Greenstar Polyps is disintegrating

[Tkstarr]

Hello everyone! 

 

I am new to reef keeping and could use a lil help please. Currently experiencing an problem with my GSP I got this nice size mat from a reputable fish store and it looked amazing in their tank it was an electric bright green very healthy lots of polyps when I purchased it. 

 

Its only been about two weeks and the  polyps have never open since I added them to my tank.  Now I do understand it take time for GSP to open but I can tell something is wrong with this coral.  I dip the GSP in ReVine coral dip before adding it to the tank. Now the purple mat appears to be disintegrating right before my eyes  exposing the inner green body of the polyps on some of the mat. There are other parts of the mat the look normal but are still closed up tightly. 

 

I have pristine water conditions as I run my system very clean maybe a lil to clean I’ve been told I could possibly not have enough nutrients in my tank for this coral to thrive.

 

This system had fish at the very beginning however, I had to remove them from the main display into quarantine because they were ill. The main display has been without fish for several weeks almost a month now so I’m not sure if this could be my problem.  I have done water changes as normal and all my parameters seem to be in range.

 

I recently added 1 new snowflake clown fish to my system yesterday hoping this would help add nutrients to my system since the other fish are still ill and I don’t want to add them back to my main display yet. I do target feed my corals with Reef Roids at least once a week. 

 

I have also tried to do a really good job at making sure I don’t have any bad hitchhikers in my tank. I dip all my corals and fish before they go into my main display and I have checked the tank with a flashlight after lights out to see if there’s anything going on and I see nothing. 

 

What else could I do to save this beautiful piece of GSP I paid a lot of money for it and don’t want it to continue dying. 

 

Please help!!!

 

Water parameters:

SG 1.025

PH 8.0

Amo 0

Alk 9.4

Mag 1290 usual at 1350

NO2 0

NO3 0

Cal 460

Phos 0

 

Tank Specs:

3 months old

30 Gallon long

12 total corals all doing well but the GSP

1 snowflake clown fish 

2 PP4 wave makers very strong  

Great lighting set on a auto timer to ramp up and down throughout the day. 

Auto top off system 

Filtration rated for 150 gallon tank (Canister filter) no sump 😞

Refugium with chaeto growing inside of it

 

 

 

 

 

[reef3r]

I would attach it to a piece of rock for starters. It's not going to have anything to attach itself to when it's laying on the sand bed like that and therefor will not grow nearly as fast, if at all.

[Tkstarr]

I actually have two pieces of this GSP one is attached to a rock with the same symptoms. The piece in the photo is also attached to a piece of white glass tile it just appears to be laying on the sand bed but it’s really not. 

[WV Reefer]

16 minutes ago, Tkstarr said:

Hello everyone! 

 

I am new to reef keeping and could use a lil help please. Currently experiencing an problem with my GSP I got this nice size mat from a reputable fish store and it looked amazing in their tank it was an electric bright green very healthy lots of polyps when I purchased it. 

 

Its only been about two weeks and the  polyps have never open since I added them to my tank.  Now I do understand it take time for GSP to open but I can tell something is wrong with this coral.  I dip the GSP in ReVine coral dip before adding it to the tank. Now the purple mat appears to be disintegrating right before my eyes  exposing the inner green body of the polyps on some of the mat. There are other parts of the mat the look normal but are still closed up tightly. 

 

I have pristine water conditions as I run my system very clean maybe a lil to clean I’ve been told I could possibly not have enough nutrients in my tank for this coral to thrive.

 

This system had fish at the very beginning however, I had to remove them from the main display into quarantine because they were ill. The main display has been without fish for several weeks almost a month now so I’m not sure if this could be my problem.  I have done water changes as normal and all my parameters seem to be in range.

 

I recently added 1 new snowflake clown fish to my system yesterday hoping this would help add nutrients to my system since the other fish are still ill and I don’t want to add them back to my main display yet. I do target feed my corals with Reef Roids at least once a week. 

 

I have also tried to do a really good job at making sure I don’t have any bad hitchhikers in my tank. I dip all my corals and fish before they go into my main display and I have checked the tank with a flashlight after lights out to see if there’s anything going on and I see nothing. 

 

What else could I do to save this beautiful piece of GSP I paid a lot of money for it and don’t want it to continue dying. 

 

Please help!!!

 

Water parameters:

SG 1.025

PH 8.0

Amo 0

Alk 9.4

Mag 1290 usual at 1350

NO2 0

NO3 0

Cal 460

Phos 0

 

Tank Specs:

3 months old

30 Gallon long

12 total corals all doing well but the GSP

1 snowflake clown fish 

2 PP4 wave makers very strong  

Great lighting set on a auto timer to ramp up and down throughout the day. 

Auto top off system 

Filtration rated for 150 gallon tank (Canister filter) no sump 😞

Refugium with chaeto growing inside of it

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would move it into higher flow to start. GSP like to move.  

[Tkstarr]

I have the wave maker aimed directly at the GSP it has plenty of flow moderate but not blasting the coral. I have the ability to adjust the flow so that its stronger or less flow if I need to or do I need to just move it to the top of the tank and point the wave maker at it? 

[Tkstarr]

Here a pic of the tank with both GSP frags  both are in Moderate to turbulent flow and one is attached to some rock both have the same symptoms. 

[WV Reefer]

7 minutes ago, Tkstarr said:

I have the wave maker aimed directly at the GSP it has plenty of flow moderate but not blasting the coral. I have the ability to adjust the flow so that its stronger or less flow if I need to or do I need to just move it to the top of the tank and point the wave maker at it? 

I would get it somewhere that the flow is high and moving across the entire coral. If it’s a flow issue I bet you see it react very quickly.  

[Tkstarr]

3 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

I would get it somewhere that the flow is high and moving across the entire coral. If it’s a flow issue I bet you see it react very quickly.  

Ok I will move it around to see what kind of results I get Thank u.

 

As far as my system running to clean with not enough nutrients have you heard this before? I could not find any research online pertaining to this matter. If I’m target feeding my corals would this be enough to keep the nutrients in the water column to an acceptable level? I don’t really want to get into dosing iodine and trace elements I don’t see the need for it at this time. All my other corals are healthy and doing fine with great color. 

[WV Reefer]

15 minutes ago, Tkstarr said:

Ok I will move it around to see what kind of results I get Thank u.

 

As far as my system running to clean with not enough nutrients have you heard this before? I could not find any research online pertaining to this matter. If I’m target feeding my corals would this be enough to keep the nutrients in the water column to an acceptable level? I don’t really want to get into dosing iodine and trace elements I don’t see the need for it at this time. All my other corals are healthy and doing fine with great color. 

 

It is possible to be too clean. But I doubt that’s the issue with the tank being so young. 

[Tkstarr]

12 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

 

It is possible to be too clean. But I doubt that’s the issue with the tank being so young. 

Ok ty for your help 

[WV Reefer]

3 minutes ago, Tkstarr said:

Ok ty for your help 

 

You are welcome. 😊 

 

always try the easiest thing first....... if it doesn’t help we’ll go back to the drawing board. 

[Clown79]

I couldn't keep gsp forever, it was from lack of nutrients I believe because my tanks used to run low nitrates and no phosphate.

 

I recently tried it again and this time they lasted, I now have phos and better nitrates.

 

They love flow, that's another thing I noticed. Low flow- not happy, high flow- loving it.

[Tkstarr]

2 hours ago, Clown79 said:

I couldn't keep gsp forever, it was from lack of nutrients I believe because my tanks used to run low nitrates and no phosphate.

 

I recently tried it again and this time they lasted, I now have phos and better nitrates.

 

They love flow, that's another thing I noticed. Low flow- not happy, high flow- loving it.

Hello I’m thinking this has to be my problem also it’s the only thing I can find as a logical explanation as to why this coral is not thriving in my tank. I took the smaller frag and put it in my smaller tank that has had fish in it to see if this will help the smaller piece of GSP.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed. 

[Wingy]

The mat looks like it is still purple so it isn't dead.  Be sure to blow it off every few days.  I had a fresh cut piece of gsp that  mostly desinigrated  but i left the rock it was attached to in the tank and after about 12 weeks  a lone polyp emerged.