Montipora Cap bleaching

[bgervaisToronto]

Hello All,
I have been struggling with my Montipora Caps. I have a 6 months old tank with several softies doing generally well, but I seem to be losing my Montipora Cap (red and green). They are bleaching one by one. Too much light at 200par? too much flow? Should I frag them and move them?

Thanks in advance for your insight reefers!

My parameters

Temp: 78F
Salinity: 1.024-1.025
Ph: 8.2-8.3
Calcium 450ppm
Mag: 1450ppm
Phos: 0.10-0.25ppm
Nitrate: 15ppm
Ammonia: 0ppm

 

[troublemaker]

I have lost or struggled with caps in the past, which with maybe 1 exception has turned out to be nudis or salinity. That looks like nudi damage, but it usually starts at the rim, not the base. It’s a place to start looking, good luck. Nudis are a pain, but relatively easy to dip them off the corals, they must lay eggs early in their life cycle, because they will keep coming back if you aren’t resilient with the dips. Melafix seems to paralyze them, not kill them, but it works pretty well.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

In my tank they are under much higher light and flow, the red cap is like a weed. Thats not a detailed picture but sort of seems something is causing it to die from the point that is attached to the rock, perhaps a shadow? I see new growth on the outside so the light and flow are fine. IMO

 

[DanP-SD]

Definitely not too much light at 200 par. I had a spot in my tank that was getting over 600. Acros couldn’t handle it unless slowly acclimated but my monti cap grew like a weed.

In addition to the potential culprits above it could be chemical warfare from the soft corals.

 

[bgervaisToronto]

A better picture. The bleaching starts from the rock and spreads out. All of them i`ve lost look like this... The green one was just recently fragged as it was heavily bleached.

 

[chadhender]

Almost positive that’s going to be nudi’s.