See the coral dead center, that is very green?
This one year old Acropora sp. quickly changed color from brown to light green.
Typically, if a coral is in trouble, it will bleach like you
see above. Here tissue is peeling away form the skeleton,
exposing the white beneath. This branch is the only part suffering from this
situation, because it was moved and
this branch no longer gets the same lighting it got before.
You can see the many holes in the green areas. These are where the polyps
extended from. This is not a good sign, and if you see it,
quickly frag any healthy areas to save it from being affected adversely. I didn't act quickly enough, because I didn't know.
The lowest branches showed no sign of life. Hermit crabs were constantly found
in the branches during the final days, picking it clean.
Here's a brief visual history of the coral.....
The day I bought it, September 2002.
Over the months, it turned a dark brown color, with polyps visible most of the time.
Happy, healthy and displaying a good dark green coloration around 11 months old.
My favorite macro shot of it. I named it "Acro Army"