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View Full Version : Help, M. Digitata bleach/die off


mark
05-18-2007, 11:08 PM
Over about the past two weeks on most of both of my green and purple (though always a little brown) colonies of M. Digitata the polyps have fully retracted and the tissue between have faded to white. The effect is sort of patchy, some problems started on the top, other pieces on the side or bottom.

Nothing added, nothing changed, other than a slight drop in my pH to 7.9 midday, from 8.1, Ca 380, Alk 10.2, temp ~79 with no spikes or drops. NO3 would say 0.0 to 0.2.

My acros have picked up colour over the last month (got a little bleached and browned out after my little red bug problem last fall). The plating Montipora is unchanged in colour and growing. Same with the Xenia, GSP, Frogspawn, Brain, Tubipora, zoos and button polyps, all okay. Fish and clam also seem without problems.

Any ideas, other that pH which I'm going to start buffering with Seachem Reef Buffer.

Snappy
05-18-2007, 11:25 PM
Mark,
What types of corals are you M digi's close to? Digitata although an easy coral to keep can still be tempermental and can act like a canary in a coal mine for your reef. On a coral aggression level they are very mellow and will generally loose whatever battle they are subjected to.

mark
05-20-2007, 10:03 PM
Some of the tips of the branches between it and some acros are less than on inch, but other areas where I getting the patching problems are probabaly more than 8" from anything other than a clam. They're relatively for from the LPS so think I can rule out sweepers.

pH is back up around 8.1, setting up for a water change then adding some carbon.