Help! My blastos are dying

JenB · Feb 3, 2016

Blastos - one of my favorite corals. I'm starting to lose my colonies one by one and I don't know why! I'll start by saying my husband does all the water testing and dosing (so I don't know the numbers off hand). He also works at a well known LFS. So he knows his stuff about where the levels should be. That being said - we can't figure out why I'm losing my colonies. I've lost some expensive blastos! What seems to happen - is one day they all look great and then one colony starts to slowly recede. And then slowly the entire colony dies. Once that colony is dead - the next colony starts the same process. They were all doing amazing - low light - low flow.. huge heads - happy blastos. Now this - if anyone has any input that can help us save my remaining colonies that would be great!!!!

Desperately trying to save them!!

ksfulk · Feb 3, 2016

Mine did a similar thing... losing one head at a time, slowly and deliberately until it was gone, then the next one would start. Found out it was a peppermint shrimp that was snacking on the blastos once the lights went down. Might want to observe with a red light after the lights go out to see if you have a snacker in there.

nelson.jdautobody · Feb 3, 2016

Have u introduced any new corals? Maybe a hitchhiker? It's weird that they go one by one. Do the other ones look like they are thriving while the one piece is dieing? They way u described it I'm guessing it's a hitch hiker going from one to the other after its finished decimating the piece it's hosting. I might go as far away to pull the one out that's currently dieing ando QT it and monitor. If it dies then it was probably Gona dye anyways and maybe what's killing them won't be able to move on to the next one. Just a thought

JenB · Feb 3, 2016

Good idea! Yep - one head at a time goes.. I'm trying to think if the husband brought any new corals home - I know he brought a blasto home that we were trying to save.. maybe it stems from that colony. I'll have him pull out one that's not doing well and see if we can find anything in the QT water (pest wise)