Is this blastos not doing well?

[testuser]

Hi all, I just got this blastos a few days ago, and while the mouth does appear to open a little bit and close, it looks rather rocky and flat, as opposed to pictures I've seen where they appear to be fluffy. The attached isn't the greatest picture, but what are your guys' thoughts? Is it still adjusting to the tank, or does it look pretty bad?

 

[slythy]

Is that skeleton on the right of the one closest to the foreground?

 

[testuser]

Is that skeleton on the right of the one closest to the foreground?

Sorry, the photo isn't very good. I've highlighted what I think you're referencing, and that's a broken frag that I clipped a bit to minimize the surface area. So the frag plug itself (is that the right name?) is black, but exposing white after it's been trimmed.

 

[testuser]

Here's one other, maybe better pic?

 

[testuser]

Here's one other, maybe better pic?

Here's another angle.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

try to take a pic in just pure white lights, its very hard to see in above pics.

 

[testuser]

Here's another angle.

try to take a pic in just pure white lights, its very hard to see in above pics.

Apologies, is this better?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

much better, thanks.
I could be wrong, but they look like they are slowly melting....

What kind of lights do you have and what intensity are they are?
The melting also looks to be on one side, is there a strong flow coming from the right side?

 

[testuser]

much better, thanks.
I could be wrong, but they look like they are slowly melting....

What kind of lights do you have and what intensity are they are?
The melting also looks to be on one side, is there a strong flow coming from the right side?

I got the feeling that they were melting too. For what it's worth, they've looked exactly like that since I got them from AquaSD last Friday. In fact, they looked fairly flat, like they were hard rock.

As far as lighting goes, I've been testing different levels. I have the NICREW 30w (round version) light and I set the intensity to 20% for both white and blue channels. After contacting NICREW since their PAR readings weren't very helpful, they suggested starting at 50% instead so I changed it to that this morning. The blastos is on a rock substrate just above the sand, and is close to the right side of the tank.

Do you think that with the Sync Nano (forgot the exact name) being on the upper-right of the tank and angled to the left, that it could be hitting the blastos? From what little tentacle-like structures I see on the blastos, I do not see any movement.

What concerns me is that I've received several coral from AquaSD that all appeared to be in a shocked state like this. For my mislabeled platygyra, it came with a dead polyp with gunk covering it (I believe) and some exposed skeleton. I've had bad luck with them so far.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

the tentacles being out is a good sign IMO. If you bought it in that condition only last Friday, then I think its also a good sign that it hasn't melted further since then. If you bought it at the point "beyond return", then it would have died by now, so I think it can recover.

Medium to low light and flow, it sounds like you got that covered.

I think you are doing everything right, blasto is a pretty hardy coral, so just let it acclimate to your tank and it should improve in a month or two. Fingers crossed, good luck.

 

[testuser]

the tentacles being out is a good sign IMO. If you bought it in that condition only last Friday, then I think its also a good sign that it hasn't melted further since then. If you bought it at the point "beyond return", then it would have died by now, so I think it can recover.

Medium to low light and flow, it sounds like you got that covered.

I think you are doing everything right, blasto is a pretty hardy coral, so just let it acclimate to your tank and it should improve in a month or two. Fingers crossed, good luck.

Thank you very much for helping me confirm things! I think what I needed to hear the most was the month or two bit. I wasn't sure at what scale in time I should be judging changes to the coral. I'll consider it weekly to see how things change, and take pictures each time so I can better document progress.

Thanks again!

 

[testuser]

I know that it is way too soon for a follow-up post, but I did want to point out that I noticed some naked strands (tentacles?) waving about amongst the brownish looking right side. Maybe this is what you were referencing yesterday, but I hadn't noticed that it was brown or two tentacles that were bare and waving about.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I didnt see that originally, I see it now that you point it out.

Its hard to see in the pic, but if it is little brown tentacles, it is probably aptaisia. It is an evil animone, and it is stinging your coral to death, it explains why coral looks like it does.

Try to get a close up pic, or else google images of "aptaisia" and confirm it for your self. They can spread quickly and do a lot of damage to corals in your tank. If it is aptaisia, you will want to eradicate it right away.

 

[testuser]

I didnt see that originally, I see it now that you point it out.

Its hard to see in the pic, but if it is little brown tentacles, it is probably aptaisia. It is an evil animone, and it is stinging your coral to death, it explains why coral looks like it does.

Try to get a close up pic, or else google images of "aptaisia" and confirm it for your self. They can spread quickly and do a lot of damage to corals in your tank. If it is aptaisia, you will want to eradicate it right away.

I've attached a video, maybe it's better. Does this look like what you're saying it could be? If so, would another dip of CoralRX help?

 

[testuser]

And for what it's worth, when tapping it they retreat. So maybe it is.

 

[907_Reefer]

Hard to tell (and video won't load for me), but this isn't a big aiptasia on the back side of the left frag also is it?

 

[testuser]

Hard to tell (and video won't load for me), but this isn't a big aiptasia on the back side of the left frag also is it?

If you're pointing to the white part, that's a chipped frag plug that was originally black. Weird how the video doesn't load for you. The brown part you're seeing is some weird brown discoloration on the side of both the coral and the frag plug.

 

[testuser]

Also, there raw a bunch of brown spots all over the sand bed. One of the brown spots has a little dancing thing that looks similar. Is all of this a hot bed for aptaisia, or just the one in the video?

 

[testuser]

Well, I super glued over the aptaisia. Hopefully I didn't kill the coral in the process. Fun stuff.

 

[Double monti 61]

I would not worry they look ok I have had mine for some time and a couple of them have been tossed around a bit by my hermit crab and it seemed they would not survive but eventually they came back I also have one that the crab never messed with.