Montipora Cap Bleaching with good parameters, What is going on?

[ekandler]

So I've struggled to keep SPS for a while (my tank is almost 3 years old) and in the last 2 months I took more drastic measures to try and accommodate them which seem to have not worked. Recently I got a single Monti Cap frag to test out my fixes which is now bleaching. For normal parameters I have a Trident/DOS holding constant 8.6 dkh alk, 460 ppm calc, 1400 ppm magnesium, nitrate 8.5 (thank you hanna 782), phosphate 0.05, temp 77-78degF, pH 8.0-8.2. I use red sea blue bucket salt recently switched from Fritz after getting a bad batch, a 7 stage RODI to ensure my water is as pure as possible, and use the Tropic Marin A-/K+ trace elements mixed with my BRS 2 part dosing to help with trace elements.

I don't believe lighting or flow are my issue, as I have happy thriving LPS/softie corals of various types, even gonis which are supposed to be super hard to keep... Having thriving gonis with bleaching montis makes me very sad ha

For completeness, I recently did an ICP test, results are attached. Weirdly it says my Mag is 1500 which my Trident has never shown that high and is calibrated every other month... Otherwise It says my Bromine is high (should be 0), Cobalt is low (should be 0.01ppm), Iron is low (should be .02ppm), Iodine is low (should be 0.05ppm), Manganese is low (should be 0.01ppm), and zinc is low (should be 0.02ppm). It's confusing because they switch from ppb to ppm but I think I have that right.

Once I noticed the bleaching I moved the Monti frag to a spot on my rock in the shade and started a short acclimation period on my lighting intensity but it's still continuing to bleach. There's no way it's from lighting intensity at this point, so what could it be?

 

[JGT]

What kinda lighting over what sized tank? Looks like it’s dying vs.
bleaching. Looks dead around the entire circumference with the middle still alive. Bleaching doesn’t typically happen like that.

 

[ekandler]

What kinda lighting over what sized tank? Looks like it’s dying vs.
bleaching. Looks dead around the entire circumference with the middle still alive. Bleaching doesn’t typically happen like that.

It’s two Gen 5 blue XR30s over a 4ft tank. I’m running them at a max of 40%.

 

[Oldreefer44]

I have had the same thing happen several times over the years with no real explanation. Fortunately it never completely died out and always came back.

 

[HomebroodExotics]

Looks like it’s in a shaded spot underneath an overhang? Could just be the way it looks in the pictures though. Maybe it would be happier in full light? Just my guess good luck.

 

[ekandler]

I have had the same thing happen several times over the years with no real explanation. Fortunately it never completely died out and always came back.

Yeah it’s really frustrating. I have a friend with an aquaculture farm and he grows acro colonies, other amazing SPS and basically anything without really trying, keeping normal parameters in check and using RODI water with good salt. I’ve been down 10 rabbit holes trying to figure out what is causing this and I can’t figure it out. Switched salts, upgraded RODI, upgraded lights, more flow, less flow, higher pH, nutrients higher or lower, nothing is fixing it. In this case it’s a monti cap frag but I’ve had issues with every monti and every acro I’ve ever tried, even easy SPS like birdsnest, leptos, and cyphastrea. But I have no issue keeping LPS and softies.

 

[ninjamyst]

What's that big orange thing on the sanded?
Its also.possible you are doing tooooo much. How often are you changing things up?

 

[JGT]

Your params are fine and those lights are more than adequate. Monti caps are generally pretty hardy. Have you tried moving it up? I have mine high up and they are doing great.

 

[ekandler]

What's that big orange thing on the sanded?
Its also.possible you are doing tooooo much. How often are you changing things up?

The orange corals are mushrooms. This frag that’s dying I received on Sunday (4 days ago) and haven’t changed anything since then except lowered my lighting intensity into an acclimation period because I though the coral was bleaching.

 

[ekandler]

Your params are fine and those lights are more than adequate. Monti caps are generally pretty hardy. Have you tried moving it up? I have mine high up and they are doing great.

Them being pretty hardy is what makes me so sad haha I know they should be, but…. Clearly something is wrong. Do you think too low light would cause this? I can certainly move it out into more light but I’m not sure at this point if it’ll bounce back.

 

[Griev]

Do you run carbon? Softies can kill sps with chemical warfare.

 

[ekandler]

Do you run carbon? Softies can kill sps with chemical warfare.

Yeah I have a reactor with BRS carbon running 24/7. I will say, I had a leather I removed a year or more ago and now I’ve found a few babies in the tank, must have spawn or something while I was trying to remove it. But I’ve been running carbon nonstop for about 2 months now and I have filter floss I replace every couple days.

aside from those baby leathers which I’ve found pop up, the only other softies I have are mushrooms, zoas and clove polyps.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

My monti’s are on my top rocks under metal halide lights, they are the best growing corals in my one year old tank. Give them light, not shade.

 

[ekandler]

My monti’s are on my top rocks under metal halide lights, they are the best growing corals in my one year old tank. Give them light, not shade.

I’ll move it, but when I first put it in and this started happening it was in direct light. After this started happening I moved it to lower light. I’ll move it back but not sure lighting is the main issue.

 

[JGT]

Yeah move it up. Montis love light. It can’t hurt at this point as currently it’s not doing well.

 

[Spare time]

Moving it up will stress it. It already has tissue necrosis so that would probably just put the nail in the coffin. I would consider dipping it in an iodine based dip.

They can tolerate lower lighting. The reason why they plate out is likely because they are adapted to handle slightly lower depths and this expands the total area that they can receive light.

 

[ekandler]

Moving it up will stress it. It already has tissue necrosis so that would probably just put the nail in the coffin. I would consider dipping it in an iodine based dip.

They can tolerate lower lighting. The reason why they plate out is likely because they are adapted to handle slightly lower depths and this expands the total area that they can receive light.

Okay I’ll work on dipping it. All I have is revive, not sure if there’s iodine in that. The more I look into the leather toxin issue I’m wondering if that might be it. I have fragged leathers in my tank (been over a year since I last did it) and still have a few small leathers in my tank which spawn from the last one I took out. I do run carbon, but I’ve had this SPS issue for a long time now and the trio of lighting, flow, and parameters have always been fine. I’m starting to wonder if maybe I have an underlying leather toxin issue, although I’m not sure what to do about that if I do.

 

[Spare time]

Okay I’ll work on dipping it. All I have is revive, not sure if there’s iodine in that. The more I look into the leather toxin issue I’m wondering if that might be it. I have fragged leathers in my tank (been over a year since I last did it) and still have a few small leathers in my tank which spawn from the last one I took out. I do run carbon, but I’ve had this SPS issue for a long time now and the trio of lighting, flow, and parameters have always been fine. I’m starting to wonder if maybe I have an underlying leather toxin issue, although I’m not sure what to do about that if I do.

Revive might help. It isn't iodine based but the dip is usually my last resort when something is dying or looks bad. It might be something out of your control (such as an infection). I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

[cylon032]

Nudis maybe? Or red bugs I’ve had a similar issue when I tried adding a montipora same thing happen and I saw red bugs all over it but by that time I realized it was too late, not sure if they can kill them that fast though

 

[ekandler]

Revive might help. It isn't iodine based but the dip is usually my last resort when something is dying or looks bad. It might be something out of your control (such as an infection). I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Well unfortunately I’ve tried various SPS over the past year or so and always had this issue, making small changes to try and fix it but never have. I’m not sure if pests like monti eating nudis can live in my tank without any montis for months until I try another frag that dies in a week ha this has been a problem for me for a long time and it doesn’t seem to be going away on its own and I’d like to be able to keep SPS if I’m going to be in the hobby long term. I’m afraid I can’t just chalking this frag up to something out of my control and try again even though I’d love to.