Flourecent Green PROP Cap turned brown

[Satori]

OK, I've been hesitant to bring this up, but the flourecent green PROP cap I bought at the auction that I came to has turned brown. It stayed green while it was mounted, but it came loose when my old sand was sucked out to make room for new southdown. I was out of town for over 2 months and during this time it turned brown. I'm home now, got the new sand in, and re-mounted the cap. Hopefully having the stability of a permanent mount will help it color up. All other SPS and other corals in the tank are doing outstanding. Water's perfect. I'm running 14k MH and super actinic VHOs.

Could it have turned colors because it was loose for so long?

Thanks in advance,
Mike

[vanmle]

I have loose caps and they don't change color. Mine lost color when it was in the sand bed for a while (day or maybe two).

[Satori]

There goes my theory... It wasn't in the sand while loose, but was laid on a rock a little higher in the tank.

What else affects the color of only one coral?

[grenaria]

I don't have any clues as to the answer of your mystery. What I have learned though is that one person's anecdotal evidence never constitutes reason for eliminating a theory (no offence van or MSM :) ) .

[dmorel]

I was out of town for over 2 months and during this time it turned brown. I'm home now

Just guessing here, but maybe something happened during those two months that you don't know about?

The only thing I can think of other then that is maybe you gave it too much light or something, that particular coral does not require all that much light to look its best.

[Satori]

I did move it lower, so maybe it'll work out. It's still healthy, just a different color.

[moore_rb]

Originally posted by MSM

What else affects the color of only one coral?

Light. I have a piece of Lemon-Lime green cap also, and I've noticed that the farther away from the light source, the darker it gets....

The good news is if you increase the intensity of the light it's exposed too, it should brighten back up.

[owsi]

As Robert said, also how long have you had it before you left? A lot of corals will change colors when moved to different enviorment, this can take a few weeks, sometimes caused by water quality or lighting differences. A. Nana for one will often turn tan before going back to thier violet blue. IMO if your water quality and lighting are good it should turn back to original but can take awhile. Good luck

[Satori]

Yeah, I think I did only have it for about 2 or 3 weeks before I left. Fortunately, patience is a requirement in this hobby, so as long as it continues to look healthy, I can wait for it to color up again.

[clkwrk]

if it was moved around it could lose color. I have had caps do that and some that dont. BTW my prop cap is right under 250 de's 3/4 up my tank . It has very nice coloration . Frags of the same cap lower have a brighter purple edge. If touched to the point it slimes then it will lose color or the purple edge for few. JME

[Satori]

Thanks for the experience. It's been handled and moved to different depths. Now it's mounted permanently 3/4 of the way down.

[Roll221]

Hey, I was taking care of his take while he was gone!! I swear I didn't do anything to it!

Ed

[Satori]

Thanks Ed!!

I see they finally let you near a computer for awhile!