Birdsnest Turning White at Base

My week old birdsnest is beginning to bleach a bit at the base. It appeared to be doing fine at the bottom of the tank and only started doing this when I moved it higher up in the tank two nights ago. It was at the bottom for a week. Do you think I should leave it as is or move it down a bit? Other corals are still doing okay.

Tank parameters are below:

Temp 78
Salinity 1.025
pH 7.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 0
Nitrites 0
Alk 8
Phosphate 0
I didn't test for Calcium or Magnesium tonight but I can if needed!

Picture:

See what other people have to say, but if my birdnest (or SPS in general) start to bleach from the bottom at a rapid pace I cut it where it is still healthy and glue it to a new plug.

also, test your calcium and raise your PH.

I too would probably cut it and reglue, i would also move it back to the bottom.

I think your alk and pH are fine though

I've never really though too hard about it. I always thought 7.8 was too low. Is that a pretty typical pH? I always try to stay between 8.1-8.3. My SPS do not like 7.8.

I found this interesting articles:

A Simplified Guide to the Relationship Between Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium and pH by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Here is an excerpt:

At low pH (say, 7.8), much higher concentrations of calcium and alkalinity can be maintained in solution than at higher pH (say, 8.5). For this reason, aquarists whose aquaria are low in pH often claim that they have no problem maintaining high levels of calcium and alkalinity, and rarely remove calcium carbonate from their pumps, while other aquarists with much higher pH do not understand why they cannot maintain such conditions in their aquarium, or why their pumps often rapidly clog. The effect of having more carbonate at higher pH is one of the main drivers of that difference (the other being that many corals may actually demand more calcium and alkalinity at higher pH, as they can calcify faster at higher pH). As a follow up, do not assume that low pH is better because it allows easier maintenance of calcium and alkalinity, and clogs pumps more slowly. It is also more stressful for many calcifying corals simply because they have a harder time calcifying at lower pH. That increased difficulty is due to the fact that they have to pump out a proton (H[SIZE=-1]+[/SIZE]) when they make carbonate from bicarbonate, and the lower the pH, the more H[SIZE=-1]+[/SIZE] already in solution, and the harder it is to pump out the additional H[SIZE=-1]+[/SIZE].

A pH of 7.8 isnt that low, infact many of us have our pH right at that. What is more important is stability, if you pH is stable around 7.8 i wouldnt worry.

Probably too much light for it too soon? I'd lower it down some in the tank.

Thanks for the tips! Due to high CO2, my pH is stuck at 7.8 for now. I'm going to cut and reglue today and move it back down for a few weeks. I'm in no rush to get it placed, I just thought more light would be better.

I think birdnest would do better closer to the lights, however, you have to move it up slowly as to not shock it. I have my pocillapora frag rack about 2 inches from the surface of the water.

Ya, they do better with the higher lights, but they are so sensitive they can be burned very easily with a sudden change in light intensity

I must have burned the poor guy out!

how fast is he bleaching? I've seen an entire golf ball size colony go in about a day or so. You could almost watch it receed with the naked eye. You should probably re-frag him sooner than later.

It's not going super fast, but I will be re-fragging within the next 15 minutes.

Check it for bugs. You may have something munching on it.

Well it's been about a week and the re-fragging has seemed to work. No extra bleaching (or bugs) that I can see. I am noticing a very minor bit of new growth on the tips, so that must be good! The semi-bleached sections that I cut off I also re-fragged just to see if they will grow. There still is a bit of life to them so we'll see what happens. Thanks to everyone for the advice!

Glad to hear it's looking better for you!