Star polyps

[Ericluisb1]

I have been reefing now for about 3 yrs now which still a new reefer in my opinion anyhow I own a 75 gallon, have a couple of zoas , 2 Kenya trees, 6 damsels. I check my water levels almost daily and everything seems to be fine with the water mysteriously after coming home from work one night all of my corals have lost color and star polyps wrong come out. I checked my levels again ph, ammonia, nitrate, nitrites everything is still great corals are still living but I'm a bit concerned because I have had these before and have acclimated them and the same thing happened they never showed for months just stayed in the pink mat any ideas???

 

[Ztous]

What kind of star polyps? Green star polyps are usually hardy enough that if zoas are living then they should be ok. Are they close to each other? Could be chemical warfare.

 

[Sk8r]

Run carbon---Put some carbon in a bag in the water flow. Chemical warfare is likely, and alkalinity may be off, causing friction. s/b 8.3.

 

[Ericluisb1]

They are in fact green star polyps. the polyps and zoass are pretty close to each other so that could be one reason.. I also did not know to measure to alkalinity levels I have a API test kit that only tests ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and ph should I get a a better test kit or refractometer and if the alkalinity is the source of the problem how should that be resolved??? Simple water change??

Also being that that may be chemical warfare are there specific on what corals can go together and what may not?

 

[chrisfont23]

I had an entire mat of GSPs covering a quarter of the rock in a 29 gallon tank close up one day and die months later. One day they were great. The next they were not. Never figured out what happened. I noticed that the GSPs tend to grow like weeds and would even outcompete my aggressive zoanthids, so maybe this is a blessing.

 

[Silly clownfish]

Althouh chemical warfare seems a likely culprit, a couple of other thoughts- you listed a bunch of parameters that are ok. I assume you checked the obivious: temperature and salinity? Also grab a multimeter and check for stray voltage.

 

[Reincarnate]

I don't think it's Allelopathy. Not in a 75 gallon tank with only some zoanthids, a couple kenya tree corals and some star polyps in it. It's something else IMO. Assuming the lighting is sufficient and your paramers are in fact within reason you might want to just wait them out. This coral can be very temperamental sometimes.

 

[MuShu]

How much flow are they getting? They really like high flow, and do pretty well if they are in the direct path of a power head.

I noticed that when mine were in a lower-flow area of my tank, they would stay closed up.

I also suggest getting a salifert kit for Alk, Mag, and Cal. If those are off, it will affect your corals.

 

[Ericluisb1]

Sorry for the late reply guys I do have them in the direct path of the flow though and they still never opened up after all this time so I am starting to think it could be Alkalinity problem I have to buy the salifert as someone mentioned before. the Zoas are still with out color but the gets all then get larges again over a period of time.