Micro serpent star irritating zoa colony?

[novahobbies]

I have a frag of common neon green/red zoas that have been in the tank for about 2 months. They were open and had good extension for most of the time, however recently much of the colony has remained closed up. I've not added or changed anything in the system with the exception of the standard weekly water changes. pH is holding at 7.9 during the day, KH is at 120mg/L, Amm, Nitrite, and Nitrates are all unreadable. Calcium is high at 520, and the temperature is set at 74F.
I noticed a couple days ago that a micro serpent star seems to have taken up residence in the cracks of the rock the colony is fragged to. There is a good population of amphipods in the tank, and they crawl about the rocks and coral with impunity (no fish in this tank to hunt them yet). I also have a Paly frag that is doing well and a GSP rock that is...well, it's hard to KILL GSP.

I'd like to get the serpent star out without actually killing him...if I dip in Lugol's will the star try and evacuate the rock? I know he's not eating the coral, but I think he's eating the amphipods, and his actions are irritating the frag enough to keep it closed. Here's a pic -- what do you think? Do the closed polyps still look healthy, or is there something else I should be worried about? I highlighted and lightened two of the tentacles of the serpent star in this image as well.

 

[scopus tang]

I wouldn't think that a micro star would irriate the polyps enough to keep them closed all the time, but it might. Certain thread or spagettii worms will, so perhaps a microstar would as well, if it never moved on. Lugals will certainly make the star drop out, but most likely will kill it unless you use a very small dosage. Personally, I would leave it alone, it will move on eventually on its own.