Will gorgonia regain their color?

[_sludgefactory]

I recently moved my purple sea whip from a lower light are to a high light area. Its currently just kind of brown. Will it color up like SPS do when they are in proper lighting?

 

[josh4107]

Is is photosynthetic or not?

 

[_sludgefactory]

Yes, purple sea whips are photosynthetic.

 

[josh4107]

Ok just making sure it was the photosynthetic type. I would say it will regain it's color over time once I gets used to the higher light as long as your params are in check

 

[_sludgefactory]

I was thinking it might look a bit more colorful after its next shed too. The tips and some of the edges are nice and purple. I guess we'll see what happens.

 

[PherPhace]

From my experience, they don't color back up. Once it's adjusted, new growth will be purple. If they are shedding repeatedly, they are usually stressed by something besides light. They lose color when they shed too many layers too fast. The initial reason for shedding is to get rid of algae that might be growing on its skin so this might be a once-a-month thing. If it's shedding repeatedly, something is probably irritating it. Could be pH, nitrates, phosphate, or some other parameter out of wack. I had 2 purple blades in a tank that was a disaster. They shedded probably twice a week until they were gray before I got the tank under control. Phosphate was the problem. They were healthy for about 5 months before I had to tear the tank down. They stayed gray except for their tips where they had new growth. I could be wrong but I thought I'd share my experience. Too many people give "theory" answers on these forums.

 

[ethridge78]

Good luck

 

[_sludgefactory]

Well it shed yesterday for the first time since I moved it. Its not bright purple yet but its more purple than it was. So they must have to shed a few times to regain their color. The polyps have bee getting lighter in color also.

 

[ethridge78]

Thats good to hear