RICORDIA - BLEACHING OUT????

[skeeter1]

I purchased a piece of LR from local store last weekend and it was covered with Ricordia, I placed it in a medium flow area of my tank approx half way of the depth of my 150 gal tank. Lighting is 4 110 vho's and 3-250w 6500 mh. The ricordia located on the top of the rock is turning very pale but they look healthy(pumped up, very full??). I have found nothing in my research indicating that light might be a problem. QUESTION- have any of you expert reefers experienced bleaching of ricordia??? THANKS for any advice, fairly new to hobby and have found this site to be very helpful

 

[Mike02]

i read that they lose their color under really bright lights. but it didnt say anything about bleaching, just less colorful

 

[arnjer]

I have a green one that I got from Gulfview and it's high in the water column under 2x250 watt 10K MH and it had started to split when I had 2x96 PC's. Now it is splitting faster and is a nice green. I have read they like alot of light as opposed to the other shrooms.

Jerry

 

[Chris Lucia]

In college I participated in a marine biology course which took us to Jamaica, St. Anne's Bay to be exact, at the Hofstra Marine Institute Laboratory. Unfortunately that was 12 years ago and we studied mostly fish and inverts, not corals or mushrooms. I do however, remember seeing huge colonies of bright green and blue ricordea in very shallow water, less than 6 feet. It was colonizing all of the dead coral which had been broken up in hurricanes, i.e, future live rock. I did not see any ricordea in water over 6-8 ft. of depth, and not one single polyp on the deeper water dives (40ft +) although the rare orange color has been reported to be found at depths of 30-60 ft. Because most of the ricordea was in such shallow water, It must need very high light. The current was also very strong in this area. Perhaps there is some nutrient which the ricordea needs to maintain its color which is lacking in your system. Do you dose Lugol's?? Tullock writes "The more green the pigment present in a given specimen, the greater the likelihood that it came from shallow water. Ricordea needs plenty of light... Given bright light and excellent water quality, this species will reproduce in the aquarium, although it is sometimes reported as being difficult to keep" (from Natural Reef Aquariums) He seems to contradict himself, doesn't he?? Unless he means that certain color morphs are difficult to keep. He is also not very specific about wattage or types of lamps to achieve "plenty of light" in our tanks. Maybe you should pick up a few different polyps, and see if one type maintains its color any better than the other types. I have orange ricordea in my 200 (about 9 polyps) which has been keeping its color well under 2 X175 10k lamps. The green species, however, has turned a lighter color, although it has not bleached. Both color polyps have shown signs of growth and division in this reef tank. (sorry for the war & peace novel, but ricordea is one of my favorites)

 

[skeeter1]

GREAT INFO, THANKS