Bleached coral coming back another color?

[afrankiewicz12]

So a few weeks ago I bought a bonsai acro frag online and accidentally recieved two, they came purple with green polyps. I said cool and put one in my DT on the top of the rocks 6" from the Surface which is 6 inches from a 250w 10,000k MH and one in my frag tank under a 120w Chinese LED at blue 45% and white at 30%. The one under the LEDs grew a little bit (it's only been a few weeks) and maintained its purple with green polyps. The one under the MH bleached to a very light purple so after a few days I put it in the frag tank, now two weeks after the move the bleached one has regained color about 80% and now has a royal blue tip and bottom rim...... How is this possible the other one is still purple but now this one had a color morph? Someone explain this... Ill post pics if I can get a good one

 

[Docstach]

This is all theoretical as I know nothing really about the subject, but.... The color of coral comes from the zooxanthellae living inside it correct? If so, multiple colors of zooxanthellae could be living in the same coral. The dominant color of zooxanthellae would dominate the color of the coral. What if that dominant color happens to be extra sensitive to the strong light and dies off (bleaching the coral). This would give a chance to the minor populations of zooxanthellae colors to grab a hold and repopulate the coral, changing the color of the coral. Again, I am making this all up as I know nothing. just basing it off of how some opportunistic infections happen in the body.

Matt

Edit: And Yea my 200 post!

 

[afrankiewicz12]

Yea possibly cause its coming back purple but the tip and edges are turning blue, maybe they had blue that with the absence of the purple were able to thrive

 

[dannyp02908]

Isn't a bonsai a tri-color? If so, that would make sense that the tips would be blue. My tricolor has a green base, purple branches and blue tips.

 

[SteveDola]

stress shifts color. will need more than 2weeks to completely rebound to original coloration. Give it time...youll see it come back. ALso, not sure on the LEDs but they could also make certain colors look different than MH. Could be a combo of the 2.

 

[cilyjr]

I agree with Steve on both points. I have bleached coral that took over 6 months to regain its color.

 

[afrankiewicz12]

Both were same size when I got them I put one under halides and one under LEDs. Now both are under LEDs and my corals usually regain color in two weeks after bleaching so I'm keeping an eye on it and btw they are bonsais