Are my Blastos just too old?

[Ocean Lotion]

I have those colony of Blasto Wellsi that I have a hard time to keep alive. It takes special constant spot feeding to keep alive and the polyps are smaller than they used to be. Everything else is happy including other blastos. The colony is almost 20 years old. I supose they have a certain life expectency like any other organism. Any one have input on the posibility?

 

[JumboShrimp]

Wow, 20 years old. Impressive! Hopefully others can answer your question.

 

[moiy24]

Pics?

 

[Krazymuncher]

I did a bit of googling and it says coral colonies typically live around 30 years. The website:https://www.wiseoceans.com/seasense/coral/

 

[Ocean Lotion]

Great info.

 

[mort]

I see no reason for it to be age other than if the individual polyps are that age. If the coral has grown it's common for the older parts to die off and by cutting these out you can encourage new polyps to grow around the edges. If you haven't fragged it then I'd give that a go to see if you can spur on some new growth.
Sometimes colonies grow so dense that water flow in inhibited stopping it feeding or releasing waster properly, or it blocks too much light. By stripping out the dead wood you cold get another 20 years out of it.

Would love to see pictures as well.

 

[Krazymuncher]

yes, I would agree with mort. You could frag it and see if the frag does well. The info from the website might be for soft corals or might factor in predation. I am not sure

 

[Ocean Lotion]

Here is a pic. The polyps become translucent as they shrink.

View attachment 20181221_213849.jpg

 

[Krazymuncher]

i would frag the healthiest looking piece and try that.

 

[brandon429]

There’s no way age is causing that. Mine (merletti/cousin) are sixteen and adding polyps, not withdrawing, bcuz they’re fed well. they’re not going to start dying back in four years, they’ll still be getting fragged to make room

I think it wants more food directly delivered. The steady state it lives in isn’t enough to support its mass over time, you can tell the tank is kept in great condition, the ion balance is great or that coralline wouldn’t be so nice-There’s no tufty algae bearding the exposed septa, rather coralline spotting, indicating a long slow nitrogen negativity state, but in the presence of great water quality. These details remarks on your water quality and consistency

if you took time to spot feed each polyp once a day for six months, and handled the export required for that, this coral would add mass. The article referenced is absolutely not the final say. Two other clicks will show a 200 year brain coral in the caymans. 30 yrs is not the lifespan for any coral kept and adjusted to over time. That coral above lives on tank waftings for food, it’s not daily spot fed. Their article about natural corals, the risks they have in the wild, doesn’t apply to us.

You could take your normal days feed, without increasing, and shoot it into an inverted cup over that coral in the mornings to let it feed first, fully, so many ways to bring that back.
One other difference it would encounter in my pico is a kessil set to full blue. Running the white / 10k option specifically bleaches my blasto and my acans notably less color and whitening within two weeks.
I don’t like the look of full blue, it blue blasts the whole house I prefer the 10k but it bleaches my setup, so blue full on it is

not saying your other corals aren’t adapted fine to whites but that’s another difference I see in the pics, that would be all blue and fed daily in my restoration attempt.


You have a great and hungry specimen

 

[brandon429]

Your coral needs to visit the meatshake thread in the lounge, though the meatshake was designed for human consumption just sub in some clams and squid for tank use

 

[Ocean Lotion]

For years I never had to spot feed this coral but it does seem that truth is ringing from the responses I have gotten here. I will try spot feeding daily for a while and see how it responds.
Thanks for the input.