[dssepik]

Over the past week we have noticed little white specks in various places in my reef tank, didn't think much of it. This morning one of my corals has started to turn white!2
I have a 120 gallon tank live rock and sand. Various corals, stonies and softies. A few community fish, chromis, gobbys and 2 wrasses. A couple of clowns and a blenny. 150 watt lighting, with a great skimmer and sump system.
I am a newbie and tank has only been up for about 2 months, I just have no idea why this is happening. PLEASE HELP !

[FireEater]

The white specs most likely are nothing more than tube worms or fan worms forming. They are tank friendly.

The coral turning white could be a host of other things going on. One of them I suspect is the tank only being 2 months old and you sure listed a lot of things in it.

You might have put to much in it to quick.

[Reefland]

Hi dssepik,


Can you give us some more details on your tank? Temp, salinity, all major test results, etc. I do agree that a tank 2 months old sounds quite young to have a lot of livestock. Was the liverock cured when you got it?

[dssepik]

my rock was all cured, and most of my rock are real beautiful after 2 months. There is alot of red and purple all over my rock. The guy who sold me my set up, suggested possible Red Bug?? do you think that is possible? I plan on leaving work in a cople of hours and I will test my water, and will post that. I did check my salinity 2 days ago, and I didn't look at the number value, but the level was within the correct range on my tester

[zhenya]

Hi dssepik,

Originally Posted by dssepik

my rock was all cured, and most of my rock are real beautiful after 2 months. There is alot of red and purple all over my rock. The guy who sold me my set up, suggested possible Red Bug?? do you think that is possible? I plan on leaving work in a cople of hours and I will test my water, and will post that. I did check my salinity 2 days ago, and I didn't look at the number value, but the level was within the correct range on my tester

Can you describe which corals are turning white( softies, stonies)? If anything, I would stay away from blaming red bugs for any of this. They parasitize only acroporids and do not always cause bleaching.

That aside, I think it would be prudent to check your water closely, especially salinity, with more reliable testing method. Refractometer, or calibrated hydrometer will do the trick.

[dssepik]

Well quite possibly was a false alarm. My LFS guy came over and he said it was normal, its only on 1 rock, and he said it was the same stuff as all the purple and red stuff that is on all my other rocks...just white. Does this make sense to anybody?
I do appreciate those of you that has offered help and suggestions. Like I said I am just a newbie to this hobby, and perhaps I just over reacted a bit, when something brand new happened ovenight.

[FireEater]

Yes, I have had white looking coraline algae in my system before.

I have a few SPS's that are turning white on one small section. But they recover quickly and grow over that section again. Sometimes a SPS will bleach on me big time only to recover and regrow again.

My parameters will be in line and I just cannot figure out why. I think lots of folks go through this.