brain coral looks bleached

[newfound77951]

Not bleached as in white, but pale, especially at the top, and more pronounced lately. I have had this coral since May and it has never been super happy. Mu lighting is 4x39 watts of T5 over a 30 gal long, which I thought should be enough. I am starting to think that calcium might be a problem, I do not yet have a test kit for it as I don't add anything beyond PWCs. Any thoughts? I will try and get a pic posted tonight.

 

[Hara]

what is the placement? they do prefer sandbeds over rock..

 

[newfound77951]

It is on the sand. I haven't moved it since it went in there. The only recent change was the addition of the hawkfish, who does sit on it occasionally. I wonder if the fish is irritating it?

 

[Innovator]

Please be more specific as there are many "brain" corals available to hobbyists. If you are unable to find information then post a pic for identification. Is the coral directly under the light or is it being shaded? What about water flow? Sedimentation? Does the hawkfish perch regularly on the exact area of recession? You won't know anything about calcium deficiencies until you actually test for it along with alk. pH test wouldn't hurt either

 

[newfound77951]

I believe it is a Platygyra. The hawkfish seems to perch more in the middle, and the coral is "bleached" more on the upper parts.

I am doing a PWC tonight and will test params before and after.

There is also a small leather coral near the brain...could that be a problem?

here is a pic, this is an old pic, not what it looks like now. The receding part on the far left has healed over, I think it was scraped on the LR in the dealers tank when he took it out. The bleached parts are the two high points on either side of the "valley" in the middle:

Here's a pic showing where the hawkfish sits. you can see the lighter area in the foreground.

 

[Innovator]

Indeed looks to be a Platygyra sp., possibly daedalea or lamellina. I am guessing it is not shaded by any means and sits at the bottom exposed to full T5's? If so, try orienting somewhat vertically as these corals tend to prefer indirect light due to their common locations of deep water back reefs, which means their abundance remains within rockwork rather than substrate (for the most part).

 

[newfound77951]

OK, so should I just try and stand it on end, or actually shade it a bit under some other corals or rockwork? I have a spot where I can move it where it would be shaded a little by a large spaghetti leather.

Hmmm...now that I think about it a couple of weeks ago I took the light fixture off and cleaned the plexi, which was covered in salt. I bet it's getting more light now.

I don't want to lose this one, it is a beautiful coral! It does open up every night, and will "eat" any fish food that falls on it.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Just to offer a different opinion, I don't think I'd consider platygyra a low-light coral. I've got one that is about 2/3 deep in my 46g, under 196W of compact fluorescent lights. It's going gangbusters. It's laying horizontal with really no shade.

Are you feeding it anything? I baste mine with Two Little Fishies ZoPlan, once a week. I also keep Ca levels between 380 and 400. Did you ever find out what your Ca levels were?