So, what is coral bleaching exactly? Is it caused by improper lighting, water conditions, feeding, etc? How do we deal with this in our tanks? Thanks for any help.
__________________ - Eddy
"Corals require an aquarium, seawater at the right temperature and salinity, waterf flow, light, food, bicarbonate/buffer, and calcium. Period. No other equipment, apparatus, magic potions, pills, voodoo, prayer, or other sacrafices are necessary." -Eric Borneman
well coral bleaching is simply the corals expelling thier zooxanthallae. or the concentration of photosynthetic pigments in the zooxanthallae falling. (usually both)
most often caused by water conditions. or temps above 30 deg c.
other questions are up to the rest of the crew.
__________________ Adam J
you would think with a degree and professional career i could actually spell words correctly. sory.
i should note that IMEbleaching is not nearly as common as RTN (rapid tissue necrosis). which is basically a term given to a phenomenon that is not fully understood.
these are commonly confused.
when a coral bleaches all of its tissue is still there, it just turns clear. it looks white because the white skeleton underneath.
when your coral suffers from tissue necrosis, the tissue actual dies and/or comes of. this also makes it look white because you are seeing the white skeleton.
you need to carefully observe to see which one you are dealing with.
in either case many people choose to simply frag the coral, saving the healthy parts and disposing of the unhealthy parts.
i have never had a coral bleach but have dealt with RTN on a few cases, and have managed to get my corals to recover without fragmentation or any other drastic measures. with the exception of a wild colony that i had lost litterally overnight.
when you are troubleshooting these you need to make the best effort to find the cause, either water conditions, close proximity to another coral, incorrect water flow, etc. and correct that issues asap.
if the coral is otherwise healthy the next choice is up to you, you can either choose to dry and recover the entire colony or fragment the colony. trying to recover it can be risky because you run a higher risk of loosing the whole thing.
the best thing you can do is prevention. good husbandry practices, and always get captive grown coral.
hope that helps
Adam, please feel free to correct any technical inacuracies..
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Thanks guys, Rob what does IME stand for? Also, it sounds like bleaching or RTN happen in a sort of blotchy pattern instead of hitting the coral evenly since Rob talked about fragging the specimen. Is this correct?
__________________ - Eddy
"Corals require an aquarium, seawater at the right temperature and salinity, waterf flow, light, food, bicarbonate/buffer, and calcium. Period. No other equipment, apparatus, magic potions, pills, voodoo, prayer, or other sacrafices are necessary." -Eric Borneman
Thanks guys, Rob what does IME stand for? Also, it sounds like bleaching or RTN happen in a sort of blotchy pattern instead of hitting the coral evenly since Rob talked about fragging the specimen. Is this correct?
IME = In My Experience (like IMO = In My Opinion or IMHO = In My Honest Opinion)
yes, it usually happens in areas. sometimes starting at the base and working up, or on a specific branch (when talking about branching corals) and works down.
you can almost always separate the affected area.
while that doesn't guarantee that the "saved" piece won't suffer the same fate, it does help reduce the chances
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Wanna hear something funny? well I'll tell you anyways...
One of my LFS is located in a plaza with a bank next door. The acronym AND THE SIGN next to his shop (named All Things Fishy) is the "RTN Plaza" in Marlboro...
Nope. I don't even have a tank set up yet. I am working on my first.
__________________ - Eddy
"Corals require an aquarium, seawater at the right temperature and salinity, waterf flow, light, food, bicarbonate/buffer, and calcium. Period. No other equipment, apparatus, magic potions, pills, voodoo, prayer, or other sacrafices are necessary." -Eric Borneman
If you saw his coral display tank...you'd not think it was funny I don't understand why they can't keep things going down the right road.
Don't get me wrong, I buy most, if not all, of my drygoods there. I even buy clean up crew and some smallish fish, but the coral tank is a perfect example of why "stability" is key. They've sold the lights from over their tank many times, connected and disconnected their 6' skimmer often. I just don't understand. EVERYTHING in there is covered in hair algae.
If I could afford a pay cut, I'd go work for them for no other reason but the challenge of that coral section.
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I don't understand why they can't keep things going down the right road.