Plate Coral turning white

[billkil]

I have noticed in the last two days that my plate coral has been turning more and more white. I checked the water parameters and all are fine. The temp is 79 and it is sitting on the substrate in a medium current. I dose daily with 2 part Bionic. It is apparent that it is not doing well. What can I do? Should I try direct feeding? Thanks!

 

[billkil]

anybody have any ideas?

 

[jonthefb]

have you ever fed it? how long has it been in your tank, what kind of lighting do you have, what other additives do you add? any chance of copper in the system?
sorry to answer with a bunch more questions but to figure it out we need more info!
good luck
jon

 

[billkil]

Jon,
No I have never directly fed it and it has been in the tank for 1 month. I have 2-96 watt PC's on a 60 gal. There has never been any copper in this tank. All other corals are doing fine (frogspawns, sinulara, finger leather, mushrooms, open brain, claustrea). Thanks for responding.

 

[jonthefb]

not a problem bud, ok for one i think you are a little low on lighting. you migh tlook at gettign more lights here in the future. where is the plate located at? if its at the bottom of the tank, then hes is gettign even less light than those corals that are closer to the light source. since corals do derive most of their energy from the algae in their tissue, light is very important to them, and if he was not gettign enough light, and wasnt being fed by any secondary supplemental foods,then he might jsut be wasting away. are all his tentacles still out but are just losign thier color and turnign white? or is it not opening at all and the white skeleton showing?
again sorry to ask so many questions, but i think lighitng is the most important thing to consider about a reef tnak, and should be where the most money is spent!
good luck
jon

 

[billkil]

Yes it is located on the bottom of the tank. The tentacles are still out and green but part of the pink plate is turning white. Should I raise it up on to the rocks closer to the light? Also should I try to directly feed it? If so, what should I feed it? I do every 3 days add in Phytoplankton into the tank to feed the filter feeders. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[billkil]

Anyone else have any input? Thanks!

 

[bang guy]

You should definately be directly feeding a plate coral meaty food. Don't put it on the rocks, it needs to be on the sand. What lighting do you have for what size tank? They are very adaptable to different lighting conditions, but they need food.

 

[iechy]

To reinforce what was already said. You NEED to feed a plate coral directly and it NEEDS to be in the sand rather than on the rocks. They actually will move around the tank a little by expanding and contracting on the sand.