Plate Coral

[pind4070]

I have had this plate coral for over a month now. It was brilliant bright green when I first bought it but some of the tentacles are starting to turn a brownish kinda blotchy color . It still stays open and really big and the tentacle shape looks healthy. It even spawned about 1.5 weeks ago.

Is it slowly dying or is this kinda thing normal?

 

[steelhealr]

Tank size?
Params?
S.g.?
Placement?
Lighting?
Flow?

PHOTO?

SH

 

[Navarre]

What type of lights have you got it under? What type of lights did the coral come from?

Bright colourful corals will only remain this way if the light levels are extremly high and there is little or no nitrate and phosphate in the tank. Acroporas for example show re,markable colouration yet if the lighting is low the acropora will reduce its colouration to allow more light to reach the zooanthae within it. This results in les colouration. The same applies to nutrients, if there is too many nitrates or phosphates inthe tank then the zooanthae will increase as it feeds upon it and cause the coral to go brown.

I had a brilliant green acropora once under halide lights but the ballast went on this unit and for a period of 1 single week i was forced to put the acropora under T5 lights (about 3 inches frmo the water surface). WIthin a single week the acropora had lost its grren colour and was completely brown.
I later got the coral back under 400w halides and even after 1 year of this it was still not as co,ourful as it was when i had it originally. So rmember it only takes a space of week or two to lose colour yet months or even longer to regain it. )

 

[steelhealr]

That's an interesting finding and I think I can explain it. When a coral is doing well, it maxes out it's symbiotic algae or zooxanthellae. The algae share the food from photosynthesis with the coral cells. When the animal is stressed, or, not enough light to go around, it will expel the zooxanthellae. Hence, when the coral grows back, it can lose a lot of it's 'pigment' or even change color. I had some zoos get stressed. Most of the colony had olive green color with orangey pink oral discs. When the zoos came back. the oral discs were pale green and most had lost some of the original olive color. SH

 

[fishyguy43]

Maybe its just getting older and losing some of its color u had it for a year and a half now. I know tht happens with long tentacle Anemones they might be one color and look great, after they grow a little there tentacles get fatter and less colorfull. What u think about my idea guys???

 

[steelhealr]

Nah...browning out is not a good sign...usually means it's stressed and dumping it's zooxanthellae. SH

 

[fishyguy43]

uve never seen a coral lose som color with age?

 

[Navarre]

I doubt you will live long enough to see most anenome or coral age. Considering marine biologists cannot find an aging process within anenomes its very possible that there are such anenomes that are out there when jesus walked the earth! They only seem to die from disease or predation. Now admittedly corals are a little different but as zoo's were mentioned i though i would add that zoos are a close relative to anenomes.

 

[Fatty]

A LFS I visited recently had a load of aquacultured acropora, but cultured at 10m, when he put them in his halide tank they all browned out, he then moved then to a bank of T5's which got the original colours back and they grew well. I guess these cultured acro's are used to the lower light levels?!?

 

[Navarre]

I would be more interested in knowing the Nitrate levels for both tanks. The halides should colour up the acro but if it has nitrates then this will brown out the acro. The other tank might have no nitrates and thus its easier for the acro to regulate.