Leather Coral turning White

[Gord]

Help! I have a leather coral (cabbage) that started off beige but it is slowly turning white on the top it does not seem to be disintegrating and still remains firm to the touch. It is not giving off any skin or slim. This is a well established tank with numerous hard and soft corals including sea anemones that are not showing any signs of stress. Have checked for nitrates, nitrites ammonia, phosphates, calcium, PH, Alkalinity and everything came back perfect. Tank is feed live brine shrimp, PhytoPlex and Reef Plus twice a week. The lighting is a metal halide lamp 175 watts. The light is approximately a foot over the tank and the leather is about 8 inches below the surface. Heat is not a problem as the pendant is fan cooled. :?: :?: :?: I'm at a total loss for an answer!

 

[Len]

:welcome:

Sorry to hear about the leather coral. I think it's possibly bleaching and I would advise you to move it down further away from the lights. How long have you had this leather? Are other corals showing any signs of trouble? Any recent changes, such as water changes, new carbon, etc.?

 

[Gord]

HI Len;

Appreciate you getting back to me. Routine hasn’t changed! I roughly do a 15% water change every two weeks with R.O. Instant Ocean. I have had the Leather for about three weeks. I had suspected that it might be bleaching from the light but did not mention it in my question as that I wanted an unbiased opinion. So far everything else in the tank is fine. There doesn’t seem to be any impact at all even to the mushrooms that require a lower light level. Since your post I have moved the Leather lower in the tank and I have also raised the light approximately another foot up. I guess it is a wait and see kind of thing. I guess the question is will the white area’s recover or am I better of making some cuttings of the remaining healthy tissue and start some new pieces?
__________________________
Gord

 

[Gord]

HI Len;

Appreciate you getting back to me. Routine hasn’t changed! I roughly do a 15% water change every two weeks with R.O. Instant Ocean. I have had the Leather for about three weeks. I had suspected that it might be bleaching from the light but did not mention it in my question as that I wanted an unbiased opinion. So far everything else in the tank is fine. There doesn’t seem to be any impact at all even to the mushrooms that require a lower light level. Since your post I have moved the Leather lower in the tank and I have also raised the light approximately another foot up. I guess it is a wait and see kind of thing. I guess the question is will the white area’s recover or am I better of making some cuttings of the remaining healthy tissue and start some new pieces?
__________________________
Gord