My acro is turning green!!

[leon]

Ive just got up after working last nite and ive done a 10gal water change, and ive noticed that my acro is turning green from the bottom up , it was fine this morning when i got in. Whats going on, is this "bleaching"???, tested my water and the S.G is a little high at 1.027, and the nitrate is 20ppm, all others are fine, all my other corals arefine also, the only thing ive changed is to a new salt, now using tropical marin pro reef, ideas please, is it a gonna, can it be saved?
leon

 

[Great Lakes]

What color is it supposed to be?
Bleaching is just that, losing all color.
Any tissue degeneration, how is your water flow on it, anything near it that could be stinging it?

GL

 

[Navarre]

I agree with GL, you didnt ell us what colour the Acor was originally. Your nitrate are quite high for acros and this can be known to make them change colour as acros prefer a low nutrient environment rather than a high one.

If it was bleaching then it would go white.

 

[ostrow]

Can you see any polyp extension? That is key.

Have you altered lighting in any way of late?

I have a gorgeous green acro!

 

[leon]

it was a brown colour
this is how it was

i'll post a pic tomorrow of how it is now, ive only had it a week, the flow looked ok, the pulsing xenia were waving all over, but when i looked close it had abit of mucus over it, which i blew away with the powerhead. lighting has only changed from where i got it last sat to now!. I also noticed one of those tiny starfish on it, those ones that are supposed to eat corals, it was at the base, and i took it off, and there was a concave in it where it was (eating it?), could this have done anything?
The polyps are not noticable either in the green areas, but still are in the brown?
Any ideas on the high nitrate?, ivw done several water changes ( 30 gal in last week!) i was wondering if it has anything to do with the 18kg of L.R i got aswell, which i know was well cured and was only 1 hour between that tank and my own!
Ohhhh i wasnt really a fan of acro's till i got this, has all changed now, esp the plate acros!
Cheers,
leon

 

[leon]

Well when i got up this morning i looked at the acro, and all the remaining brown was covered in a mucus, i got rid and now its all green

i assume its a gonner!, is so what do i do, leave it?, take it off?
arse!
leon

 

[Navarre]

Hm.. yes it doesnt look good. I thought the actualy body was turning green (this is a good thing) but to me it seems that the flesh has alread ygoe and only the skeleton remains. if there is flesh on it then it has definately expelled its algae. )

 

[leon]

so its deeeed? , what do i do, leave it, hope coraline takes it and turns a nice purple, get rid?? any ideas why its died?

 

[J-Money]

I've heard that water can contain different levels of stuff depending on where you take the sample. You might want to take a sample of the water around it and test that...

 

[Navarre]

Your right J-money and this is the case usually for nitrates and phosphates.

I really dont think this may be the case here though. I think it might be light shock or maybe it didnt acclimatise easily.

I will get a friend of mine to come over and look aat this, he is far more experienced with acros than i am and will probably know the signs.

 

[Navarre]

I have contaced him and and i do see him online soi hope he will come over soon. The starfish might be a problem, what did you do with it?

 

[leon]

i put in into the weir/overflow, i had another ages ago that was in the sump that i put in there a while ago also, ive seen threads about these starfish and the general concensus was that they arent reef safe, theyre grey, have seven legs (all differing sizes) and are about 2cm across. I would have said that the flow was reasonable, as there are pulsing on the same piece of rock i didnt want to put a direct blast to near them! will be getting some streams soon anyway!
leon

 

[leon]

oh, and i spent ages acclimatising it, a good 1hr+ by drip

 

[Opcn]

Well, you now have yourself a nice piece of LR, congradulations

 

[pomme]

Hiya guys

i think im the guy chris was talking about.

Leon, the coral has died, and i personally would take it out and bin it, or if you have a calcium reactor you could put it in there (but i wouldnt botther as the green on it is algae, so contains po4 which you dont want in the tank).

This isnt just bleaching, as bleaching is the expulsion of zooxanthellae algae from the coral, be it from the algae wanting to go or the algae wanting to go. But corals can recover from this, as new zooxanthellea can enter the coral.As this coral has stripped its tissue, so no polyps left .

As to why the coral did this, who knows it could be a few reasons.
Could you please give me some more detail on, the Ca, DKH, Mg, No3, PO4 of the tank. Also the lighting on the tank, and also the lighting it is under before this tank.
And the exact method you used for acclimatisation.

I dont think the starfish would have caused the coral to go, but it may have contributed to the corasl stress.

I hope i can help and that you can go on in the madness that is Acro keeping

Andrew