green star polyp trouble

dscheidegger

dscheidegger

New member
Ive had this coral for about 2months and its been fine. Then about two weeks ago this red algae stuff broke out and was all over everything including the coral. I used a soft toothbrush and cleand it off and now it wont extend the tentacles. There are just a couple green tips sticking out of one peice. Did the red algae kill it? The base is still purple in color.
 
My guess the "red aglea" is cyno. I'm fighting a touch of it now. It can be a pain. Try to reduce the amount of nutrients in your tank. If you have fish cut back on feedings. Tap water "can" bring in things that contribute to cyno. Are you using tap water?
 
Red algae - is it kind of velvety in appearance with bubbles underneath?

If so, this is called red slime, it is not algae but cyanobacteria. They come from having a combination of too many nutrients, not enough flow, and I believe bad lighting.

Fighting it is tough, but generally you want to find out the cause of it first.

For now, siphon it out and do partial water changes, but try to find the cause of it.

EDIT: Here is some good reading about it:

HighlandReefer said:
Perhaps these articles may be of some interest:

Some additional thoughts for converting an aglae based system (and cyano based) to a bacterial based system (including the use of carbon sources):
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1781320


Dealing with Cyanobacteria and Red Slime Algae
Copyright 1997, Albert J. Thiel
http://netclub.athiel.com/cyano/cyanos2.htm


Cyanobacteria:
CyanoOnMacro.jpg


Cyanobacteria Toxins in the Water Environment
http://www.fwr.org/cyanotox.pdf

Evidence of cyanobacteria-like endosymbionts
in Acroporid corals from the Great Barrier Reef
http://www.springerlink.com/content/h268q7357196753l/fulltext.pdf

Chemical defense of a marine cyanobacterial bloom
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=2324962

Excess carbon in aquatic organisms and ecosystems: Physiological, ecological, and
evolutionary implications
Dag O. Hessen1
University of Oslo, Department of Biology, CEES, P.O. Box 1066 Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Norway
http://www.aslo.org/lo/toc/vol_53/issue_4/1685.pdf

Nitrogen Control in Cyanobacteria
http://jb.asm.org/cgi/content/full/183/2/411

Effects of UV and visible light on cyanobacteria at the cellular level
http://www.rsc.org/publishing/journals/PP/article.asp?doi=b203955a

Hydrogen Peroxide Inhibits Photosynthetic Electron Transport in Cells of Cyanobacteria
http://www.springerlink.com/content/k8857r1501213202/

Combined exposure to hydrogen peroxide and light : Selective effects on cyanobacteria, green algae, and diatoms
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18420025
Click to expand...
 
I literally just saved a colony from this same situation recently.

I simply took a syringe w/o a tip... kind of like you get in most test kits, and used it to blast away most of the algae. I had to keep up on this for a few days as it would continue to come back and I'm guessing the coating was gone from the dead area of mat in the center anyways.

Good news is, it's already repopulated the center and is growing outwards too.. I didn't get pics of the before as it was in someone elses tank and I took it over since it was declining.

gsp3.jpg
 
Yes that is the stuff! And as of right now its starting to come back, it looks like yours dread240. I have a 14 gallon Biocube, and the blue light is going out I think, as it doesnt seem as bright to me when I lift the lid. Also I found a bristle worm hiding under one of the pieces, I have read that there are some that eat coral. could that be part of it as well. And stupid me tried to go in with a turkey baster to suck it up and no gloves haha.
 
Bristle worms are starting to be regarded as not that bad, but you should probably research some of them, and definitely try to get a pic so people can try to ID it for you.

On my GSP, I had a phyllodesmium briareum and it eats GSP like crazy, when I got the piece it only had 3 polyps, once I removed the nudibranch the GSP had over 30 in one week.

Google this "phyllodesmium briareum" and look at the first link for it, as I don't think I can link to a board not on RC.
 
Fullspeed- Ive been using distilled water from kroger and walmart. I went and got 9 gallons of ro water from my lfs. well I dont know if its local if I had to drive 1/2 an hour to get there lol. Im going to do a 50% water change today and scrub down the tank and rocks. I cant afford the RO unit right now. it sucks.
 
dscheidegger said:
Fullspeed- Ive been using distilled water from kroger and walmart. I went and got 9 gallons of ro water from my lfs. well I dont know if its local if I had to drive 1/2 an hour to get there lol. Im going to do a 50% water change today and scrub down the tank and rocks. I cant afford the RO unit right now. it sucks.
Click to expand...

I wish mine was only 1/2 hour away, count yourself lucky!
 
I have question about me green star colany it's the size of a softball and it is very healthy and nice and thick but for the past few days it won't open I checked all the levels and everything is ok what can cause them not to open oh ya I had them in my tank for about six months in the same spot please help lol
 
rjnjaj, is there something on it? Like algae or anything? Also, check to see if there is something eating the polyps.
 
I had to move mine so they were in a better flow area. once I did that they opend bigger and have been growing nicely. And they are nice and healthy now after cleaning.
 
yup... It's been like 3 weeks since I rescued the gsp frag that I have, and already the entire middle portion has sprouted new polyps to fill in the void... literally like 40 new polyps in 3 weeks...
 
GSP is very very very hardy, mine was closed up for *8 months* due to hermit crabs walking on it. I have since removed the hermits and it has made a full recovery.
 
on a rock by itself down low.. that way you can contain it down the road (GSP was my first as well too and even I've done this to prevent future problems
 
mine gets pretty good flow and i have 2 lights out and they are doing just fine and still spreading.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

P
50 Gallon Stocking Help
2
Replies
21
Views
2K
Urka
U
NancyT3
Appropriate light for anenomes and sea star
Replies
7
Views
1K
NancyT3
NancyT3
o2manyfish
o2manyfish - FREE CORALS - Nothing Exciting, But Free (Encino)
Replies
2
Views
892
iceman12
I
F
Invasive Algae in my tank
Replies
10
Views
1K
Timfish
Timfish
Markarian421
Parting out our 120 gallon tank -- Fremont
Replies
5
Views
943
Markarian421
Markarian421
Back
Top