montiporas bleaching

My montis look like they are bleaching. from what I have read they are some of the hardiest sps. My other sps are looking good including my acro. I have good growth on everything else. I have included my water params so you can see if anything looks like it needs to be adjusted. I know the ph is a tad low, tested it at 10 o'clock this morning. Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.

Temp 78
Salinity 41 ppt (high)
SG 1.031 (high)
Nitrate 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
pH 7.8 (low)
Amonia 0 ppm
Calcium 480 ppm
Mag 1420 ppm
Alkalinity 8 dKh (low)
Phosphate 0 ppm

Would the highs and lows being a little off cause the bleaching? I am going to take a sample to my lfs right now to get it checked by them to see if my tests were accurate. While I am gone please let me know what you think.

 

I could see the salinity being an issue - 8dkh isn't horrible but the salinity is way off. 1.025-1.026.

 

my monti started to bleach when my alk dosing pump died and my alk dropped down to 7ish, so its possible your low DkH is partially contributing to it. the good news is when i corrected my alk it colored back up in a week or so.

 

Also check for monti eating nudibranch.

 

Is it actually bleaching or dying? If just bleaching, turning whiter, then you probably have them under too much light. Try to lower them or shade them more. Montis don't need that much light IMO, especially for being an sps.

 

I was thinking too much light also... what kind of lights do you have?

T5's or MH? And if T5's, what bulbs and how many?

 

For lighting I use 4 geismann T5's. They have been under them for 5 months now. I replaced the bulbs about 3 months ago. I took some water to my lfs and he was saying that the alk, ph and salinity being off would be his first guess. I am going to try and fix those also do a quick water change and try to get that salinity down to a more acceptable level. Thanks for the replies hopefully I can save them.

 

hmm... just curious, which geismann bulbs?

I would say def. get the salinity under control... but I'm curious about the bulbs still... only because one of my green monti caps is slightly whiter lately and my params are good...

 

I have two aqua blue + and two actinic +