Star polyp help

[E fishn C]

Have had star polyps for about a six months now. They where growing and really expanding mid of tank off to side. Now last week they are starting to deteriorate. Best description, you can see on rock frag its just peeling away and disappearing. Do they need stronger light?
They are getting good flow and parameters are below:
Thanks

weekly water changes
flow: 2 Hydor Koralia 1150 LED full spectrum
Additives Seachem fusion 1&2
Temp 79.4
Sal 1.025
pH 180
NH3 0
NO2 0
NO3 15
Ca 440
Alk 10.08 dkh
:hammer:

 

[justthewife]

Those look like Anthelia to me from that picture.

 

[E fishn C]

yes Anthelia

yes Anthelia

Those look like Anthelia to me from that picture.

Anthelia it is my mistake.
Whats its issue. Why is it peeling away and disolving.
Anyone?

 

[justthewife]

Your tank might be too pristine for them. Anthelia like a bit of nutrients in the water. People with Anthelia have told me that they don't do well with 0 nitrates. I have also heard that you can either keep them and have good luck or you can't and they just dissolve. Too much flow on them will dissolve them, not enough flow will dissolve them. They don't like frag plugs much in my experience. They prefer live rock/rubble. In my opinion they need a space on the bottom of the tank with rubble around it so they have a place to encrust.

 

[justthewife]

they are also pretty defenseless with other corals. If you have them too close they will get stung.

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

Your tank might be too pristine for them. Anthelia like a bit of nutrients in the water. People with Anthelia have told me that they don't do well with 0 nitrates. I have also heard that you can either keep them and have good luck or you can't and they just dissolve. Too much flow on them will dissolve them, not enough flow will dissolve them. They don't like frag plugs much in my experience. They prefer live rock/rubble. In my opinion they need a space on the bottom of the tank with rubble around it so they have a place to encrust.

mine are growing on the glass at the stop of may tank and spread like wild fire"¦(dirtiest of the water i suppose, best light and flow"¦) my experience with other xenia type corals is exactly as you describe though...

they are also pretty defenseless with other corals. If you have them too close they will get stung.

i have random babies (that are not so babies anymore ) growing all over my tank touching everything, zoos, leathers, plays, monties, nothing really seams to phase it in my tank...

 

[E fishn C]

Thanks

Thanks

Big help reefers. I will relocate to different areas in tank to see if they thrive.

 

[jmowbray]

When I recieved a frag mine all melted away and grew back healtly from what was left of the stalk.

 

[justthewife]

mine are growing on the glass at the stop of may tank and spread like wild fire…(dirtiest of the water i suppose, best light and flow…) my experience with other xenia type corals is exactly as you describe though...

i have random babies (that are not so babies anymore ) growing all over my tank touching everything, zoos, leathers, plays, monties, nothing really seams to phase it in my tank...

I keep my thriving Anthelia contained at the bottom of my tank surrounded by rubble to encrust on so that they don't take over the tank :lmao:. It also makes for easy fragging. I don't let it grow all over the place. When I first got them, they were pretty sensitive. Now that they are established, nothing seems to bother them and they are also touchy feelie corals with the others. They have gotten stung at their tips (the tips turn grayish or white and look shriveled when this happens) by devils hand, mushrooms and zoanthids but they seem to recover quickly. I have had them two years and have given quite a few frags away about every 4-6 months. Anthelia normally comes from deeper water and do not travel well. I have found if you get a frag from an established tank it seems to survive in your tank much better and be hardier than if it comes from the wild. I keep the flow just enough so that they are standing pretty straight up and swaying back and forth. I have seen others blast the heck out of them with the flow and wonder why they don't do well.:lmao:

 

[justthewife]

Also, to clarify, what I meant by defenseless is that they don't produce hardly any toxins if any so they are not a chemical threat to other corals. But I have seen them get stung or chemically affected by other nearby corals. There was one time when I had a Devils Hand in my tank, the Anthelia would sway over it and the polyps would burn. I moved it over only to have the Anthelia sway the other way on top of my hairy mushrooms and they then again got burned. I pretty much isolate them into a corner of my tank (an experienced reefer told me to do the rubble around them). Personally, I love them but others find them to spread too quickly and become a problem coral. I think they are beautiful and love the swaying/waving motion. Now I have pretty much switched from softies, then to mixed then to almost all SPS and LPS so I don't know if I will be able to keep them anymore because I will probably be going with the more pristine water = 0 nitrates.

E fishn C ___ did you mean to say your nitrates are 15? or did you mean 1.5? I was reading that wrong I think, sorry.

 

[adelgado89]

Does anyone know what kind of polyps these are?

 

[Skimfish101]

Yeah I'm having similar issues with Star Polyps. I've had it in the tank for 24 hrs and they are all closed shut. Anyone know what I can do to help them open up? See picture in my avatar. Thanks!