Birdsnest

[unclepregs]

I could use some advice on my green birds nest. Internet seems to say the light is too strong causing the tips to get bleached but my lights aren’t putting out much par I have them turned down to about 60% with a few hours of royal going to 80% and it should be putting out about 150 par. Any ideas what could be causing this?

Parameters 1/6/2025

Alk 8.3
Phos .2
Nitrate 12.2
Salinity 1.026
Calcium 400ish

12/29

Alk 8.2
Phos .08
Nitrate 13.1
Salinity 1.025
Calc 410

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

150 par is a little low, but I don't think lighting is the issue. The coral is rtn or stn, it means its slowly dying from white part on. The exact cause is unknown, but basically something is making the coral unhappy, could be light flow parameters, etc,, who knows, its something that happens to us all. The normal suggestion is to frag off a healthy part and glue it elsewhere, to give it another chance at life. Its not a guarantee it will be succesfull but it increases the chance of success, if you do nothing it will keep turning white and die. Good luck.

 

[Asm481]

Birdsnest can take a lot of light. I have it at near surface of a biocube with stock light and it is growing slowish. I have the same green birdsnest about 5 inches below surface under noopsyche k7 pro 3 running blues at 85 percent and white red and green from 5-10 percent. This last setup I constantly trim back it grows fast under this lighting.

 

[unclepregs]

150 par is a little low, but I don't think lighting is the issue. The coral is rtn or stn, it means its slowly dying from white part on. The exact cause is unknown, but basically something is making the coral unhappy, could be light flow parameters, etc,, who knows, its something that happens to us all. The normal suggestion is to frag off a healthy part and glue it elsewhere, to give it another chance at life. Its not a guarantee it will be succesfull but it increases the chance of success, if you do nothing it will keep turning white and die. Good luck.

Appreciate the response. Wish I could figure out what’s happening but I do not have the tools to frag it.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Appreciate the response. Wish I could figure out what’s happening but I do not have the tools to frag it.

You don't have fingers lol? Reach in and grab it and snap a piece off.

 

[VintageReefer]

Appreciate the response. Wish I could figure out what’s happening but I do not have the tools to frag it.

Very weak coral. People frag it accidentally by bumping into it. You won’t need bone cutters here. Just snap a branch

 

[Ratt]

Appreciate the response. Wish I could figure out what’s happening but I do not have the tools to frag it.

I accidentally broke my bird’s nest in half by bumping it with my hand during aquarium maintenance. I just glued the part that broke off to another live rock. It is doing great. Just snap a good piece by hand and see what happens. Warning, I am a red necked beginner in this hobby that doesn’t always follow the proper protocol.

 

[PotatoPig]

This stuff is pretty tolerant of lighting and flow - I have fragments in various areas of my tank ranging from 50-200+ PAR and right in front of the power head to almost still water.

My guess is something in the microbiome of the tank. How old is the tank?

Good news - as others have said it’s easy to frag, just snap pieces off or use scissors/pliers.

With this coral the challenge with fragging is to avoid accidentally breaking it.

 

[Reefer Matt]

What do you have for flow? Have you tested the par, or are just guessing? I can grow green birdsnest in 80 par with low flow in my softy tank, but it gets darker. In my sps tanks, the flow is high from a couple gyres, and the light is about 250 par. They can tolerate a wide range, but finding the right ratio of light and flow can be tricky. Also, how old is this tank? I had trouble growing sps in my first try until my tank was about 8 months old.

 

[unclepregs]

What do you have for flow? Have you tested the par, or are just guessing? I can grow green birdsnest in 80 par with low flow in my softy tank, but it gets darker. In my sps tanks, the flow is high from a couple gyres, and the light is about 250 par. They can tolerate a wide range, but finding the right ratio of light and flow can be tricky. Also, how old is this tank? I had trouble growing sps in my first try until my tank was about 8 months old.

I have tested par, seemed to be getting around 150. Running 2 AI primes on 40L NUVO. running two Nero 3s around 50-60%. Was doing well for a couple weeks and then the polyps almost felt like they were tearing off hanging on by a thread according to the flow. It basically just went down hill which is a bummer. 2nd time I’ve tried green birdsnest with 0 luck. Have a purple stylo that seems to be doing well. Polyps are out but aren’t as fully extended as when I first got them but is in great shape compared to my birds nest.

Tank is about 17 months old at this point.

Tricky thing for me is maintaining phos. It seems to go all over the place and I am having trouble with that. Hard to balance it. Any tricks? Went from .2 to .01 in two weeks.

 

[Tahoe61]

Sounds like you have a good handle on it. I won't worry too much about it. There are some corals that do poorly for me while everything else thrives.

 

[Faurek]

Birdsnest are actually finicky, the phosphate could be a possible cause, did you get those burnt tips before or after raising phosphate?
I wouldn't call hystrix specially beginner friendly, guttatus and caliendrum seem more tolerant. Magnesium and where you drop dosing chemicals could be a factor as well, if you drop stuff right on top sometimes corals get irritated.

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

Birdsnest are actually finicky, the phosphate could be a possible cause, did you get those burnt tips before or after raising phosphate?
I wouldn't call hystrix specially beginner friendly, guttatus and caliendrum seem more tolerant. Magnesium and where you drop dosing chemicals could be a factor as well, if you drop stuff right on top sometimes corals get irritated.

This right here!

You will often see birdsnest coral being grouped together as easy, but I've found that hysterix and ponape are definitely a much bigger challenge than guttatus.

OP, for your next birdsnest, try looking for one with rounded tip instead of pointed: