Is my coral okay

[johnvic]

I have a green mushroom coral for about a week now. I was away yesterday but when I got home I noticed that the color was vibrant but it wasn't as full looking as it has been. This is with the light on. The only thing I noticed different about the tank was that the temperature was a few degrees colder than the day before, it was down to 74' instead of 77'. I did bring the temperature up to 76' but that was after lights out and I have not seen the tank with lights on today because the timer is set for 3 PM.
Normally the coral covers the whole rock it is on when full but yesterday it did not. Like I said, the color is good. Could this be a bad thing?
I did water testing on Friday, using a proper test kit, and these are my results:
Temp = 77' ( as stated before, was down to 74' last night )
SG = 1.0243
pH = 8.4
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate < 2.5
Last night I did a quick test ( using the strips instead of a proper test kit ) and nothing looked odd. I figure the test strips are good enough for a quick test and if I see a high number then I do a proper test.

 

[nycbob]

shrooms r very very hardy corals. they will be fine.

 

[flower]

That is one of the wonders of keeping saltwater creatures. It changes from day to day, week to week. When coral feeds it shrinks up. when they are hungry they reach getting as large as possible. When the water changes so does the color.
It is not necessarily bad water or starving but a change. If you keep a written log like I do, you will start noticing these things and you learn some interesting facts about the creatures you keep and enjoy it even more.

 

[johnvic]

Thanks, I just needed to hear "relax, have a cup of coffee".

Last night I was convinced my sally lightfoot was dead or dieing. This morning, however, I was 99.9% sure he was molting because I found his empty shell.