Green star polyp base is it the wrong colour?

[dudleystinks]

Today i bought a green star polyp. It looked great in the shop and all the polyps were open. This stopped me from being able to see the base that attaches them to the rock.

When i got it home obviously the polyps had closed up after being in a dark bag so i could now see the base. I thought that the base was supposed to be pink coloured? Mine is white with hairy looking pink bits. Is there something wrong with it?

Everything else looks nice and its starting to open up a little.

Thanks guys in advance

 

[lancer99]

GSPs usually have a dark purplish base.

Reefscience are selling something they call "skin polyps," which look like GSP, but have a whitish base:

Maybe that's what you have...they are pretty cool!

-R

 

[atzak]

Can you post a pic? Encrusting gorgonia (brarium?)is sold as star polyps a lot and usually has a grey base.

 

[J.R.L.]

yea most gsp have a purple or pink base to it....mine have a very dark puprle mat base

 

[dudleystinks]

yep pictures! Sorry im not very good at using my camera a little too technical for me

It doesnt look like your picture lancer the base is white but it has pink hair looking patterns on it. At first i thaught it was some purple sort of hair algae on it. You can see it in my pictures.

Other than the base everything else looks good to me

 

[lancer99]

Ah...it does indeed look like a Briareum sp.

The typical Indo-Pacific GSPs grow from a flat mat, and don't grow "branches" (at least that's what it looks like from the first pic)......so I'm guessing you have a Briareum sp.

The taxonomy of most soft corals is undergoing revision, so it's pretty difficult to identify it down to species.

But they're obviously happy in your tank, so be happy too!

-R

 

[GustavoAZ]

sounds like ya got something rarer than ya paid for.

 

[dudleystinks]

Does it have differnt needs to a gsp? I went for the gsp because i had read it wasnt so difficult to keep...

 

[crt81]

I had some at one time (the ones with the white mat) and I loved them. Very hard to find and IMO better looking than the ones with the purple mat. I find they aren't as hardy and the purple ones (I lost mine ). But I still to this day only look for the white mat ones. I also found with the one I purchased, was that I didn't spread as easily as the purple did (I like this!).


Most of the time you will only find the GSP with the purple mat but once you find the ones with the white mat, all I can say is LUCKY!!!!

And they are GSP just a different type, but still the same. I guess its like looking at a type of clownfish. One can be a occellarus and one could be a percula. Both clownfsh, just different types!


They are great

 

[Lotus99]

I have the white branching type, and it has done well in my tank with lower lighting and fairly low flow. Mine don't show any feeding response to anything. They can also close up for several days if you've moved them.

The feel of it freaks me out when I used to be able to move it. It kind of feels like dead fingers. Now it has encrusted on a couple of rocks, so it's no longer movable.

 

[ryan_paskadi]

I have 3 types in my tank two with the white branching mat, one with the purple encrusting mat. To me they are all GSP, and I care for them all the same with similar results in growth. The white mat kind are nice becuase you can peel the matrix off of rocks fairly easily in one whole sheet.

 

[HaKs310]

Oops, FML. Wrong thread.

 

[FNDsalt]

You may want to isolate your briarium in the sand bed away from your main aquascape. I have some myself and had to replace the whole left side of my rock work after it took over everything. Pretty decent sting to it too, lost a few corals before I took action.

It is a cool gorg though couldn't get ride of it completely. just placed in the sand bed. That way when it tries to take off again you can just peel it off the sand (unless bare bottom then I got nothin.)

 

[jwoyshnar]

You may want to isolate your briarium in the sand bed away from your main aquascape. I have some myself and had to replace the whole left side of my rock work after it took over everything. Pretty decent sting to it too, lost a few corals before I took action.

It is a cool gorg though couldn't get ride of it completely. just placed in the sand bed. That way when it tries to take off again you can just peel it off the sand (unless bare bottom then I got nothin.)

Totally agree with this post. It is an encrusting Gorgornian. I have brown and the green that you have. It will take over everything. Nothing stands a chance against it. It will cover everything even corals that you would never expect. One good thing about mine, it covered an outbreak of Kenya trees i had years ago.