GSP Problems

[esmithiii]

I have had terrible luck with green star polyps (and brown too) All my other corals are thriving, and four different species of GSP are dead or dying! I have tried different placement to no avail! I try not to move any coral more than once a month (if a coral does well in a spot, it will stay there indefinitely)

Ammonia, Nitrite, nitrate read zero, pH 8.35-8.55 (although in my last tank it was consideribly lower)
Temp 80F-84F (usually under 83F)
Alk 3.0 meq/L
Ca 450+
Salinity 1.026

Any ideas? The first piece I ever had thrived for the first 8 months in my 55. It was about 4" below a 55W lamp. Then I added a tiger cowrie (I know, bad idea. I didn't know then) and it ate some of the coral and it declined even though I removed the cowrie after the first week. From that point on all my GSP have receeded or died. I now have one piece left that was doing OK until this week, and now it seems to be receeding. It hasn't opened in 4 or 5 days.

I thought that GSP grew like a weed and was hard to kill!

Ernie

 

[SPC]

Ernie, my guess is that something is picking on them. I would move them to your refugium and see how they do.
Steve

 

[DKKA]

Hey Ernie, don't you know, this hobby is as much voodoo as it is science.

Seriously though, I doubt you are doing anything wrong. FWIW, I've experienced the same thing with zooanthids. They grow like weeds for everyone else, but for me they just kinda sit there. (recently I've noticed my Tang picking at them, but my inability to grow them goes back much further than I've had the tang)

FWIW, I remember my LFS telling me they moved a piece of LR once and found a bunch of baby cowries. I know squat about the larval stages of Cowries, but are you sure yours didn't come in pregnant and have some babies before you caught it? Might want to be on the lookout.
Otherwise you are stuck with the unknown pathogen theory. (Might want to try sacrificing a chicken for this one)
Dan

[ December 12, 2001: Message edited by: DKKA ]</p>

 

[esmithiii]

I may do the chicken blood thing.

E

 

[2poor2reef]

Hey Ernie, a couple of things to check before you sacrafice any chickens: first, I have heard that gsp is sensitive to aluminum oxide which I understand is contained in some phosphate absorbing sponge products. Second, I have read that gsp is one of the first corals to react negatively to elevated iodine levels. If I were using phosphate sponge or dosing iodine I would stop and see if that helped. My opinion only.

 

[esmithiii]

I have not used a phosphate sponge in over a year, and I stopped dosing iodine about the same time.

Any more ideas? I asked the wife to start looking around to buy some live chickens

E

 

[loosbrew]

whats your lighting like?
how long do the colonys you buy they last?
how much flow do you have over them?
is there algea growing in between the polyps?

some more info before we can get into he nitty gritty

loosbrew

 

[esmithiii]

Before they were under 2x55W PC. The only colony that survived is now under 2x400W MH 6500K Iwasakis, and 2x96W PC Actinic about 2' from the closest mh bulb. It has been closed for several days after being open for 3 months in the new tank.

I can not see any algae growing on it.

Other corals that are thriving:

Euphylia paradivisa
Lobophytum pauciflorum
Capnella imbricata
Favites sp.
3 different photosynthetic gorgonians
3 types of xenia
ricordea
3 types of mushrooms
4 types of zooanthids
1 protopalythoa grandis
Ssarcophytn sp.
Heliopora coerulea

Ernie

 

[Lunchbucket]

gsp close up from time to time. no idea mine are spreading but they still close up for like up to a week at a time. also, i have heard that htey are one of the most sensative to bad water paramiters...maybe try a water change. also, mine seem to like flow...just enough to wave them like wheat in a field

hope they do ok
later
Lunchbucket

 

[esmithiii]

The only remaining colony started to reopen. We'll see.

Thanks for all the input.

E