Goddess Bird Nest - stalk is turning brown and polyps gone

[RaymondL]

I'm getting confused feedback from 2 LFS about my neon green Birds Nest coral. of 8 stalks, 2 are turning brown at the stalk and the polyps are gone(retracted).

I have not changed anything in terms of the lighting - the coral has been in the tank for over 5 months now. Parameters are the same consistently over the months (I won't post because the numbers have not changed).

Anyhow, as I know, white means the coral is bleached, but what does brown suppose to mean - not enough light?

 

[Timfish]

Brown could be not enough light to warrent making fluorescent or chromo protiens to deal with the light. It could also be an excess of zooxanthellae. And it could be an increase in melanin from a bacterial infection.

 

[Lavey29]

I agree with the above. Excess nutrients can lead to browning also. If branches are dead with no polyps then cut them off to try and stop any possible bacteria infection from spreading.

 

[Dburr1014]

I'm also guessing not enough light and coupled with shading.

 

[ninjamyst]

In my experience, brown means birdsnest died and by the time you saw it, algae covered the white skeleton