Bleached/Brown acros - want the colour back

[das75]

Got a frag that brought the little red acros bugs into the tank. By the time I figured what was going on, got the Interceptor and treated the tank, my acros had started brown out and bleach.

I finished the last treatment in mid November and the only colour I have back is a tiny little bit of blue on a frag not shown, the rest are looking rather crappy.

I don't feed the tank directly for the corals, only for fish, but montiporas, zoos, LPSs are still coloured up. Lot's of growth and polyp extension including the acros. Test 0 No3 (Salifert).

What can I do???

 

[trido]

Dont do anything. I have a coral doing the exact same thing. IMO it is slowly getting its color back. In my case, polyps still have color and are extended, and it slowly seems to be gaining color under the full actinics. Yours looks exactly the same.

 

[Anonymous]

Looks like an acropora micropthalama too, don't worry that thing will grow like a weed

 

[das75]

Growth isn't a problem, I'm getting lots specially from the coral in the first picture.

On the two colonies shown there isn't even a hint of green and purple that they used to be and it's been already been 5 monthes since the bugs have been gone.

Anything to speed up the process to get the orginal colours back?

Trido, how long before you started gaining it back?

Lights are 2x250W 14K MH (8hours) and 2x40W (1actinic, 1 50/50 12.5hours for dawn/dusk).

 

[Anonymous]

You can't always get the original color back...some SPS do this as an adaptation to their current conditions. Changing the conditions (more light, more current, less dissolved nutrients) may or may not result in the coral changing color again.

 

[trido]

Several months. It looks Browned and bleached under the MH but is slowly gaining a blue green back under the full actinics. It seems to be getting more blue with pinkish polyps and at one time was emerald green with green polyps. It is still quite white and started regaining color back in November when I treated for red bugs. It is growing like a weed still so I dont mind. As they say.... Nothing good happens quickly in a reef tank.

 

[Anonymous]

How does one know of they have Red bugs?

Do red bugs invest all the corals in the tank or just a select few?

Louey

 

[trido]

How does one know of they have Red bugs?

Do red bugs invest all the corals in the tank or just a select few?

Louey

It takes a very keen eye to spot red bugs as they are extremely small. In some cases you may not be able to see them if the coral is too far from the glass. I have a friend that cannot see them even with his magnifying glass. :lol:
They do not attack all the corals in the tank and are commonly know as the acro red bug. I first had red bug near a year ago and was able to treat the one small colony with a VERY strong iodine dip and "pressure wash" with a turkey baster. It was succesful although this is what caused the coral to brown out in my case. This is a less than 50/50 successful treatment. Later in the year I purchased another infected colony and within two months was givin a frag with them. It was about two months later when I noticed the bugs were spreading to a third. The corals still grew but were slowly loosing their colorful luster. IMO interceptor should not be a feared treatment and should be on the shelves of our LFS for the noob and otherwise careless reefers out there.

 

[Anonymous]

I only ask because I have recently had two prostrata's bleach for no reason that was obvious to me, except that my Alk is running quite high.

I wonder if red bugs could be the cause of this? When I look at the corals with my Macro lens, I don't see anything.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

Alright, I blew up a picture of one of my torts that has lightened up in color a bit lately.

See the little dots in the picture? Could that be red bugs?

I wouldn't think that I would get red bugs now. I have added any new livestock in over 6 months.

Louey

 

[trido]

I cant tell if that/those are red bugs Louey. Here is a pic of one colony that was taken on Thanksgiving day.

All of the specs are red bugs. They pretty much look like this (without the blur) to the naked eye at about six inches away .

Here is the colony now

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the pic, Trido. I don't think mine is red bugs at all.

I just snapped a few pictures and blew them up to check for them. But it is hard for me to check for them since I have never seen them

From your picture, it looks like it would be fairly obvious that there was an infestation of some type, so long as you can magnify the picture.

I definately don't have anything that can be seen with the naked eye.

Thanks again!

Louey

 

[trido]

it looks like it would be fairly obvious that there was an infestation of some type, so long as you can magnify the picture.

Yep, you would know. They just dont look natural.

 

[das75]

New to this SPS thing but with the bugs, never really noticed them until I was given the heads up to look. They are small ( about about the size of the dot above the letter "i" typing this) but they can be seen with the naked eye if looking with your nose against the side of the tank and you can see them moving.