Unknown bleaching

andrea.nichols.1650 · Apr 3, 2015

Okay so my 20gal high tank consist of
( pocclipora, Duncan,frog spawn,hydronophora,birds nest,ZOA's and palys, Monti cap,)
2 clown fish

The past few months I have been losing the fight again a nitrate level of 40ppm... Coral grew fast just my poc and BN were more brown than their actual color.. Anyways..

I ended up with hair algae and red algae.. I'd scrape it off then 2 days later its everywhere again.. Can't win.. So I filled my 15gal up with my existing tanks water and moved everything over so I could scrub my tank completely and add new sand...

Well after 24 hours of my coral being in the smaller tank my poc and BN started bleaching in small spots.. I obviously reduced the light due to shallow tank but I have no clue why this happened.. I have had them since January and they have been fine ..

Any thoughts??

saltyphish · Apr 3, 2015

Any sudden changes can cause problems like this. My guess is some parameter had a swing and the coral didn't like it. That's my opinion maybe someone else can chime in.

andrea.nichols.1650 · Apr 3, 2015

Well I don't think I can say bleaching cuz there is no polyps left on the white areas I guess that peace is dead.. I didn't think 24 hours would cause them to die sooo fast

saltyphish · Apr 3, 2015

Depends on what param shifted and how badly, maybe the tank transfer caused a minicycle? Something could have stirred up.

andrea.nichols.1650 · Apr 3, 2015

Possibly. I mean everything else did fine.. N now that everything is back in the big tank they all look so happy besides the dead spots I mean it hasn't gotten worst so I'm gonna take that as a good sign..