Advice please

[danny zubot]

I have a little green acropora that has developed some bare or bleached patched on some of it's tips. I was wondering what the main causes of these patches might be and what I can do to help the coral. Should I snip them off or leave them? The coral is up pretty high in my tank, and I have 380 watts of MH and PC lighting. My water quality has been consistantly good for some time now.

Advice please

Danny

[Aquattro]

it could be from too much direct current. Check that. As long as algae isn't growing on the tips, I'd leave it.

[danny zubot]

Here is a pic of what I mean, sorry I couldn't get a closer shot. Just to the right of the top green candy coral is the acro in question. I'm not sure if flow should be an issue there.

[Quinn]

Sometimes the tips of Acropora sp. are naturally lighter than the rest of the coral... just a thought. A bleached coral will be very distinctly damaged in my experience.

[danny zubot]

I realize that, but these tips used to be green. If my copperband picks the polyps off of the trunk will this cause it to die?

Looking for causes and solutions.

Thanks!

[AJ_77]

I think you had better trade that one to me for something more suitable...

[danny zubot]

Such as......

[danny zubot]

Well, I went out on a limb last night and tried something. I snipped the dead parts off of the acro and smeared apoxy on them. Much like you would do when prunning a tree. We'll see what happens over the next couple of days I guess.

[AJ_77]

Originally Posted by danny zubot

Such as......

woops, didn't see this in time... could've come up with SOME-thing...

Pruning, you say? How radical - yeah, let us know how that goes.

[Willito]

Originally Posted by AJ_77

I think you had better trade that one to me for something more suitable...

Man, you're quick, I was just thinking the same thing. I like your style.

If that's a fairly new addition to the tank, I'd lower it as it may take some time to get used to the water/light. With SPS, even though it may have come from an equally bright environment, all the stresses of moving can affect it's immune system to regulate the UV protective slime. With out it, it can't defend the tissue from environment hazzards.