Yellow Polyps

[missile150]

I have had a 10gal nano up and running for about 4 months now. Everything is great in it. Here are the parameters, quick and short:
calcium - 400
nitrate and nitrate - 0
ph - 8.3
salinity - 1.024 to 1.025
temp - 78 - 79deg
phosphate - o
Inhabitants:
1 yellow clown goby
1 emerald crab
1 torch coral
a bunch of yellow star polyps
1 ricordia mushroom
1 other mushroom
4 candy cane coral heads
several other small star polyps
a small chunk of halimeda
1 tubenastrea coral
Equipment:
200gph hang on filter
80watt compact flourescent light
about 20lbs of live rock
crushed coral substrate
Everything was fine until about a week ago and the yellow star polyps started to not expand all the way. All the other corals are doing well, even growing, but this one has stopped. I had the temp of the tank a little higher for a while, around 82degrees, but did not want to keep it that high, so I lowered it. Should it have stayed that high? I did not want to over heat the corals. Can it have remained that high and not harmed the fish or the corals? I was under the understanding that it may be a little on the high side, but through a bunch of reading, temps can range from 77degrees to 84 degrees. Maybe I should have left it. Do you think that was the cause? Thanks.

 

[azreefgirl]

Do they look like they're turning a darker shade of yellow or brown? Mine started to look kinda shriveled and then started to turn brown, so I moved them up closer to the light and made sure to spot feed them cyclopeez or mysis shrimp a few times per week. After a few weeks of that, they were back to being beautiful! The temp being at 82 shouldn't have hurt anything, my tank has been up to 82 a couple times so far this year (hey, it's Phoenix, what do you expect?!), and everything's fine.

 

[reefforbrains]

Yellow polyps will "reach" for the light if not close enough, they tend to lose thier color as they grow but if turning dark or even translucent and longer shafts then I would say they are not close enough to source.
They are also meat eaters. if your feeding brine they will often catch the brine and stay closed for longer peroids. Usually they are durable little guys but moving them around can make them stay closed too. Just a thought.

 

[missile150]

They do seem to be getting a little darker. They have been as close to the light source as they have been. Should I move them closer? Also, I just changed the actinic PC light this weekend, but this has been happening before the light was changed. It was one of the 40 watt bulbs. And when I try to spot feed, they tend to "miss" a lot of the food leaving a lot of waste in the tank. Thanks for the thoughts.

 

[azreefgirl]

Try moving them closer to the light source. Mine were at the bottom of the tank for a couple of months and I thought they were doing great. Heck, I even thought they were growing taller, but apparently were just elongating themselves to reach more light! Then they started to turn brown and shrivel up, so I moved them to the top of the tank and started feeding them. They are kinda tricky to feed--they do miss a lot, and if you squirt it at them too forcefully, they'll close before they get any food. I lightly squeeze an eyedropper full of cyclopeez over them at close range, and it works pretty well, and what they don't eat, my clowns come over and clean up that mess.

 

[missile150]

Thanks for the suggestion! I will move them higher. I will also try your eyedropper idea, as the turkey baster may be a little too forceful. I will do this ASAP, but I need to get another piece of rock to put them on. They have been cemented to a large piece, so it all will have to be elevated.