Blue Palm

Z

Zastron

Registered Member
Mar 1, 2004
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I recently purchase a new addition to my tank. It is a Blue Palm (Nephtheis fascicularis). The piece arrived late last week via mail order. It appeared to be in fairly good condition considering. I took care in making sure that it was acclimated appropriately. I'm now concerned about it's health.

I’m told that this coral likes to “drop” its tips occasionally and I should expect this to happen after transportation. Although over the past few hours, it seems to be “shriveling” up and little pieces of it are floating in the water. Is this normal??? This is my first soft coral and do appreciate any advice or input any of you may have.
 
Nephtheids seem to pout a lot after transport or irritation. After being in contact with a Xenia for a prolonged period (another story) one of my colonies got very mad, shriveled to almost nothing, became very black, and I was sure that it was going to die. Two days later it was big and gorgeous as ever.

Yes, they do shed, or autotomize, branches. They frag themselves, saving us time. Mine started doing it once they got to a certain size.

Anyway, shriveling after transport is normal, although I haven't seen them autotomize after moving. Assuming the coral hasn't completely fallen apart, it sounds fine. They are very hardy corals, and the fragments should also become small colonies.

I would only worry if it doesn't start looking normal in a few days.
 
Bad news.

Just came home from work and it seems to be gone???

Not sure what happened during the day, although, this morning when I left, it looked the same as it did last night. It was placed fairly high in the tank, and did have good water flow.

Dave, I appreciate the comment that you posted in reply to my question. Although it doesn't look like I will be able to experience this one coming back...

Does anyone know what might have happened. Don’t want to go through that again…
 
I have seen soft corals start to "rot" after too much stress. I had to re-frag a leather after it started to do that. But that took several days, not just one. I have no idea why it would fall apart so fast.
 
Technically, it was in my tank (doing quite well) for about five days... Sounds like it's nothing that I did, which is a releaf.

Thanks again to all for the info.
 
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