Star polyp question - sick?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

catmel

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Apr 20, 2008
Messages
660
Location
Findlay, Ohio
I have a quick question - noticed today after a PWC some of my star polyps were looking a bit brown on the tips of the polyps. Theres still quite a bit of green, but I was concerned.. i'm a worry wort of a fish mom LOL. They're located about halfway up the tank, on the top of the rock in the flow of my koralia 3.

Is this normal after a PWC? Or do I need to change my lights sooner? I only have my 2 x 96 watt 10k / actinic bulbs on, and they're about 8 months old. I know they're due for change soon.. I didnt know if the brown color was from being irritated by the pwc or if it was 'bleaching' ( though I thought that was turning white..)

on another note, my watermellon mushrooms seem to have full color and are widely expanded out.. they look happy.

thanks for the help as always :)
 
Can you get a pic of the star polyps. I would also like to see the shrooms. LOL
 
As long as they are ALL coming out under the lights each day I'd say the light situation is fine. When you notice that only part of them come out each day or they only come out for a small period of time I'd worry about something. I'm not sure of the color and would like to see pix as well. Also, what additives do you add to the tank? How long have you had them?
 
My orange ones on the left there, sorry I guess I could have cleaned the algae off the front of the glass before I took this - LoL I got them from a friend about the size of a quarter and treated the tank with Coral Vital and Calcium. They grew like a weed.
 

Attachments

  • Windows Photo Viewer Wallpaper.jpg
    Windows Photo Viewer Wallpaper.jpg
    73.4 KB · Views: 78
Good to know.

I dont add anything, only calcium suppliment when needed.. I usualyl do about a 10-20% pwc every week. Should I suppliment something else too? I hear its really not needed, but i'll take some info.

I'm working on getting my nitrate under control.. i'm sure they'll grow more then. They just look a different color than before.. mostly green but almost brown in spots. Once they open back up i'll get a good picture.. I irritated them a bit by getting some hair algae off a close by rock.
 
Melinda,

Are you running any phosphate removers these days? Aluminum oxide based phosphate removers have been reported to cause "issues" with many soft corals, GSP being one of them.
 
I put nothing in my tank but the coral vital and calcium. I'm really not a fan of a lot of the products you can buy. I really trust my guy at the LFS here and he is the one that helps my tanks out so much. He turned me to the coral vital that I used for years and it rocked. You may find as you get going that you might want to add some other nutrients to the tank but I ran my 55g reef for 6 years and had tremendous success useing only the CV and calcium. Hope that helps ya! I sold my tank to a good freind when my son was born for room. Just last weekend after two years I got the tank back! He sold everything in it which makes me want to scream but I'm going to rebuild the tank with a custom look and start it again.
 
Melinda,

Are you running any phosphate removers these days? Aluminum oxide based phosphate removers have been reported to cause "issues" with many soft corals, GSP being one of them.

Kurt - not running any chemicals / phosphate removers. I just added a small fuge wed with lots of cheato. I also moved the polyps a little higher. They still have a bit of green on the ends but its mostly brownish looking. Is this a form of bleaching?

Even though I have 80# of live rock, it only stacks about halfway up my tank since I do not have a DSB in the main. I was thinking of turning my MH's on to see if extra light might help..
 
Hmmm... guess it's not that then. If you moved them recently though, they could be acclimating themselves to the new lighting. Just a guess though.

How long have you had these? Many corals will shift their colors after you put them in your tank, due to the different lighting. And sometimes it can take a while for that to happen.
 
Hmmm... guess it's not that then. If you moved them recently though, they could be acclimating themselves to the new lighting. Just a guess though.

How long have you had these? Many corals will shift their colors after you put them in your tank, due to the different lighting. And sometimes it can take a while for that to happen.

I think it was the end of Feb/beginning of march that i've had these. They were from a tank with MH's and PCs on ( although the lights were a lot higher than my lights are above the tank.) Like I had said, they seem to be green on the ends but mostly brown.. they're not quite like they use to be. Maybe finally adjusting to the lower light levels? Do you think trying to turn on the MHs for a few hours ( and slowly increase time) might help?
 
Back
Top Bottom