Montipora specific bleaching!

[monkeyboy]

Within a week i have lost an orange m. capricornis, 2 digitate types of montipora, and now a second capricornis. One of the branching montipora's had never done well anyway but the second one has been growing well. The orange cap is completely dead, as is one of the other montipora's. The m. that had done well has just started bleaching today prompting me to fire up a 10g w/c at 10:00 in the morning. I also dropped a bag of carbon in and added combi-san (havent used it for months but i'm really desperate!). I also forgot do add iodine this weekend so i gave it a drop of lugols (TRA relates bleaching sometimes to lack of trace minerals and iodine, hence the combi-san and iodine).

I have fragged the bleached area off the living m. capricornis but now i'm not sure what i should do, although all i can really do is wait. My temperature is constant between 77-78, salinity was a bit high at 1.027 but it usually falls between 1.025-6 so it isn't a large jump, i corrected it back to 1.025 w/ the w/c. I haven't done anything different to the tank, and other sps colonies are doing great: acropora, stylophora, psammacora, pocillopora, seriatopora, montipora (a purple m. dig. has no signs of bleaching and has been in there for a long time (thanks for the frag sue!)).

Any ideas? TIA

BTW, i don't need a lecture on adding trace elements or other additives like iodine...

 

[Greg Hiller]

Monkeyboy,

What are your calcium and alkalinity levels?

- Greg Hiller

 

[monkeyboy]

CA 300-320, dKH 6.5

Think their letting go of the skeleton because of low CA and alk values? I didn't b-ionic or kalk the tank today (i did now though) for fear of messing things up more than they are now. I have superglued the capricornis over the dead spot which is coming right up the middle. I'll check my ca/alk tomorrow morning and boost as needed. pH swings but nothing out of the norm, 7.95 - 8.25. PO4 is 0. Oh, did i mention that my ammonia is at 3 ppm? Thats ok right? I have a bit of nitrite too...

Hmmmm... Maybe it is the ca/alk... Then it's really my fault and not just a fluke.

 

[Anonymous]

My one SPS (monti. digitata) bleached when I replaced my PC tubes--I did them 2 weeks apart, figuring that should minimize the stress on everything. The last thing I expected was to bleach an SPS coral with PC lighting. It's still hanging in, but man, is it WHITE!

Do you have any softies nearby that could be trying to poison your SPS?

Ty

 

[NaH2Ofreak]

monkeyboy....you are kidding....arent you?

 

[pez]

I had a m. digitata bleach when my alkalinity dropped under 3meq/l for a while. Now that things are back on track, it has started to grow again. Your calcium levels are lower than average.....

-Tom

 

[Sue Truett]

Are the corals used to that low of ca. and alk.?? If this is new to them that sure could be the cause of bleaching. My ca. is steady between 450-480, and the alk. is 11-12dKh. This has to be steady and any rise or fall can, IMO, contribute to the bleaching you are experiencing. HTH..

my 120 sps tank: http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html www.marshreef.org/members

 

[monkeyboy]

Nope they're definitely not used to those low levels. I'll check it now and bump them up as needed. I really need a reactor.

NaH2Ofreak:

 

[monkeyboy]

I checked this morning: Ca 380, dKH 8. I b-ionic'd again, we'll see what happens...

 

[Greg Hiller]

Monkeyboy,

>CA 300-320, dKH 6.5<

I think you found your problem. When you get it straighted out I have more M. caps!

- Greg Hiller