"Fuzzy" White Spots on Montipora Capricornis!?

[ThePurple12]

I was looking at my tank and I noticed some white spots on my monti cap. They look fuzzy, kind of like polyps. They definitely weren't there yesterday. Can corals bleach that quickly?

The monti was doing great (growing quickly, showing a nice color, and extending polyps at night) before. I haven't changed anything recently except for adding 3 mangroves.

My salinity is 35 ppt (1.025 sg), nitrate is 2, and phosphate is undetectable with a Salifert test kit.

All my other corals are thriving. Is my monti bleaching or what???

 

[jda]

Any way that you can get a clear photo in 10-14k so that we can take a look?

 

[ThePurple12]

 

[jda]

Dip it. If nothing comes off, then it is light burn. I don't have any montis, so I am not sure what monti eating nudis look like, but a dip will knock them off.

 

[ThePurple12]

What should I dip it in? Freshwater?

 

[ThePurple12]

I doubt it's light burn, because I haven't messed with the lights at all.

 

[Hemmdog]

What should I dip it in? Freshwater?

Revive

 

[ThePurple12]

Don't have any Revive, or any other coral dip... is there anything else I can dip it in?

 

[RobW]

What do you have for lighting? How long does it run and how close to the light is the monti?

 

[ThePurple12]

Lighting is two 140 w Chinese blackboxes over a 4-foot tank. The monti is in the bottom third of the tank. I really don't think light is the issue though, because the monti has been in the same spot under the same lighting for 3 months, and it was thriving.

 

[jda]

This is just my own take and opinions, so just throw them out if you don't want to hear it, or if you do not care. There are not studies that say any of these things... just me. I have found that most really healthy SPS can do quite well and even grow a bit under lights that will later burn them. My guess is that it is all about energy. When the corals have extra energy, they can "fight off" some harsh waves from some LEDs for a while, but eventually, they do get burnt and stuff as the energy is exhausted. Most of the time, the PAR was too high for LEDs.

I noticed this when I sell some harder/trickier SPS to some people with LEDs. They do OK for a few months and then they start to decline. They see good color at first and even some growth. White spots, RTN and STN followed later. Most were under panels that were too high (like over 300 PAR) and some where directly under a "cone" of light from a LED puck. This was confusing for some since they saw some good things early on. A few who wanted to stay with the SPS started to lower the output on the panels and add some T5s which seemed to do the trick.

Do you have access to a PAR meter.

 

[ThePurple12]

Makes sense. No, I don't have access to a PAR meter. I turned down the light, hopefully it helps

 

[kireek]

I was looking at my tank and I noticed some white spots on my monti cap. They look fuzzy, kind of like polyps. They definitely weren't there yesterday. Can corals bleach that quickly?

The monti was doing great (growing quickly, showing a nice color, and extending polyps at night) before. I haven't changed anything recently except for adding 3 mangroves.

My salinity is 35 ppt (1.025 sg), nitrate is 2, and phosphate is undetectable with a Salifert test kit.

All my other corals are thriving. Is my monti bleaching or what???

Yes corals can bleach that quickly,unfortunately.Are you keeping track of your other parameters such as temperature, Alkalinity and Calcium? A major fluctuation in one of these could be the problem. Also take a good look at the underside of the coral. The light colored montipora eating nudibranches will hide there deep inside the nooks and crannies.

 

[ThePurple12]

I appreciate all the replies. Temperature stays at a constant 77, and I don't have alk or calcium kits, but I haven't done anything that would cause a swing.

 

[kireek]

I appreciate all the replies. Temperature stays at a constant 77, and I don't have alk or calcium kits, but I haven't done anything that would cause a swing.

These test kits would be worth the investment in the long run.I know from experience that not doing anything can cause swings in the marine aquarium.

How's does the piece look today ?

 

[rossco]

What should I dip it in? Freshwater?

Always use tank water when preparing the dip on SPS.

 

[ThePurple12]

These test kits would be worth the investment in the long run.I know from experience that not doing anything can cause swings in the marine aquarium.

How's does the piece look today ?

It definitely hasn't improved. I'm not sure if it's worse or not.

 

[ThePurple12]

I saw my bicolor blenny peck at it once today, which I had never seen before. It couldn't have been eating algae, because there was no algae. ;Bored

 

[DenverSaltyFarm]

I wouldn't worry too much about light burn I have 2 similar arctic t-247 in my 4ft reef and run them at 100% blue 87% white,green,red. I do have a par meter and getting 350-375 par on top and 150-200 par on bottom just where i want. Everything is growing great. I was so worried at first with everyone warning about burn that i had the lights way too dim to grow coral. only when i bought a par meter did i know what was really going on. now back to your coral, It could be alk burn. If you dont keep track of alkalinity, calcium and nutrients in your water you will set yourself up for fail. Always keep in mind a cleaner system cant run as high of alkalinity. My tanks happy spot is 7.5 alk i get burning at 8.5 or above just food for thought. also when i had my lights too dim my monticaps bleached out, only when i got the par that i needed did my caps gain their color back.