Green and purple octospawn turned brown

Tbg299 · Jan 22, 2022

3 weeks ago, I ordered a green and purple octospawn. The coloration wasn't great when it opened up for the first time, and it has continued to fade into brown.

All of my parameters are good, and my hammer coral and other lps have good color. The only thing I can think is that it is not adapting well to the change in lighting. I am running 2x Radion XR15 Blues @ 80% intensity using the Coral AB+ template. Any ideas about what is causing this?

shwareefer · Jan 22, 2022

Stress. It's still fluffy so I'd say flow and lights are ok but you could try shading it to help it out while it recovers. Spawn needs some nutrients to be happy and colour up as well. Mine have looked like that but keeping some measurable phosphate and nitrate and feeding once a week makes a big difference.

From my frag tank after raising nutrients.

Tbg299 · Jan 22, 2022

shwareefer said:
Stress. It's still fluffy so I'd say flow and lights are ok but you could try shading it to help it out while it recovers. Spawn needs some nutrients to be happy and colour up as well. Mine have looked like that but keeping some measurable phosphate and nitrate and feeding once a week makes a big difference.

From my frag tank after raising nutrients.

What do you feed yours? I spot feed my LPS Oyster Feast once a week and frozen Calanarus.

shwareefer · Jan 23, 2022

Tbg299 said:
What do you feed yours? I spot feed my LPS Oyster Feast once a week and frozen Calanarus.

Vitalis LPS pellets.

Tbg299 · Jan 24, 2022

shwareefer said:
Vitalis LPS pellets.

I have the Fauna Marin Ultra LPS pellets. I fed my octospawn a small pinch of some last night and sheltered it under some overhanging rock. The green coloration is already looking vibrant again, but purple polyps are still brown.

shwareefer · Jan 24, 2022

Tbg299 said:
I have the Fauna Marin Ultra LPS pellets. I fed my octospawn a small pinch of some last night and sheltered it under some overhanging rock. The green coloration is already looking vibrant again, but purple polyps are still brown.

Sounds like it's on the mend. It will probably take a couple weeks for the tips to start showing some colour.

wilko · Jan 4, 2023

I have the same problem. Has your changed back to original colour of is it still brown. People I have spoke to said once it's brown it may never come back. If so what did you do to help bring it back