rinsed the filter sponge.

    Any ideas? Suggestions?
     
  11. gigafish

    gigafish Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2007
    Messages:
    55
    Location:
    Queen Creek, AZ
    My spots went away but I still dont know what caused it.
     
  12. njdevilsfan

    njdevilsfan Flamingo Tongue

    Joined:
    Feb 23, 2007
    Messages:
    107
    think coral reefer was on the money