Dieing acro

[Dive Cowboy]

I have a young tank, coming on 6 months old. I was at a coral show Sunday and decided just to see if an acro would stay alive in my tank, so I purchased something cheap. I just noticed today that it's bleached about halfway up from the base. Parameters are below. Working on getting phosphates down from about .2, nitrates are 17. Probably around 200 par in that location at the peak of the day. I know that's probably not enough for a lot of SPS, but I didn't think it would cause it to die in 3 days. Is it just an issue of not having an established tank? Not enough light? Something else? Thanks!

Update: I posted the above in a FB group. Since then the left branch has gone completely white. I also saw my cleaner shrimp picking at the frag. See video. Was it just picking at the dead polyps? Could it be the killer? I don't suppose even if it was it would bleach the coral immediately.

 

[TX_REEF]

How is the flow?

 

[Dive Cowboy]

How is the flow?

Probably less than it should be, now that I think about it, but would that kill a coral in 3 days? It actually looked fine even yesterday.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I would say that something is off in the tank to kill it in 3 days. Acro's are not easy, any changes can set them off. Especially change of alk but you don't show your alk or calcium level. I don't think you will get that one specific answer of what caused it, I would just take it as a sign to wait another month or two. Or try easier sps like monti's for example.

 

[Dive Cowboy]

I would say that something is off in the tank to kill it in 3 days. Acro's are not easy, any changes can set them off. Especially change of alk but you don't show your alk or calcium level. I don't think you will get that one specific answer of what caused it, I would just take it as a sign to wait another month or two. Or try easier sps like monti's for example.

My cal and alk levels are in the photo I posted. They're solid and have been very stable for a couple months now.