Help - favorite Blasto suddenly retracted

[The Escaped Ape]

Yesterday, one of my favorite corals, a lovely red and green Blasto, was looking a little shrunk (the polyps are usually fully expanded all day). There seemed to be something in the sand next to it spitting out sand somehow, so I dug around in the sand around it, thinking that maybe that was irritating the polyps, but couldn't find anything.

Today, it's looking even worse. Should I be panicking? It feeds well usually and was looking healthy up until yesterday. Nothing to otherwise suggest problems with the water etc. I've just moved it away from its usual spot, in case whatever was in the sand was irritating it.

This is what it looks like normally.

And this is what it looks like now.

 

[firsttank]

Give it couple more days. If you see it getting worse you can try revive dip and put in low flow area.

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Thanks firsttank. Don't have any Revive (I'm in Japan, so can't pop into an LFS that has it either). Knew I should have ordered some last time I got a delivery from the States, but I had to reduce my spend under pressure from the wife...

Will have to see if there's a local equivalent...

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Would Coral RX Pro be a good option? I see my LFS has some.

 

[mroccoralman]

The only thing I can think of is to give it a day and maybe move it coral rx in my opinion is way better buy it best dip I've ever bought hood luck.

 

[lgull1]

i know one thing, mine is dying. What causes these things to all of a sudden take a dive? i thought the things were pretty hardy.

 

[Cubbies]

Blastos IMO/E are very sensitive to parameter changes. You should check your parameters and make sure they are in line. Personally I have a Blasto that is still shrunken up(like pic 2) due to a little Ammonia/Nitrate issue I had about 2 weeks ago. I have had this happen to me before as well. Give it time and get the meters checked out. Best of luck

 

[The Escaped Ape]

The only thing I can think of is to give it a day and maybe move it coral rx in my opinion is way better buy it best dip I've ever bought hood luck.

Thanks for the advice. It's looking a bit better today, but if things don't improve I will try and get hold of some of the Coral RX.

i know one thing, mine is dying. What causes these things to all of a sudden take a dive? i thought the things were pretty hardy.

It's so frustrating, isn't it? I seem to have the worst luck with LPS, where softies and SPS both do fine. My acans are coming back from the brink, thank God, but I couldn't do anything for a couple of chalices. :sad2:

Blastos IMO/E are very sensitive to parameter changes. You should check your parameters and make sure they are in line. Personally I have a Blasto that is still shrunken up(like pic 2) due to a little Ammonia/Nitrate issue I had about 2 weeks ago. I have had this happen to me before as well. Give it time and get the meters checked out. Best of luck

Thanks for the advice. I missed a water change recently due to appendicitis, so maybe that's it. I've got the water mixing now for a change and I hope that does the trick. Thanks again!

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Just an update in case anyone stumbles across this thread in a similar situation at some point.

The blasto started showing a little more extension after I moved it, but it got back to full extension after doing a water change. Nitrates were not high, but higher than normal (I'm usually very punctual about water changes). It's now back to normal.

 

[getzvillereefer]

crazy how much missing one water change can affect things in a major way like that..

 

[LindaGage]

glad to hear of the recovery and appreciate the update ~ best

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Thanks both. Yes, pretty interesting, particularly as nothing else looked to be suffering.

It probably didn't help that, with my appendicitis, the skimmer hadn't been cleaned as regularly either, so it wasn't pulling out as much as it should I don't think.

 

[victor escobar]

depending on how long you have had the blasto you should look at the lighting if it is too strong it will retract after some time being burned. Look at parasites also.