Pectinia coral care and troubleshooting

[AuroraFly]

Got my Coral about a week ago and was given some bad advice on placement. I put it in the middle of my tank for 2 days with 8 T5HO and it started showing white.

Moved it to the sand bed after that, but it's still not doing well after a week. Was told to try an iodine bath, so I did a Seachem Reef Dip and put it in a shadier area. Moved it up about 3-4" off the sand bed, now it's about half shaded.

My light schedule is 9 hours with 4 bulbs and 6 hours with all 8. Parameters are: Alk 7.0, no Phosphate or nitrate, PH 8, and calcium 460. Anything else I can try?

[Riveraqua]

I came across this info on a different thread that made sense to me. Place the coral out of direct light - doesn't matter if it's at the bottom of the tank, just get it out of the direct beam. Give it some medium indirect flow and make sure the water parameters are stable. Now, here's the key part: be patient and don't mess with it. Let it get acclimated and comfortable in its new home.

It's gonna take time for the coral to recover, and I'm talking months here, not days. Stable water, medium to low flow, and no direct light are what's gonna bring it back to health. And don't forget to feed it every now and then. If you start to see some major issues like rapid tissue necrosis or skeletal exposure, you might need to take some drastic measures. Frag the damaged areas, dip the coral, and then put it back in the tank. Do some research on "Rescue Corals" - there's some good info out there that can help you nurse your coral back to health.

[Riveraqua]

That's one beautiful coral... shame it's struggling. I'm guessing it set you back a bit, huh? No offense, just feeling for you.

[flintek]

I had a similar experience with my frag, it was a real bummer when it lost its color after introducing it to my tank. Took a good 2-3 months in the shade for it to even start showing some brown hues. What I found helpful was feeding it at night, when the tank's in complete darkness, with some fine particulate food - it seemed to do the trick in getting it over the hump until it became more self-sustaining.

[AuroraFly]

I came across this info on a different thread that made sense to me. Place the coral out of direct light - doesn't matter if it's at the bottom of the tank, just get it out of the direct beam. Give it some medium indirect flow and make sure the water parameters are stable. Now, here's the key part: be patient and don't mess with it. Let it get acclimated and comfortable in its new home.

It's gonna take time for the coral to recover, and I'm talking months here, not days. Stable water, medium to low flow, and no direct light are what's gonna bring it back to health. And don't forget to feed it every now and then. If you start to see some major issues like rapid tissue necrosis or skeletal exposure, you might need to take some drastic measures. Frag the damaged areas, dip the coral, and then put it back in the tank. Do some research on "Rescue Corals" - there's some good info out there that can help you nurse your coral back to health.

Here's the current setup with 4 T5s on, how shaded should it be

[onyx_8]

I'd let it be and stop stressing it out. Every time you move it, it needs to adjust again and that's just adding to the stress. It's bleaching, in my opinion, and I don't see the point of dips for that. Dips are for pests or infections, not for lack of photosynthesis. I think the dip was unnecessary and probably just added to the stress.