Help.... Green Star Polyps are taking over my tank

[Jim Barry]

I have a 190 gallon tank that is mainly SPS. I put a frag of GSP in my tank a couple of years ago and now my live rock is covered and it is killing my SPS colonies.

I can't just pick it off as it attaches to the live rock and is impossible to remove. It is everywhere and it grows like crazy.

Is there anything that eats Green Star Polyps that I could put in my tank that would not also eat my SPS?

I don't want to tear down my tank and have to replace all my rock


Thanks,

 

[michael.lemke]

subscribed! love to hear any ideas, although I think anything that eats the rsp will eat other things as well. I have killed some by covering with epoxy putty over for a week of two and then removed the putty. If you have a ton though I don't think that would be time or cost effective. good luck

 

[matt the fiddler]

you could selectively inject it with kalk... watch your tanks ALK and PH though

but GSP is one hardy coral- a colony of mine that was getting babysat got air exposed at a friends for 24+ hours when the sump chamber ran dry. it was fine the next day.....

 

[MechEng99]

There are green-star-polyp eating nudibranchs, but you'd probably have to bug 300 LFS trying to find one that came in as a pest.

Otherwise, I'd expoxy over it then remove the putty as mentioned above.

 

[reefWW96]

yes i do agree get a gsp nudi. they only eat gsp so i would ask around in the for sale forums and everywhere to see if you can find one.

 

[livingcorals]

I did try the expoxy before you would need to do 2 layers and hope it works.
What I did and worked 100% was the Kalk. Turned off the pumps for 5 mins.
Not really inject but glob over so it burns it. The with forceps pinched and pulled off slowly. The mat will come off. Just make sure if glob it on there.
This worked for me. (do water changes after and syphon out any remaining Kalk before turning pumps back on)

 

[cwegescheide]

OMG I hate that crap.... I think everybody has made that mistake though. I liked it in the beginning.

In my new tank I did EVERYTHING to ensure I was free of that crap. I sat a bunch of the rock in the florida sun for a few months that had that stuff on there etc. cut up any frags that had it etc.. I'm proud to say my new tank is free of GSP.

 

[GatorWPB]

I had a huge amount of xenia I wanted to get rid of. I heard that fluke tabs killed xenia, so I tried a small piece of one.
The fluke tab ended up killing the xenia and the gsp, which I had a lot of also. I got a 2-for-1
Just a thought, as a tiny piece wont harm the tank and may help out your gsp problem.

 

[belgian_waffleman]

How much did you use?

Waffleman

 

[snowcap]

Epoxy

Epoxy

A band of epoxy around the area that needs to be contained works

 

[michael.lemke]

fluke tabs

fluke tabs

I had a huge amount of xenia I wanted to get rid of. I heard that fluke tabs killed xenia, so I tried a small piece of one.
The fluke tab ended up killing the xenia and the gsp, which I had a lot of also. I got a 2-for-1
Just a thought, as a tiny piece wont harm the tank and may help out your gsp problem.

how did you use the tabs? Crush up and put into water or rub on unwanted gsp? What else is in your aquarium and how did it effect it?

 

[AquamanE]

I did two sessions 2 weeks apart of fluke tabs (1/8 tab each crushed and mixed with tank water). GSP WAS GONE!!!!!......... for 2 months. Now its coming back. Ill probably try it again since its just starting again.

Losses, 2 awesome nephtheas.