green star polyps problems...

doryarlin955

doryarlin955

New Member
I got an awesome gsp colony 2 weeks ago and they havent opened up once. They are in a ten gallon tank with medium flow and 26W of compact flourescent 5500K lighting. Im starting to see a reddish film developing on some parts and then a couple edges are becoming a little whitish. I thought these things were indestructible!! :notsure: Do you think its dying or dead or will it open up sometime in the future? :help:
 
4

40 galons

Guest
if they were awsome before you got them. then i would definately think youre water quality isnt up to par.and just because they aer very hardy doesnt mean they cant be killed. id check the water. otherwise they should come around. sometimes they will close up for no reason for a day or two after being open for weeks
 
doryarlin955

doryarlin955

New Member
I have been doing about a 10% water change each week and I will test today because I havent tested ina week or two. I think if it gets any worse Ill have to take the mushrooms off the rock and just get rid of it. :(. Ill post picks in a little bit because its gotten worse. Maybe I just need to do bigger water changes and test at least once a week.
 
threed240

threed240

Member
Originally Posted by doryarlin955
I have been doing about a 10% water change each week and I will test today because I havent tested ina week or two. I think if it gets any worse Ill have to take the mushrooms off the rock and just get rid of it. :(. Ill post picks in a little bit because its gotten worse. Maybe I just need to do bigger water changes and test at least once a week.
I would test before doing any more water changes. If your paramaters are out of line, then do a water change. And if at all possible, try and upgrade your lights. I don't think that 26w is enough par over a ten gallon to support gsp, but its possible.
 
doryarlin955

doryarlin955

New Member
Ok well I checked everything: trates-o trites-0 ammonia-0 pH-8.2 sg-1.0235(a little high due to evaporation)
I think Im seeing whats happened. I had been told that 26W (yes thats all I have... its scary) would be enough so I didnt worry about it. Since they didnt have enough light, they were weakened and didnt open or didnt open because the slime was growing on them. Then a ocuple days ago thia tan gell like stuf started growing on it and is probably chocking it out. On my trip to the lfs today I think Im going to try and buy whatever I can to upgrade lighting. At least I know thats all I was doing wrong. This is probably why the leather and xenia frags died too. Oh and the reason I said it was "awesome" is because it was growing over a birdsnest skeleton.


 
doryarlin955

doryarlin955

New Member
Well after looking around and stealing things from other tanks I have increased the lighting to 61 watts. I could possibly add more if needed. Do you think I should add more lighting? Im using 26 watts of the cf lightis and then a 15 watt tube which I am going to change to actinic. Maybe I can actually keep corals now!!!
 
demartini

demartini

Active Member
Originally Posted by doryarlin955
Well after looking around and stealing things from other tanks I have increased the lighting to 61 watts. I could possibly add more if needed. Do you think I should add more lighting? Im using 26 watts of the cf lightis and then a 15 watt tube which I am going to change to actinic. Maybe I can actually keep corals now!!!
The 15 watt tube isn't going to help corals much. You need all of the lights to be power compacts. I would get the Coralife 20 Inch Aqualight 96W fixture. You would be able to keep a lot more kinds of corals.
 
doryarlin955

doryarlin955

New Member
Is it better because of intensity?? I think Im just going to have to look into a fixture like that because I cant keep up with the compact flourescent things. Does the gsp look dead to you? The tan stuff is actually the coral itself, I tried rubbing some off and its kindof dissolving. I added 6 hermit crabs, 4 nassarius snails and 2 cerith snails so hopefully I can get this a little more balanced out. Could the insufficient lighting have caused the leather frags to die also?
 
demartini

demartini

Active Member
The coralife fixture will do great over your ten gallon. Some of the gsp might be able to pull through. Leathers need a good amount of light to be healthy, but if it died fast then either your parameters aren't good or you didn't acclimate your corals long enough.
 
4

40 galons

Guest
were those like that when you bought them?? i cant think of anything that might be. if youre water is good . the lighting sure isnt going to do that. maybe they are very sick (disease)? good luck with them
 
doryarlin955

doryarlin955

New Member
Well I dont know what to do. The gsp's have just gotten worse. Should I take out the rock, cut off the shrooms, then just throw it out?? Im thinking it has a disease because there was/is nothing else wrong...
Also, I will only have these corals in here for a month. Then they will go into a nano cube which will need upgraded lighting. The ten gallon will house a mantis shrimp, sand, and just a little lr rubble so it wont need lots of light. Should I buy a light that will fit in the nano cube and use that over the 10 gallon until I get the nano cube?? Luckily I still have a small rock with a little gsp on it that isnt diseased but hasnt opened at all. Ill keep that unless it shows signs of the same "disease"
 
crf230

crf230

Member
I bought star polyp mail order and I put them in my tank. It took them over a month an then only a few opened. About 3 weeks later they all opened, and since then they've been growing like mad.
 
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