New Blasto - some heads receded - problem?

[The Escaped Ape]

Well, I've just bought my first Blasto. I'd been looking forward to doing so for a while, as I've been out of the hobby for a while and as I was waiting decided I really liked the look of these colorful corals.

My new tank has now been set up for over a month and I decided to make one of the first corals a Blasto. One thing I'm not sure about though, now I've bought it. I assumed that, as with a few other LPS, a specimen with a number of healthy looking heads is fine, even if there are a few heads that are looking not particularly great, as they will recover once they're in the tank. Now I'm worried that I may have been assuming too much! Please could people take a look at the pictures below and tell me if it looks like my new purchase is likely to be alright? I assume I will have to keep an eye on it to ensure it doesn't start to recede further, but otherwise is there anything I should be doing?

The other heads are well expanded and did so shortly after being put in the water. Actually the tissue on the receded heads perked up a little after being put in the tank.

Anyway, here are the photos. Apologies for the quality. Down in part to my lack of ability, but also to my camera not working and having to borrow my wife's point and shoot.

Showing the receded area first.

 

[mscarpena]

First off nice colored blasto. They are a bit more sensitive than most LPS corals. They really need low light, low flow, and need to be fed a lot at the start of keeping them in captivity. The one large head looks like its a goner, but the other ones look like with proper care they can recover with the above care. It looks like they may have been stung by another coral possibly??

 

[RR37]

Thats a nice looking blasto, Was this blasto under full lighting at the LFS ?

I picked a neat morph that was missing a few heads. At the time I was thinking it was getting to much light, 12" from a 250W bulb. After about 3 months the heads had not comeback but there were new babys popping up all over the skeleton. I just placed it In the shaded area in the lower sections of the tank.

 

[The Escaped Ape]

First off nice colored blasto. They are a bit more sensitive than most LPS corals. They really need low light, low flow, and need to be fed a lot at the start of keeping them in captivity. The one large head looks like its a goner, but the other ones look like with proper care they can recover with the above care. It looks like they may have been stung by another coral possibly??

Thank you for responding! Yes, I loved the color as well. We seem to get lots of pure reds or reds and greens here, but not many red and orange. Plus the green mouth is an added bonus.

It was in an over stocked LPS/softies tank at the LFS. I can't remember exactly whether it's because I wasn't looking properly or because it was jammed against something, but I don't remember seeing the almost completely receded head when it was in the tank. Primarily it's an SPS LFS, so the LPS tank isn't in the best condition to be honest.

Thats a nice looking blasto, Was this blasto under full lighting at the LFS ?

I picked a neat morph that was missing a few heads. At the time I was thinking it was getting to much light, 12" from a 250W bulb. After about 3 months the heads had not comeback but there were new babys popping up all over the skeleton. I just placed it In the shaded area in the lower sections of the tank.

Thanks for responding as well! It was under a DE MH, though I don't know whether it was 150W or 250W. To be honest, the tank it was in was so crowded and the front glass far from clean, it's difficult to say how bright it was.

My current tank is 18" high and has a 150W DE MH bulb, plus 4 x 24" T5s (two actinics, two pink). The light is centered, so the areas at each end of the tank should be less bright. The Blasto is currently right at the front left handside corner, facing away from the light, so partly in shade, though the photos don't really show that. I could find a place in deeper shade, though that would expose it to more flow.

Do you both think that that sounds roughly OK in terms of lighting/placement?

Here's a pic of the tank, taken when it had just been set up. Not much has changed (other than a few small rocks being moved). The Blasto's current position is at the front left of this photo, though there was nothing in the tank when this was taken.

 

[mscarpena]

The polyps should be just barely moving with the flow. The lighting sounds about right. Now just give it some time and food and hopefully it will be fine. If it was an overcrowded tank and the lightin was that strong it could either have been stung or just plain too much light. With proper care look for good things to come.

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Thanks for the advice mscarpena. The flow looks to be OK, with the polyps barely moving, just kind of shifting slightly with the flow, not lifting or looking like they're being pushed over or anything. I think you're right about the lighting in the LFS tank. Thinking about it how, I reckon it was right under the halide.

I tried feeding with pellets last night. I managed to feed one head I think, but it was exceptionally tricky to get the tiny pellets to land in just the right place. I either need a smaller pipette (I was using a turkey baster) or maybe a different food. Would frozen mysis work? I could then carefully lay one on each head with a long pair of tweezers I have if so.

 

[whipit]

just toss it in a shady area in your tank and forget about it for a couple months and he'll be good as new...

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Yes, I had heard that elegant neglect does wonders for Blastos, but if I were going to feed it, would mysis work?

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Dammit. Some more recession showing now, on the polyp which in the first picture above has just a tiny bit of white skeleton showing. The polyps which were already looking bad above are clearly goners, which I expected, but the mini-polyps below them are also looking dicey. The heads that looked healthiest when I bought this are still looking healthy as anything. I'm really hoping this doesn't spread.

 

[The Escaped Ape]

I've just tested. Nitrates are at 0.

Does anyone think that feeding the healthy heads would help or stress the coral out?

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Well, I went ahead and gave some small pellets to all the healthy polyps (the ones with tissue receding didn't have the strength/tissue to get the pellet in their mouth), switching off not just the powerheads but the return pump as well. Here's hoping that gives them strength to fight off whatever is ailing the others.

 

[AquariumBiology]

Do feed it, mysis, pellets... anything it will take. But go REALLY easy on light. Those guys were a little foolhardy keeping it under MHs. I wouldn't worry about turning off powerheads, etc. Too many bad things can happen if they get left off for more than a couple hours, and if the current is taking the food away from it, its not placed well for nursing.

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Thanks for the advice. Just to be clear, I'm only switching off the water circulation while I'm trying to get the pellets to land in the right place. I admit I then watch the polyps eat the pellets, to check that all the ones that can eat have, but the return/powerheads go on again shortly afterwards (it's a matter of minutes).

The Blasto is currently out of direct light from the MH, but do you think I should actually put it in the shade (real deep shade as opposed to indirect light)? The trouble is the only place that really fits that bill would then be difficult to reach to feed or even keep an eye on how it's doing. I'm also inclined as a default to avoid moving coral more than I really have to, given that instability is big cause of stress.

The healthy polyps don't seem to suffering from too much light/flow where the coral is at the moment. Though the bad news is that a tiny amount of skeleton is now showing on one of the previously 100% healthy polyps.

 

[mscarpena]

Indirect light is really good for them. Just make sure that any dead jelly looking flesh is removed. The jelly looking flesh can cause the other heads around it to die. I would feed mysis shrimp, my blasto loves them. I would not worry too much about it, but keep up on the feedings a few times per week. I am not familiar with the pellets, but frozen food fed through a turkey baster works well. Best of luck to you.

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Thanks again for your input. There isn't really jelly looking flesh as such. It just kind of shrinks and eventually peels off once it's so thin it won't stay on. I'm not sure how I'd remove it exactly either. Any suggestions? I'm willing to try it if you think it will help, but I don't want to put it under too much stress either.

Bought some frozen mysis on my way home tonight. Will try feeding it some tomorrow.