Green star dead?

[Brooks_McClary]

Thanks. It figures...

Do something good and it's as bad as doing something bad.

I am setting up a CPR Aquafuge (med) for my tank in a month. I will be growing Cheto in the filter to pull out excessive organics. Hopefully it will be a slower more natural process that does not stress the corals as much.

You learn something new every day!

 

[EricHugo]

No, I'm pretty sure its the media and not the reduction in phosphate. Good to see reports that the ferric compounds don't cause this response.

 

[david8956]

You would know better than me, but problems seemingly associated with reducing po4 too fast are discussed frequently in the sps forum. There is also this:

"Quite a large proportion of aquarists using GFO in reef aquaria have reported undesirable effects on corals. These reported effects include tissue recession and bleaching. Many advanced aquarists have associated these effects with the first addition, or with a later change, of the GFO. While many or all of these reports may be coincidence, there are enough reports that aquarists should be wary. Listed below are a number of possibilities that may be the cause:"

"A sudden drop in phosphate may stress certain organisms. This stress might be particularly important to corals with algal symbionts. The level of symbionts existing in a coral may depend to some extent on the availability of nutrients. A sudden drop in nutrients may imbalance the organism, leaving it with too many zooxanthellae for the newly-reduced nutrient levels. Especially if these corals are already living on the edge of survival, such stress may tip the balance toward disease...............................
In order to minimize such difficulties, many aquarists start off using GFO more slowly than the directions might suggest. Such caution seems warranted in most cases"

"Aquarists who choose to use such materials should be aware of the possible biological problems that other aquarists have encountered. Starting slowly and allowing the phosphate to decline over a period of a week or two may be less stressful than dropping it in a period of hours, regardless of the mechanism of the problems encountered. Using a smaller amount of material, and changing it more frequently, may also be less stressful. Salifert recommends using 250 mL (8.5 ounces) of its product (Phosphate Killer) to treat a 125-250 gallon tank for up to three months. There is, however, nothing wrong with starting with 1/10 that amount to see what happens. While it may be more work, using one ounce and changing it after two weeks may reduce some of the issues that aquarists have observed when changing the media."

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-11/rhf/index.php

 

[Brooks_McClary]

A quick question...

Is Phosââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“Zorb a GFO? It is white. Is it a resin? Does it exhibit the same issues as GFO? If the only reason that SPS and other corals have issues is due to the symbiotic algae going into shock due to a lack of food... I would expect the same problems would exits with any drastic reduction in po4.

Now my question is...

What do I do to fix it?

Do I remove the Phosââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“Zorb? Do I let my corals ride it out now that I have done the damage? Do I try to bump up my phosphates?

 

[EricHugo]

Phos-Zorb, I believe, is the white product which contains, I believe, aluminum oxide. I don't think there is any evidence to support that any product out there, including ferric ones, cause the problems that Randy has hypothesized COULD occur, and I also don't see anything in this thread that suggest that this tank has zero phosphates available...and I don't know of any test kit that could measure levels that low, nor do I know of anyone who has a tank with zero phosphates unless it is a tank filled with double distilled water and no life and levels of phosphate in clear oceanic water are one possible nutrient limitation of many organisms the levels are so low. So, first, I think such speculation is...speculation. Second, I am quite sure Hightower's GSP issues are probably related to the use of the aluminum containing resin.

Or, alternately, instead of applying Occam's razor, we could look for the most unrealistic and unbelievably remote chances of hypothetical situations causing the problem.

There is no need to add phosphate to anyone's tanks that I am aware of, and the simple death or organisms (and I don't mean the corals and the fish) and production of waste material that is occurring every second in the tank is releasing phosphate.

 

[Hightower33]

Only time will tell now.

I had low phosphate to begin with. I had it in there as a preventive measure for the low amounts that I had.

All corals are doing fine (hammer, frogspawn, trumpet,torch, mushrooms.

The only ones that are somewhat different are the GSP of course, that almost looks dead, the xenia which is shrunken to half of what it was, and SOME zoos which remain closed, and only open once in a while.

Phosphate from what I understand gets introduced by food and other organic waste. Removing it, was supposed to clean up the water hence the phosphate remover despite using RO/DI water.

The phosphate media is removed, and am planning for another water change. Hopefully things pickup.

 

[landragon]

FWIW my xenia also withered a bit at the same time as the GSP closing up. All is well now.

 

[Brooks_McClary]

So...

I am inferring from this that:

1) Phos-Zorb is not likely to have a direct, negitive affect on SPS or Leather corals.

2) There is little chance that no matter what I do, I will take the po4 SO LOW that it would negitively affect my corals.

So...

I dont take out the Phos-Zorb and follow the golden rule...

Have patience and let nature fix whatever went wrong.

 

[BlitzK]

did the GSP's ever come back?

Mine have done the same thing recently. Everything else in my tank is fine, but 3 types of GSP's now dont open and have stayed closed for a week or so.

Everything looks fine, except for GSP... weird

 

[Hightower33]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6548295#post6548295 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BlitzK
did the GSP's ever come back?

It appears to be albeit very slowly. I just see "stubble" on the rock with a few having the white star look. I'll keep hoping