I have had healthy greenstar polyps in my reef tank for a couple of years now and it grew quit a bit, but for the past few months I have noticed that it is getting smaller and thinner on the rock. Any ideas what could be the problem? I have been feeding it with Kent Marine Phytoplex and baby brine shrimp. I have been adding Strontium, Calcium, and Iodine as directed, and am not sure if I should be adding something else, or testing their levels. I keep the Sp. gravity at 1.021, and the pH at around 8.2, and keep the temp. at around 84-85 degrees F. I have plenty of florescent light. It's seem healthy and happy, except for the slow decline.
Need help with Greenstar coral!
- Thread starter philosophicles
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a few things pop out upon first read here...
1- To me your temp seems a bit high. I TRY and keep mine around 75-77. If your lights are the issue add a clip-on fan blowing directly on the water surface on either your sump or your display.
2- It looks like you are adding a lot of additives. First, if you can't test for them be VERY cautious about adding them. I've always just used a 2-part additive like B-Ionic for everything. A lot of reefers, myself included, don't believe that Iodine is needed.
3- I've never personally seen GSP eat BBS. Seems like the shrimp would be much too large?
4- Check water quality with some good test kits. If you are overfeeding with the Phytoplex and BBS.. you could cause some spikes.
,,,,... oh.. Cindre'... I like GSP's if you have extra WEEDS send them on over.
Good luck with it.
B
1- To me your temp seems a bit high. I TRY and keep mine around 75-77. If your lights are the issue add a clip-on fan blowing directly on the water surface on either your sump or your display.
2- It looks like you are adding a lot of additives. First, if you can't test for them be VERY cautious about adding them. I've always just used a 2-part additive like B-Ionic for everything. A lot of reefers, myself included, don't believe that Iodine is needed.
3- I've never personally seen GSP eat BBS. Seems like the shrimp would be much too large?
4- Check water quality with some good test kits. If you are overfeeding with the Phytoplex and BBS.. you could cause some spikes.
,,,,... oh.. Cindre'... I like GSP's if you have extra WEEDS send them on over.
Good luck with it.
B
The books I have read said that in their natural environment the temp is around 85 degrees F. If anybody has some literature that says otherwise could you post me a link? As for my tank I have two 30 spiral compact florescent lightbulbs behind one 24" Ocean Sun 10,000K florescent bulb. Seems plenty bright in there! The tank is a 59gal. with about 25-30% live rock. I haven't witnessed anything picking at it, but it isn't being destroyed...it is just deminishing in size. The pet store said they would test my water for minerals and alkalinity and stuff, and thinks that is probably the issue. I tend to agree. I don't do water changes as often as I should, so I am going to give that a try. As for the weed philosophy, I don't take to that so much. I think that unless it is overwhelming something else, I will leave it be. Just like in the wild, life has to fend for itself. I believe that everything has it's place in the ecosystem, even though it my not be so obvious to us. Except for a red cyanobacteria issue which I treated, I have not had any problems with my tank, and most everything has thrived, up until I slacked off on the water changes...which will change, lol! My tank is about 3 years old now, so I am knocking on wood! As for the flow and filtration, I have two powerheads, one 1200, and one 600w, and a new Tetratech PF300. I also have a protien skimmer that works well, that I run one week out of each month on average. I test my water regularly for pH and ammonia, ect. and they are always perfect. Except for a dip in the pH when I added a little to much dead rock a few months ago, but I treated that and it's back up around 8.2. As for the baby brine shrimp, I tend to agree that they probably don't do them much good, but I have plenty of hermit crabs and shrimp, and a baby cardinal, and a clam that love them! I don't add them that often though, probably once or twice a week. That about covers it I think, if anybody has any more input, I would love to hear about it! I posted a pic of my tank too.
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SnowManSnow":3m1eb78x said:
I agree on the temp thing, as high temps = less dissolved O2 in the system. Also the SG is way too low IME. Most reefkeepers agree that SG closer to 1.025-6 is better for corals. Older books advocate a lower SG as a way to keep Ich and other parasites down on fish, but those lower SGs are hard on corals.
Thank you for the info. I will take it into advisment. I don't think I have a dissolved O2 problem, because none of my fish are stressed or my anemomae as you can see in the photo. Also between the filter which has a simulated tidal flow feature, the airation from my protien skimmer and a 1200w powerhead directing water to the surface, plus having a completely open top tank, not to mention I add at least a fresh gallon of water every other day or so to keep up with evaporation, which should take care of any O2 issues. I think you could be correct about the salinity, because I did just loose the softer coral you see on the left (sorry I can't remember it's name). If anybody can id the round coral skeleton on the left of the photo I would appreciate it. However I have always had my salintiy at 1.021, and the Greenstar polyp has thrived, until recently. One thing I did noticed when I did a water change last night is that it was very yellow, which I think might be from the red cyanobacteria treatment which is a yellow powder, and turns the water yellow, but it might also be residue from the photoplex that I add. I did check the ammonia levels and it was zero. I am going to keep running my protien skimmer until I see it clear up though. I welcome any other opinions about any of these issues!
Agreed. Gently bump the s.g. up to 1.024+ and gently lower the T down to around 80 give or take a little. With temps that high you'll be hard-pressed to get much, if any coralline algae growth and d.o levels will take a hit, too.
Quit with all the additives for a while. They've yet to bottle anything that will do what a simple water change will do. Just do small, regular water changes with good salt and good water and you should be okay unless you're really stocked up with inverts (and you don't seem to be). You may actually be 'poisoning' the GSP with all that stuff you're adding.
You may or may not have enough light for those guys to thrive depending on where they located in the tank. It may look bright to you, but fluorescents don't produce very bright light when compared to natural conds. I can't see the GSP in the pic above, but move them up higher and see how they do. You said your tank was 3 years old...how old are the bulbs? You should change out fluorescents every year or roundabout.
Lastly, leave your protein skimmer on all the time. There's really no reason not to. You might want to eventually invest in some way to skim the surface of the water (if you're not already doing so). If you look up at it with the lights beaming down, you'll probably notice an oily skim on the surface that accumulates over time. This further reduces the amount of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) getting to your inverts.
Quit with all the additives for a while. They've yet to bottle anything that will do what a simple water change will do. Just do small, regular water changes with good salt and good water and you should be okay unless you're really stocked up with inverts (and you don't seem to be). You may actually be 'poisoning' the GSP with all that stuff you're adding.
You may or may not have enough light for those guys to thrive depending on where they located in the tank. It may look bright to you, but fluorescents don't produce very bright light when compared to natural conds. I can't see the GSP in the pic above, but move them up higher and see how they do. You said your tank was 3 years old...how old are the bulbs? You should change out fluorescents every year or roundabout.
Lastly, leave your protein skimmer on all the time. There's really no reason not to. You might want to eventually invest in some way to skim the surface of the water (if you're not already doing so). If you look up at it with the lights beaming down, you'll probably notice an oily skim on the surface that accumulates over time. This further reduces the amount of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) getting to your inverts.
Oh, and move that clam waaay up top! That is it over on the right-hand-side about midway from the top? Tridacna clams need A LOT of light. Not so much strong water current, but a lot of bright light. Next time you change bulbs, add an actinic or a 50/50 at least.
If it's already attached to the substrate you might want to leave it alone, though. They don't like to be moved once they've adhered to something. Just try to get it as much light as possible.
The coral skeleton looks like maybe a plate coral, but I can't really tell.
If it's already attached to the substrate you might want to leave it alone, though. They don't like to be moved once they've adhered to something. Just try to get it as much light as possible.
The coral skeleton looks like maybe a plate coral, but I can't really tell.
Thanks for the post. I have already begun the process of regular water changes, and I already compromised on the temp. by bringing it down to 80F. This still hasn't help my GSP though, it seems to be dieing off faster now. I think I need to do more water changes to try to clear up it's color. I am also leaving my skimmer on all the time, and I don't have a lot of scum on the surface, never have. As for the lighting I have two 30watt spiral compact florescent bulbs which are about 4-5 months old, and a newer 24" Ocean Sun 10,000K bulb (about 1-2 months). I have always had this much light so I don't think that is the problem. I still think it is my water chemistry, because that is the only thing that has changed. Everything else is doing fine though. I noticed the the GSP is turning a dark red color, from it's normal light purple just before it dies. Hopefully some of you have seen this before, and know what it is a symptom of.
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I discovered from the pet store clerk that I should be using salt specific for reef tanks, when in fact I have been using salt for just a fish tank. This new salt is called Reef Crystals from Instant Ocean, and has more calcium, Vitamins, and trace elements. I am also slowly increasing the salinity so hopefully this will resolve my issues. I will keep you all informed as to it's success. "Thanks" to everybody who responded to my post, you have all been very helpful.
Thanks, but I have been using red slime remover for over a year now, and it hasn't bothered my polyps at all! My polyps have only gone down hill this past couple of months or so, probably due to the fact that I wasn't doing regular water changes, and I was adding a few additives that were probably poisoning them. I think they are doing better now that I have been changing the water with the new salt I bought. I also increased my salinity, and lowered my temp. as a few of you suggested. I will keep you all informed if they start to regrow.
whatever you say bro, but that stuff is garbage. do yourself a favor and stop putting it in your tank. obviously, after a year of RSR therapy, and still having the problem, can only mean one thing.
also, if your skimmer isn't going batty when you add that stuff, it's way out of adjustment.
what "poisoning" additives were you adding?
also, if your skimmer isn't going batty when you add that stuff, it's way out of adjustment.
what "poisoning" additives were you adding?
I didn't say I had a red slime problem, because it cleared up in a few days after adding it, and that was months ago. I only just added it again because I got behind on the regular maintainance as I stated previously, and I had a resurge this week, probably from feeding my aneonome frozen silverside, and we all know that those little bugs can hitch a ride on anything, so it probably gets recontaminated on a regular basis. As for the response of my GSP's they are doing a lot better since the better salt, and the water changes! They are no longer receding. I thank you for your concern though and I don't what to downplay your experiance, but I think your dissatisfaction with the RSR product "might" be misplaced, but I don't know what bad experiance you have had with it. Maybe you could share with me exactly what happened to you when you used it. As for my experiance I can say that it has only killed the red slime, which is just about gone now. To answer your question about the additives, they are Strontium, Calcium, and Iodine, in quantities less then what they recommended on their labels just to be cautious, because I don't have a testing kit for their levels. Someone else in the forums recommended I stop with the additives, and just do regular water changes, and so far "knock on wood" it's working. I thank you for your info though really! I see you post a lot, and you seem very knowledable!
well, my experience with red slime remover went like this:
i had introduced red slime to my tank via a frag rock. since i don't use an RODI at this time, the red slime took off.
i, under the suggestion of my LFS, added red slime remover to my tank.
immediately, my skimmer went wild, and my GSP closed up completely(nothing else). it took weeks for it to show any sort of polyp, and the polyps that appeared finally, were brand new ones, not the large ones that were there previously open before the additive was used. so, the red slime remover killed off the polyps. see below-
http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... hlight=gsp
the worst part was that the RSR didn't even remove the red slime completely.
also, i'd like to say that before you add any reef supplements, you should check your water. the better reef salts should have pretty much everything you need in it for basic starter corals like GSP, and too much of any of those supplements you mentioned can cause issues.
i don't add anything to my tank. just 20% water change per week and everything seems happy. and i'm not all that knowledgeable, i just try to learn from the mistakes of those who came before me :wink:
i had introduced red slime to my tank via a frag rock. since i don't use an RODI at this time, the red slime took off.
i, under the suggestion of my LFS, added red slime remover to my tank.
immediately, my skimmer went wild, and my GSP closed up completely(nothing else). it took weeks for it to show any sort of polyp, and the polyps that appeared finally, were brand new ones, not the large ones that were there previously open before the additive was used. so, the red slime remover killed off the polyps. see below-
http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... hlight=gsp
the worst part was that the RSR didn't even remove the red slime completely.
also, i'd like to say that before you add any reef supplements, you should check your water. the better reef salts should have pretty much everything you need in it for basic starter corals like GSP, and too much of any of those supplements you mentioned can cause issues.
i don't add anything to my tank. just 20% water change per week and everything seems happy. and i'm not all that knowledgeable, i just try to learn from the mistakes of those who came before me :wink:
Thanks for the link! There is some important info there. The first thing that sticks out to me is that cyanobacteria is blood red, not brown like what you had. Unless there are different species, but it looks like something else entirely. 1.) Did you ever find out what it was? Also, 2.) how much of the RSR did you add and how quickly? It says it will cause a drop in O2 levels, but since your other corals were fine that is probably not what happened. I am guessing that whatever the brown stuff was is what killed your GSP, and not the treatment. Since the treatment didn't kill the brown stuff quickly enough! 3.) How long was your GSP covered with that stuff anyway? My GSP was covered with RS, and might have been contributing to their demise, so perhaps your situation was similar if that brown stuff was on them to long. Like I said before my polyps do not respond at all to the addition of the RSR! Except that now they are happy they are not covered in slime, lol! Here's a pic of them now. See that bald spot in the middle, that was all polyps a month ago, and when they started dieing they became covered with RS which is now almost gone thanks to RSR. Your GSP looks different then mine though, perhaps a different kind. Mine are more yellowish orange then green. Hope this info helps you!
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the brown diatom algae on the gsp was not what i was treating. i was showing the decline of the coral with that pic. that brown algae appeared after the coral was in severe distress.
the red slime was just on the sand bed.
i am 100% sure the decline of my gsp was directly associated with the RSR.
i added what the directions told me to add. i don't remember the exact amounts now.
the red slime was just on the sand bed.
i am 100% sure the decline of my gsp was directly associated with the RSR.
i added what the directions told me to add. i don't remember the exact amounts now.
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