my first acro frag has just turned white

[Ty1e]

what should i do, did i miss something in the water quality?

my frist acropra has turned white, and the rest of my corals are looking fine(softies, birdsnest, etc). is it dead,

Cal 430ppm
Kh 9
Mg 2.200ppm ? (i think its a bad test kit)
Ph 8.3
Salinity 1.025
temp 80F

250 watt 14,000k Mh.

[ReefRockerLive]

If you have a camera, we may be able to help you further. From your description I'd say that the acro frag is just bleached, but not dead. Bleaching usually happens from improper acclimation which ends up shocking the acro from the lighting. For now, keep it low in the tank and it should recover.

[Ty1e]

thanks, i'll give that a try.

[Bebo77]

can you post a pic? how "white" is it?

[Ty1e]

yeah i'll try and get my camera working tonight and post a pic of my tank and the acro.

[muzz]

are there still polyps? or has the skin come off?

[Ty1e]

ive been trying for awhile to understand how to post a picture of my sps frag, i cant find the upload option on the photo gallery. help.

[Ty1e]

i did see what looked like the slime that they give off when it has been moved around or fighting another coral, might have been skin i dont know.

[Dog boy Dave]

Smell it. If it smells like coral then its alive. If it doesnt have a smell then it is dead.

[Ty1e]

i'm still at work, so i'll give it a smell when i get home. does anyone know what's the best way to post a pic on this thread?

[jgoodrich71]

Start a photobucket account. Upload you picks there, then use the image link to just copy and paste here.

http://photobucket.com/

[Ty1e]

got it thanks. I will get some photo's up in a few hours after work.

[Ty1e]

ok just got in from work here are some pics of the sps and my tank.

[fish02]

that looks like one of my frags after my citron goby ate it all up. I'm tempted to say it's dead, but it only takes one polyp to get the colony back this I know.

[Ty1e]

yeah i think its dead, i just got back from the LFS and i returned to tangs and pick up a yellow watchman goby,4snails,1emerald crab and the all improtant refractometer.

I found out that my light was running for more then 8 hours(like 12) and my salinity was at 1.030, not the 1.025 my deep sea stick (POC) lead me to belive.

it just takes the loss of your first sps acropora for aparently no reason for you to go out and buy the right tools(refractometer) that speek the truth.

thanks for all your help guys.

[wentreefgirl]

And it never ends. Do you have your test kits. Most important are the alk, calc, and mag kits. Looks like everything else it in order. Sorry about the frag. That looks like when you went out, it rtn'd on you.

[jgoodrich71]

Just guessing from the picture, this was your first coral? I don't think the light duration and the salinity were the ultimate cause of it's death, especially if it was acclimated correctly.

I have lost many frags, especially ones that small, for no apparent reason. When other corals in my tank are doing just fine, and the mother colony is doing just fine. Sometimes it just happens.

With just getting started in SPS, I would not start with Acropora. Maybe start with some Monitpora digitata or something similar, that isn't as demending. Get some experience with the easier SPS.

[Ty1e]

thanks, yes i have my, Cal,KH,PH,Mg,amonia,nitrate, nitrite.
i do have some monti and some softies(there all frags to so kind of hard to see in the pic) but there all doing fine.

is iodine or strom that important to check or dose?

[3.99AfterTaxes]

Neither, you'll get enough of both from water changes Tyson.

[Bebo77]

can you post your water levels

Ca
Alk
Mg

[Ty1e]

other then the food i feed them, is there anything to dose for bringing the color in corals better.

[Ty1e]

Originally posted by Bebo77
can you post your water levels

Ca
Alk
Mg

Ca 450ppm
Alk 9
Mg 2.000ppm(this might be a bad test kit reading)

the test kits i'm useing are the elos aquarium expert
i've done 8 test and i get the same reading.

[Serioussnaps]

Your tank looks a little immature as well. How long you had it running?


The frag in question is bleached from improper light acclimation IMHO, but that is only judging from the picture and the picture only.

[Ty1e]

the tanks been running for 5months

[Ty1e]