This guys been through a lot

[Davisc1293]

This guy was bought as a tester and was doing well even weeks after I accidently snapped it off the plug and glued it to the rock. It was originally under stock biocube leds with one supplemental blue led strip. A few weeks back I ditched the hood and got an AI Prime 16 HD and hasnt opened up since. Though im not sure if you could even see the bits of orange a couple days ago. I have the light mounted pretty high.

UV- 75%
V- 90%
RB-100%
B-90%
G-4%
R-4%
CW-25%

started closer to 60% the first few days and have been bumping up about 5%-10% over the last few weeks. Everything else seems to be doing ok with the exception of the montis I damaged while dipping.

(when i first got it)

 

[blaxsun]

It's definitely in need of some TLC...

 

[BAUCE]

I never thought a coral could look parched

 

[Isopod80]

Check your Alk and nitrates to be sure. I snapped a monti like that in half to make 2 frags the other day and the polyps on both newly mounted sections were open within 30 minutes. Something else is stressing it.

 

[Davisc1293]

Check your Alk and nitrates to be sure. I snapped a monti like that in half to make 2 frags the other day and the polyps on both newly mounted sections were open within 30 minutes. Something else is stressing it.

they were doing well after snapping its when i changed lights they went down hill but has been weeks
alk 9
cal 430
nitates 5

 

[Isopod80]

Do the polyps open at night at all?

 

[Davisc1293]

no, never that I've noticed but I've only checked a handful of times. lights are on from 4pm-2am... I don't get home from work until close to 11pm.

 

[Davisc1293]

but i did change the light the same day i added a coral beauty

 

[Just a Wrasse.]

He needs some help...

 

[Isopod80]

but i did change the light the same day i added a coral beauty

It's very possible that the fish could be stressing the coral as well as light. It's my understanding that monti. digi. is one sps they are commonly known to pick at. Not all individuals will do so but it definitely makes for an interesting coincidence.

 

[Coral Your World]

Not sure of the depth of your tank or how high the light’s mounted, but your lights may be running to strong

 

[Isopod80]

If lighting alone was causing the polyps to retract for weeks at a time then I would expect the coral to have signs of bleaching or browning by now. If the coral is holding its color overall then I'd keep a closer eye on that fish.

 

[jda]

I don't think that a light alone can cause this. I would find it a new home if you can - that looks terrible. There is likely something that you cannot test for or might never know that is stressing it - that looks like corals can look with some ammonia in the water. There is not likely any photosynthesis happening there.

 

[MaxTremors]

Did you run acclimation mode on your AI Prime? Even starting at 60%, it was likely substantially more powerful than what you were using, I would keep your settings where they are but put it on a 30 day acclimation starting at 50% (it’s a setting in the app, it will start your lights at 50% of where they are now and ramp them up over 30 days to where you have them set).

As others have said, this may not be solely from the lighting, but I think it’s likely part of it. Is your Alk and other parameters stable? I would test Alk daily (at the same time each day) and the rest of the parameters every couple days to see how stable they are. Also make sure that it’s got adequate flow, they need pretty decent flow.

 

[Davisc1293]

Did you run acclimation mode on your AI Prime? Even starting at 60%, it was likely substantially more powerful than what you were using, I would keep your settings where they are but put it on a 30 day acclimation starting at 50% (it’s a setting in the app, it will start your lights at 50% of where they are now and ramp them up over 30 days to where you have them set).

As others have said, this may not be solely from the lighting, but I think it’s likely part of it. Is your Alk and other parameters stable? I would test Alk daily (at the same time each day) and the rest of the parameters every couple days to see how stable they are. Also make sure that it’s got adequate flow, they need pretty decent flow.

I do test and add 2 part daily to maintain those levels, it usually drops a little less then 1 dkh a day

 

[Davisc1293]

If lighting alone was causing the polyps to retract for weeks at a time then I would expect the coral to have signs of bleaching or browning by now. If the coral is holding its color overall then I'd keep a closer eye on that fish.

My thoughts exactly but I am very new to this.

 

[Staghorn]

but i did change the light the same day i added a coral beauty

I would watch that fish. They have been known to nip

 

[Davisc1293]

If lighting alone was causing the polyps to retract for weeks at a time then I would expect the coral to have signs of bleaching or browning by now. If the coral is holding its color overall then I'd keep a closer eye on that fish.

today I bought another monti to try to catch him in the act...while moving some rock to catch the CB I noticed the backside of that coral (not visible from my normal viewing angle) IS in fact bleached. Can it recover?

But I did see the CB nip at even the new one I got today so I still caught him. should I keep him in the acclimation box a few days and watch the monti and if it looks good give the CB another chance as he's not the reason for the other corals stress since its bleached?