Chili coral and astrea stars

[Jmnazari]

I just rescued a chili coral laying flat in the sand at a LFS. A day later I got this beautiful coral to open up ALL of the polyps! I'd consider my tank to be kinda marginal; I mostly test for temp, salt, and ammonia ( in that order.) I've had chili on a steady 5AM diet of daphnia, brineshrimp w/spirulina, and homegrown phyto plankton. It all seemed good until I found astrea stars on the coral. I've removed them, and a few more came out of the woodwork, just to attack this coral it seems:angryfire: ! I don't know why the starfish went after the chili, if they started to eat the coral? All I know is that since the stars were removed, the chili has yet to put out any polyps! I don't seen any signs of damage. I'm just really frustrated; I was doing great with a notoriously difficult coral until some stupid starfish attacked it! What do I do?

 

[LegendLand]

ok, i aquaculterd Nephthyigorgia (Red Chili Coral) for 5 year's.. i have alot of experiance with these corals.. there are alot of things wrong here, you will need excellent water quality such as for SPS corals.. but at the same time heavy feeding..wich means alot of skimming and water changes...they require low to no light... high flow, and small foods such as baby brine.. zoo plankton.. anything smaller than .50 in size.. as for the star fish.. yes they will bother the coral.. but if algae gets on the coral, snails will begin to eat the algea..wich will result in the peeling of the skin of the coral..leaving it see through..feed the coral everything about 3 times a day.. wich means alot of water quality work...

 

[Jmnazari]

My tank is a 46g bowfront. I have the chili under a ledge but a HOB skimmer releasing the clean water on the chili. I run GFO, lighting is 2 t5's: 39w HO blue, and 39 HO true actinic, and a 18" t8 coralife true actinic. 75F, .025 salinity, and 0 ammonia. Bioload is 3 fish: a chromis, damsle, and scooter blenny. Somewhat weaker lighting, but I don't care too much for sps, I have several good sized LPS frags. I test the above mentioned every day, but only because my water always tests as: ph, 8.1-8.2, 0 nitirites and nitrates, 425 calcium, and .07 ppm for phposphates. My neighbor is harcore into saltwater, and I do chores and such for him (or sometimes just buy) 5g of saltwater a weak for waterchanges. He has his own RO/DI and saltmixing station at his house. I have 2 HOB skimmers, a Korillia and a maxi-jet. I will switch the adult brine for the baby brine! Should I redirect a powerhead onto the chili? I didn't see anymore stars on the coral, and 3 polyps FINALLY! It just seemed like the astrea stars were drawn to it like flys on $#!T. Are there any more reccomendations so I can keep this coral? I'm sure it's doing better because it's no longer 75% burried in a hermit crab tank. Now I want to make sure I meet all of it's needs. It's easily my favorite coral. ( I've always been partial to NPS softies.)