i bought some red blastos a little over a month ago, they have been perfect up until a week ago. I did a weekly water change and they receeded into their skeleton, when they came out they had lost a lot of color and since have steadily been becoming more transparant. The polyps still open up completely and are almost always open, but the bright red color they once had has become a dull pink and i can see the skeleton through the polyps. Not sure what i should try, they are at the bottom of my tank with lowish flow, they are the only thing in my tank that appears to not be doing so well...any suggestions?

28g CF nano
params are all good
Calcium/alkalinity/pH is stable

Could it have been shock from the water change? How was the salinity and temp of the change vs what you had in the tank?


Could it have also been a more gradual loss of coloration that became more apparent coincedentally with the water change?

lighting?????

Scubasteve beat me to it, HE LEARNED THIS FROM ME. If blastos don't like the light they will become transparent. I learned this from my Odyssea fixture, dont know why but the halides just piss coral off. Healed up great and look awsome under my 400 watt 20k

thats kinda lame =/ maybe these guys are just fickle, i know the person i bought my colony from, and i know two other people that bought the same colony from him. I have mine under pcs, the original seller has his under pcs, one guy has it under halides, and one under LEDS, mine are the only ones losing color =/ the other colony under the LEDS has turned more pink than red but its still pretty vibrant..
i also have another colony of blue/green blastos that are doing just fine, they are still very bright and colorful and ive had them a month longer than the reds

is there anything i can try to bring the color back, i know blastos like to be on the bottom with low flow so im hesitant to move them up the rockwork. I also dont want to get them too close to the koralias and blast the crap out of em

edit: as im looking more closely at them, there are three polyps on the top of the colony that are really becoming translucent, but all the polyps on the side or undernieth are still pretty bright red, maybe i should move it to a darker location? bah!

try as location with a little less light, low to med flow, and feed them. they will get better in no time

Yup, you will be surprised what a water flow change up and some food will do.

Frankly, you would be surprised alone with what just some good, daily feeding for a week will do.

But still, move it, or the water flow, and feed it. Take pictures once they blow up and look RAD!

DUDE!! that is an awsome looking tank!

Daily feeding, I love it read my tank thread, the one on pappone and as far as me an scubasteve we are buds that happen to live in the same town. It amazes me you mock my advice and then post the same conclusion like its a new idea. And rhe reason he learned it from me is it happened in my tank.