Acropora Bleaching, Growing, Or Something Else?

[Marine Betta]

Hi All, I got this millepora frag about three weeks ago. It had started to encrust over the glue. Several days ago, I noticed that the tip had started to turn lighter in color. My other acros do the same when they’re growing, but other areas on the frag seem to be doing the same thing. It’s only happening on the side that’s facing the light directly, so I figured it’s either growing or bleaching. I’m colorblind, so it’s kind of hard for me to tell with this one since it’s mostly dark green (or so I’m told). I initially had it in the sand at around 100 par for acclimation and moved it to the frag rack with some additional acros at about 150 par a couple days ago, but I got concerned about the coloration and moved it back to the sand. I don’t think it’s AEFW because it doesn’t look like bite marks to me. The only fish in the tank are a starki damsel, a mandarin goby, and a ruby red dragonet, so unless I have the world’s only acropora eating mandarin goby, I think I can rule that out. The parameters have been stable with the exception of my nutrients which nearly bottomed out a week ago, so I’m not ruling that out as a factor since that is around the time when the tip started getting lighter.

Here are the parameters:
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.2
Nitrite and Ammonia:0
Nitrate: 5 (This was nearly zero, but I increased feeding and the number is increasing. I’m targeting 10-15)
Phosphates: 0.04 (This was also nearly zero, but I’ve been slowly raising it)
Calcium: 460
Alkalinity: 7.8
Magnesium:1440

I’m dosing amino acids as well:
Red Sea AB+ once a day
Acropower Once a week
Aqua Vitro Fuel Twice a week

Please let me know what y’all think. If it’s new growth, awesome, but if there’s something wrong I want to correct it. I’ll put the pictures below. Also, sorry for the essay. Thanks again.



This morning









Sunday


The day I brought it home

 

[tbrown]

I still see PE in the white part but the overall coral looks significantly less PE than when you first brought it home.

@billyocean is my go to for Acro questions.

 

[Marine Betta]

I still see PE in the white part but the overall coral looks significantly less PE than when you first brought it home.

@billyocean is my go to for Acro questions.

Thank you for the response! I noticed that too, but I’m hoping that it’s just the timing of the picture. I’m not home now, but I’ll look later and see if the PE is better then. The PE was better on the other side of the coral, but I didn’t take a picture. The other acros look normal at least.

 

[Danjoethepirate]

It looks like new growth tip to me. Acros take time to adjust to new parameters, but yours should be fine if they stay stable.
It can take weeks or months for them to regain pe after a move, so don't use that as a primary indicator of health. I've also had acros stall for no apparent reason and I've had them explode in a matter of weeks. They are mysterious sometimes....