Green Star Polyp dying?

[jcruz22686]

hi im new and ive had my 29 gallon tank running for about 2 to 3 months now and things are going well. about two weeks ago i purchased some zoos and a green star polyp mat .the zoos are fine as of right now they are adjusting perfectly. the thing is my green star polyps never really opened only one or two out of a 4 inch mat. as i let it be i noticed that brown algae has grown on it. in order to fix this i used ro water and the algae is going away. as far as tank perimeters all are good

salt:22
nitrate:5-10
nitite:0
ammonia:0
calcium:420
alk:9 dkh

everything is doing fine and i have seen a crazy increase of life such as more bugs, a hatching of mysis shrimp occured (that was weird but most got skimmed)tube worms growing on my glass, palythoa which was the first corals put in have multiplied and increased in size, 2 mushrooms that were hitchikers are also doubled in size since they have been in there even when the tank was cycling, bristle worms, spagheti worms, and even a very small the size of a grain of sand sized jellyfish was spotted but also was most likely skimmed. i also have 2 fish a firefish and a yellowtail damsel very reef safe and feed every 2 days with mysiss.
the thing is my green star polyp seems to be failing after this brown algae battle.and the other thing is as soon as the hermits knew there was brown algae on it they went nuts and started chowing. when they were finished they seemed to scratched the surface of the mat. there are areas that the polyp tubes are gone but no real meltdown as of yet and there are areas thet the tube are there but they are closed tight and still have alittle brown algae in the crevises where to polyps would emege from. there also seems to be a hitchhicking xenia that has emereged from one of the sides of the mat that is pulsing ang looks healthy. could this be that the polyps are still alive but extremely stressed?? please any help would be greatly appreciated.thanks

ps i also have various ytypes of caulerpa which have been keeping the nitrates down and have been growing very well they include racemosa, C. prolifera(i think someone ate this), peltata, serrulata , and even though its not caulerpai have a nice chunk of cheto that been growing and getting greener.i am watching them for gametes.

 

[jcruz22686]

can anyone help me. also my ph is 8.3

 

[spineshank385]

first of all, get those nitrates down. anything over 2 ppm is too high for a reef tank, IMO.

second, grab a soft bristle tooth brush or something similar and get those diatoms off the gsp colony. The algae will irritate the coral, and it won't open up.

Your diatoms are caused by your nitrate level. Test for phosphate too, i'll be you get a number greater than 0.

 

[jcruz22686]

well ro water test wrong for nitrate so i think the nitrates are alittle off today the nitrates were way down about 2-5. as of the algae its dying so quickly that its attaching itself to my skimmer intake.i mean i went from brown to cear in about 2 days ro water does wonders when you live in brooklyn. as of phosphate i have used tap water that was conditioned with coralife and a conditioner but very little. in brooklyn we have tons of phosphates so its hard not to avoid the brown algae i just didnt wait for it to start dying off naturaly. i used all sorts of resins and stuff i just went the ro water route and i swithed to bio sea. since 3-4 days i have seen tremendous improvement. the gsp is the only thing freaking out as there are xenia growing right in it with the brown algae and they are growing and pulsing everyday. from what i heard gsp are the toughest but maybe it went through a rough way through shipping and because of it being stressed it allowed the diatoms to grow on it and its starting to fail. however what about the hermits picking to the point that it looks like it was scraped with a toothbrush and its all scrtached up i dont even want to touch it i just want to see if it can recover on its own as there is just one polyp intact and halfway emerged. i just need to know if the area thats all scratched might come back on it own.the bugs hermits and snails are ridding it of the algae but the hermit rip it up.

 

[jcruz22686]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7896031#post7896031 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spineshank385
first of all, get those nitrates down. anything over 2 ppm is too high for a reef tank, IMO.

second, grab a soft bristle tooth brush or something similar and get those diatoms off the gsp colony. The algae will irritate the coral, and it won't open up.

Your diatoms are caused by your nitrate level. Test for phosphate too, i'll be you get a number greater than 0.

hey that soft brush thing good and bad. i went home today early from work and noticed that even though the polyps tube were gone there were polyp heads protruding just allittle. so i thought gee maybe its going to be alright. back to the brush i thought it would work it did but also shredded the flesh were the tubes were gone but polyps remained. i dont know what i did to them but they were alive as soon as i touched them they let out some juice. the thing is the brush shreded flesh away the flesh that looked injured but still had polyps remaining just turned into dust . it also started to fall apart releasin itself from the rock it was on. i managed to get some algae off the remaining area that still had polyp tubes remaining. but most just came apart i now had 2 pieces instead of one. DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT I DID???

 

[spineshank385]

you didnt put too much pressure on the brush, did you?

GSP's are extremely hardy, things will be fine, just work on getting your water parameters in check

 

[jcruz22686]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7902045#post7902045 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spineshank385
you didnt put too much pressure on the brush, did you?

GSP's are extremely hardy, things will be fine, just work on getting your water parameters in check

no way i didnt push that hard but all it takes for it to shred is a light touch. but it seems to still be alive were its melting. it has that fiberous look when corals start to shred.like the tissue looks like strands instead of smooth. but ill get those water parameters in check thanks for helping me as the brush did work good on the side that has not shred yet.not even a scratch appeared in that area but the polyps are still closed.

 

[NanoKat]

I had gsp's that survived a hurricane caused power outage and sitting in an essentially "dead" tank for quite a while thereafter. I thought everything was dead, so I hadn't paid much attention to it. When I went to break it all down, I saw some gsp's still on a rock, so I transferred it to my new tank. Only about 2 or 3 polyps were still there, but day after day, more grew on the colony. Right now it's probably at about 200 polyps after about a year and a half. That tells me that they must be pretty hardy. I would let them be for now and see what happens. Getting your water parameters under control is the biggest thing, so now all you can do is wait and see.

 

[e46mpower]

I had this problem too when I got my GSPs. A few members told me that the polyps hibernate anywhere from 3 days to two weeks. When I got my GSPs into my tank, they didn't come out for about 4 days, and brown algae started to cover the mat. After the 4 days or so, they all started to come out and are looking good.

 

[scarter]

give them more flow, that will entice them to come out. GSP really do need a lot of flow to flourish, and they love the light. I keep many under 400W MH and very turbulent flow. and dont brush them anymore.

 

[Serioussnaps]

GSP's like nutrients such as nitrates but dont go over 40 or so ppm with them...u need to take a tooth brush and wipe of the algae..the algae irritates the polyps and they retract

get the algae off and within a week they will fully i extend i guarrantee it....also...dont let the algae grow on it ie....more flow in that area

also are you sure the "hitchhiking xenia" isnt aiptasia that could be stinging your polyps?

 

[jcruz22686]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7942370#post7942370 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Serioussnaps
GSP's like nutrients such as nitrates but dont go over 40 or so ppm with them...u need to take a tooth brush and wipe of the algae..the algae irritates the polyps and they retract

get the algae off and within a week they will fully i extend i guarrantee it....also...dont let the algae grow on it ie....more flow in that area

also are you sure the "hitchhiking xenia" isnt aiptasia that could be stinging your polyps?

yup pretty sure they are growing from an encrusting base and they are pulsing. the gsp still dont look very well but im trying everything. everything else still seems to be doing well. thank you guys for all your help

 

[Cody Ray]

What kind of lighting do u have? I have some gsp that haven't opened for a good month and other things have been dying in my system. Turns out that the mh I am running wasn't properly sheilded with glass (the bulb that came with the fixture is different than the one I replaced it with). They don't like UV radiation