Green Star Polyps, HELP!

[wally311]

OK, Here's the deal. I have a 37G softy tank with leathers, shrooms, gorgonians, etc. The tank has been up and running in one form or another for around 5~6 years. All water parameters (pH, alk, NO, calc, etc.) are within optimal ranges. Lighting is provided by 2 55W PC's. Everything is doing great and growing, except for a patch of GSP's that used to extend down over 3 or 4 rocks. About 6 months ago I switched to the PC's and since then these guys have been receeding. They are now down to a patch of about 1"x2". Is there something that I can check as far as water param's go? I don't think that the lights are the problem, but what else could be causing these extremely hardy polyps to do this? Any suggestions greatly appreciated. :?

 

[danmhippo]

What was the light before? My GSP thrive in high light area.

 

[wally311]

Lighting B4 was 4 9watt PC's and a 24" NO flo. The New PC's are WAY brighter. It took everything a while to adjust, but now everything else is doing great. I just can't figure it out. I thought about getting a new piece of GSP to replace the old one, but there are still stars there, they just don't open up as much and won't grow/spread. You can't really see them in the pic, but they are just under the pink finger leather on the left (which, BTW, is a frag from the one on the right). Any suggestions?

 

[sjfishguy]

I notice you don't have any fish in your tank. I will tell you a strange story that may be of some help. So I got some GSP and for the first six months they did great, I fragged them like crazy. At that time I had a royal gramma (the only fish) and no DSB. My nitrates were at like 15 ppm. Not great, but acceptable. To try to control the nitrates, I moved the royal gramma to another tank (now there was no fish in the tank), put in a DSB, got a T. derasa clam, and some xenia. As the nitrates fell to zero, the star polyps closed up and did not open for weeks at a time. They were receeding and doing terrible. My water parameters were perfect, everything was doing great except the GSP. I remembered I had read somewhere that GSP grow in high nutrient areas in the wild. So my theory was there was not enough nutrients in the tank. So after about 6 months of no royal gramma, I put him back in there, and tada! The star polyps are all open now, recovering, and getting better each week. My nitrates are still not detectable because of the clam, DSB, xenia, etc. but there is more nutrients in the cycle.

I don't think this was a conincidence. The fish was the only thing I changed. The fish addition has had no adverse effects on anything else in my tank (I have some sensitive stuff like the clam and SPS)

 

[manderbe]

SJFISHGUY hit the nail on the head. I am currently taking Eric B's. Coral biology class, and in our chat last night it was discussed that star polyps relay extensively on dissolved organics in the water column for a large portion of their energy and growth needs.

Best Regards

MDA

 

[wally311]

I hadn't noticed before, but GS maroon clown is NOWHERE in this picture! He's usually right up front begging for attention! However, he is the only fish in the tank, and has been for quite some time. I've always been kind of anal about not keeping too many fish in a reef, since its the corals that I love anyway. But I have heard of some new thoeries on nitrite in reefs, and mine is pretty much undetectable. Well, there's a perfectly good excuse to go buy another fish!!! :lol:

 

[wally311]

I hadn't noticed before, but GS maroon clown is NOWHERE in this picture! He's usually right up front begging for attention! However, he is the only fish in the tank, and has been for quite some time. I've always been kind of anal about not keeping too many fish in a reef, since its the corals that I love anyway. But I have heard of some new thoeries on nitrite in reefs, and mine is pretty much undetectable. Well, there's a perfectly good excuse to go buy another fish!!! :lol: