Green Star Polyp help

[sese]

Hi everyone!

I purchased a green star polyp colony last Saturday. I believe that it is the species Pachyclavularia. It is kind of hard to identify because they have yet to come out of their little purple tubes. Is this a normal acclimation period? Should I be worried?

Thanks,
Eric

 

[danmhippo]

Have you seen them open in the shop?

 

[sese]

They were beautiful at the LFS until the employee touched them to bag 'em. They immediately retracted and have not come out since. When I got them home I put them in a container and slowly dripped my tank water into the container to acclimate them. They are very close to the top of the tank. It is a 29g with 4 24" VHOs (2 actinics, 2 aquasuns). Is this too bright for them? One of the reasons I got them was because they were under this exact same lighting at the store. The only difference was that their lights were space much higher off the tank.

 

[SPC]

What other corals do you have in your tank? What are your tank parameters?
Steve

 

[danmhippo]

It is normal for them to close for a few days after stress. But that depends on your tank parameter to determin about how long it will take them to reopen. What are the water parameters? Temp? SG? How long has the tank established?

 

[sese]

The tank is about 7 months old. I have 2 tomato clowns, a coral beauty, a yellow tang, a colony of green mushrooms, and a very small soft coral (litophyton- I think).

Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrates <10
Calcium-450ppm
Alkalinity-3.2 meq/l
Phosphorus- 0.1
Salinity 1.024 SG


Temp - 80 F

 

[Cruzan277]

I would move them further down the tank. I have a colony of them that opened up a few hours after I placed them into my tank. There closer to the bottom of the tank and growing like crazy.

[ December 05, 2001: Message edited by: Cruzan277 ]</p>

 

[SPC]

It looks like your parameters are OK, have you noticed the coral beauty picking at it?
Steve

 

[sese]

My coral beauty seems to ignore all the corals as far as I have seen. I'm scared to move it now. Won't this cause it to hide for even longer?

What kind of lighting do you run cruzan277?

 

[danmhippo]

As long it's in the same tank with same water chemistry, moving it now will not make too much difference. Where ever you want to place it, try aiming a swift current just above it to. You can move away the current after it has fully opened up in the future.

 

[Clearblue303]

I have a 20G tank,10 mths old.I experimented 3 times with gsp (in the last month).My first one was a complete disaster,the rock from that lfs didn't open for about 2 weeks (all the parameters and other corals,OK).At that point(assuming that waiting longer will harm the coral) I've returned it to the store.

The seccond rock was from a different store from the same store chain.It didn't open for over a week.Since the rock had growth on it's front and back,I've split the rock in two.

Mean time,I've got a nice piece of gsp from a friend.That was in the evening,next day,it was all opened nicely.

Days later,the split gsp started to open.But it seems to be a completely different sort,weaker one,more faded one.

Also,when I told people about my failure with gsp,they told me that these are not that easy to keep as generally known.

Right now,I have the good one(the nice green from my friend),fluorishing nicely and the others are still somehow well (but not haveing that light metallic green center as the others).

Well, so far these creatures gave me some new questions.

Take care
FM

 

[kipreefer]

I have a GSP also and at least with mine i found that it likes a swift current. It likes being wipped around some. Wheni put it in les current it never came out.

 

[amber]

I have to agree that they must like the strong current. They grew like crazy in my 55.
I moved into the 125 in June and put them in a place with less current. They did not survive.
Wish I would have figured this out sooner....
amber

 

[sese]

I put them in a stronger current, lower in the tank. We'll see if this helps them.

 

[furyclown]

I have a little bit of green star polyps that seem to be growing then not. I am suspecting one type of my hermit crabs are eating them?

Do hermit crabs eat them?

 

[danmhippo]

I think it is more correct to say that the hermit attempted to eat it. Even though not being eaten, yet, GSP will stop coming out if it was being pecked on constant basis. Usually, the hermit is too slow to catch the GSP off guard, unless of course there is different types of hermits that would devour GSP from the base up.

 

[AuroraDave]

I agree with strong current.
Both of my colonies began growing more noticably when I rearranged my powerheads with the addition of a wavemaker.

 

[Anonymous]

I would suggest not moving them around much. They can take up to a week to open up in a new tank. Being you had them closer to the light it was taking them longer to acclimate to the new surroundings. Star polyps are very sensitive to light changes,especially the green ones. But over time they acclimate well,as long as they are not moved around and the lighting is not changed.

Add some vitamins at half dosage and a few drops(5-10) of iodine. Hermit crabs are obligate feeders,but usually do not pick at star polyps. Usually the polyps close when the crab walks accross them feeding between the cracks.