getting rid of green star polyps

[LawAce16]

Okay as the subject line reads, I need to get rid of my green star polyps.

I let them go for too long w/o cutting them back and now they're getting too invasive and starting to crawl onto my millipora.

Any suggestions of how the best way to do this would be?

 

[fuzz1974]

If they are on your live rock, it is next to impossible to completely get rid of them. I am trying right now. I bought a hard plastic or nylon brush and scrub the rock. All it seems to do is just tear the skin and a few days later they are back. So just shy of filling the tank with gas and add a match, or getting rid of the rocks they are on, I'm not real sure. I have tried everything I could do. Peeling them off scrubing them off, turning rocks so they are smashed up on the bottom, and they keep coming back. Good luck.

Fuzz

 

[Amphiprionocellaris]

If you can get under the stolon (the purple part) with an exacto knife or similar instrument, it's a relatively easy matter just to peel them up (note that I said "relatively. Other than that, you might end up like me: one thirty gallon tank, one monster colony of star polyps. It's really cool if you ignore all the stuff they killed (actually, the rest of the corals were "evacuated" when I got the 75).

 

[Bax]

GSP took over my 26. I have one lone isolated rock with GSP in my 75... and about 15 pounds of what was really nice TBS LR in the 26 (now a QT) just covered in GSP.

Other LR in my 75 has little spots of GSP that when I see it I'll pull out the rock and dremel off the GSP. If you leave even a sliver of the purple, it'll grow back.

Very resilient and invasive!

 

[LawAce16]

I agree. The stuff is really resilient, which makes me wonder if introducing one of its natural predators might not be a better tactic.

The only problem is that its likely that angels would be among its natural predators and getting them to eat the GSP, but not the SPS could be an issue.

Does anyone know of anything that will eat GSP, but not SPS?

 

[whitetiprs]

The best tactic I have found for getting rid of GSP is to use a screw and scrape them off the rock with it, then rinse and repeat.

 

[Alarmguy66]

I have a fireworm I keep in my sump. Whenever my GSP gets too bushy I throw him back in the tank and let him feast for awhile. A few days later he has decimated it and then he comes back out.

 

[Dan Fagan]

Scrape or Kalk slurry will work.

 

[thereefgeek]

I have the same problem with these little ba$tards. I can't get rid of them fast enough. I'm thinking about removing the rocks they're on entirely, but those rocks are the bottom of the support structure for the whole reef! I spent a couple hours after the pic was taken picking at them and removed quite a large area, but with any little remnants they just keep coming back!
(lower right corner and moving rapidly upward toward the green/red Favia and the pink Pocillopora):

 

[sealife]

kalk sould kill tmem

 

[nebraskareef]

Rich, I love your tank, even w/ the gsp! its so full, it just looks "real" if you know what I mean. Good work!

 

[Nanook]

[moved]

 

[fish_taste_good]

Kalk worked for me.

I had no idea they were so hard to kill.

I have never really tried on a rock though but I think I will keep this in mind now since i have some in the middle of my 90.

All mine have been on the glass and were easy to remove. I currently have them on my filter on my 90.

 

[chemisfun11]

Kalk slurry and scrape outside the tank if you can. Those little pieces can and will find somewhere else to attach and grow

 

[thereefmaster]

How to get rid of them? ha, that is easy! Send them to me... lol.

But really though, if they survive your scraping them off, I will pay for shipping

:uzi:

-Nate

 

[aquaman222]

Getting rid of GSP. Well the US government is not allowing hobbyist to enrich Uranium to make a nucleur war head yet so I think you may be SOL.:lol:

 

[SaltyNewb]

i took a screwdriver to the rock and just scraped them off, while taking the very topmost layer off the rock.

 

[The Reefer91]

funny, i was considering getting GSP for a single island of rock. :lol: one question. is it like that with all polyp colonys? i was going to get zoanthids most likely.

 

[thereefgeek]

The problem with kalk slurry is that I'm running about 4500 gph of total flow inside the tank and it would blow all over the rest of the corals. If I shut off the closed loop for an hour or so that'd stop most of the flow in the tank

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6925673#post6925673 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nebraskareef
Rich, I love your tank, even w/ the gsp! its so full, it just looks "real" if you know what I mean. Good work!

Thanks nebraskareef, that's just the left side. Not to jack the thread but here's a wide shot (more GSP's on the right side down low as well)

 

[fuzz1974]

what will kalk slurry do to the rest of the chemistry of the tank?

On a dufferent note, my PH is slowly dropping 7.8 right now. What is a good way to raise it safely?

fuzz