Acro Bleaching Question

[Kenzo]

I'm still new to acros and what causes them distress so I'm looking for advice on how to deal with what looks like bleaching to me.

Parameters:
Alk ~8
Calc ~ 490
Mag ~ 1300
NO3 ~ 0
Po4 ~ .1
Temp ~ 78F
Salinity ~ 34-35ppt/1.025sg
Par for this particular coral is around 175 and it does get adequate flow that causes the polpys to visibly shift continually throughout the day.

I noticed these white areas developing in the middle/lower half of 2 frags of the same coral that are in 2 different locations in my tank. This led me to believe it's a parameter issue, and just from looking at my parameters, I'm thinking it's a nitrate issue.

I noticed a white spot like the one in the photos maybe a month ago on one of the frags. While it did heal completely, it's appeared again recently.

All other acros look normal, so I'm thinking this may be my canary in the coal mine coral.

I'm also feeding heavily twice a day with pellets and frozen food to my 7 fish and I spot feed the acros twice a week at night.

Now I'm considering dosing sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate to try and bump up my nitrate, but wanted to see if there might be something I'm missing and this isn't a nutrient related issue. I've also decided to cut down on filter sock replacement and lowered my refugium photoperiod significantly from 12 to 3 hours.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

The white tip is new growth.

 

[Kenzo]

This is the other frags of the same coral located under higher light. On the right frag's base, there is also a similar white area showing that you can faintly see in the picture.

 

[grizfyrfyter]

the third pic looks like bite marks.

 

[Darkxerox]

This is the other frags of the same coral located under higher light. On the right frag's base, there is also a similar white area showing that you can faintly see in the picture. View attachment 80292

Monti getting stung by the acro?

 

[Coral reefer]

Nitrate zero will do it

 

[Kenzo]

Monti getting stung by the acro?

The view is distorting the perception, and the monti is much lower than the acro.

 

[Kenzo]

Nitrate zero will do it

Interesting. I do try to feed a generous amount of particulate food to balance the lack of dissolved organics. I guess nitrate dosing is the next step.

 

[Kenzo]

the third pic looks like bite marks.

From the images I've seen online of bite marks, they look like they're much smaller but all over an area. The areas on my frags are 1-2 and much larger.

I'll keep and eye out at night and try to blow the frag to see if anything comes off. Some type of infestation would be a nightmare.

 

[MichaelB]

Have you tried dipping them. To check for flat worms ?

 

[Kenzo]

Have you tried dipping them. To check for flat worms ?

Honestly haven't, I'm guessing a KCI dip at the point wouldn't hurt?

 

[FinalPhaze987]

I agree on the lack of nutrients. Not sure what your bioload looks like, but more feeding might help.

I find my sticks looks best when its around 5-15 no3

 

[Kenzo]

I agree on the lack of nutrients. Not sure what your bioload looks like, but more feeding might help.

I find my sticks looks best when its around 5-15 no3

7 small fish in ~55G of water. Got it, I'm off to order some nitrate to dose.

 

[Yippee]

7 small fish in ~55G of water. Got it, I'm off to order some nitrate to dose.

I just set up a doser to try and keep my nitrates around 10. My tank is bare bottom with 1 tang in 65 gallons of water. What really surprised me was how much my nitrates decreased after 8 days without dosing. I hope this keeps my water parameters more stable.

 

[Darkxerox]

Interesting. I do try to feed a generous amount of particulate food to balance the lack of dissolved organics. I guess nitrate dosing is the next step.

Go with ammonium bicarb instead

 

[FinalPhaze987]

If you go on SWA YouTube channel, Salem did an informative bit on ammonium dosing

 

[Kenzo]

Go with ammonium bicarb instead

Any particular reason for this? I know ammonium is preferred by coral over nitrates, but they'd both raise nitrates in the aquarium the same. Although I think you're more limited in how much ammonium you can dose vs a nitrate source.

 

[Kenzo]

I just set up a doser to try and keep my nitrates around 10. My tank is bare bottom with 1 tang in 65 gallons of water. What really surprised me was how much my nitrates decreased after 8 days without dosing. I hope this keeps my water parameters more stable.

Yeah it seems much more efficient that dumping extra food into the tank with no real changes to detectable nitrate levels.

 

[H2OPlayar]

Yeah it seems much more efficient that dumping extra food into the tank with no real changes to detectable nitrate levels.

Benefits of dumping extra food are that everything with a mouth appreciates more food. Coral and fish included. And fish poop is one of the best coral foods out there. I would try bumping your fish feeding up to 3x a day to get them pooping more and keep a variety of foods going into the tank. I am one that doesn't like the nitrate dosing method and feel you should just feed more. I will say that Salem's work on ammonia dosing is very good and could make me reconsider what I dose but I routinely keep nitrates closer to 30 in my tanks so I am on the opposite end of the spectrum where I dose vodka to feed the anoxic bacteria to speed up the nitrate to nitrogen gas conversion. Vodka/carbon dosing also can make the phosphate in the tank turn into a more consumable form by bacteria consuming it and the coral consuming the bacteria. Lou Ekus did a good deep dive into carbon dosing that went into this.

Long story short, imo, feed more, more often, more types of food and let the numbers grow naturally.

Take a listen to what Matt Wandell thinks on nutrients on Reef Beef.

 

[MichaelB]

Any particular reason for this? I know ammonium is preferred by coral over nitrates, but they'd both raise nitrates in the aquarium the same. Although I think you're more limited in how much ammonium you can dose vs a nitrate source.

0 or near zero is a issue. Coral even acros eat it. You don't want it high of course but you want it to register something at least.

Sps can take weeks to a month to show signs of then being in unfavorable conditions. They take even longer to recover. So stability is always the answer with sps. Everyone here us giving you great advice. I won't claim to be a acropora guru or anything. Yet mine is growing successfully. And I keep things simple just stick to the routine and instead of chasing a number. I have ranges in my head I aim to stay within for testing. So I mainly try to keep things from drifting above or below a range.

 

[Slingfox]

I did a tank reset where I replaced all my aquascape and coral 10 months ago. Nitrates have consistently been at or near zero so I dose ammonia. I use DIY nitrate solution to bring levels to 5ppm after water changes then dose ammonia to try to maintain at that level or at least have nitrates detectable.