Green Star Polyp Question

[evescj1]

I have a small nano reef (8-gal Biocube). Have put a few corals in a few weeks ago and they have all been doing great. I have a hammer coral, a couple mushrooms, and a small frag of green star polyps.

The green star polyps stayed retracted for the first couple days, then came out and were looking great. However, they have been retracted for about 5 days now, and the holes that they go in and out of are now closed off so they just look like bumps on the purple mat. Its like they have been calcified over or something. Everything I have read indicates to me that the coral is still alive, but I am wondering if they will ever be able to come out of the mat again since the holes appear to be sealed off.

Had the water sampled two days ago and here is the the stats: Salinity=1.024, Phosphate=0.25, KH=9.0, Calcium=540. I was told the calcium is a bit high, but not necessary to do anything at this point and that the corals will soak it up.

I attached a close-up picture of the frag, along with a pic of the entire tank so you can see where it is placed within the tank. Its near the top of my live rock, just right of the hammer coral. Should get pretty decent flow where its at.

Any advice would be great. Really confused about those "holes" being sealed off and nobody seems to know what I am talking about. Thanks!

 

[Fishguy15]

do you have flow pointed directly at it?

 

[evescj1]

Thanks for the reply.
Not directly in line with the flow, but just offline of the main stream. If you look at the attached picture you can see the relationship from the polyp frag to the direction of my recirculation pump. The polyp frag is just right of the hammer coral at the top of my live rock. (in line with the water heater)

 

[EllieSuz]

Try putting it very near or on the sand. Mine grow well, but are much farther from the light source. A word of warning; once these corals take hold they can dominate a small tank such as yours. Be certain to keep them on a rock that is distant from anything they can grow on. Once they get going they are impossible to subdue.

 

[Fishfish0001]

Or just attach it to the back wall. Mine do great back there, and they dont grow down, so they can't attach to any of my rock. Its almost growing over the back into the filter section.

 

[evescj1]

Thanks for the suggestions. Today, they came out again. It was really strange how the holes turned into bumps, but apparently they are capable of doing that.

I appreciate the advice that was given!