Dormant Polyps

[easyian]

Does anyone know if polyps can lay dormant for a while? While battling cyano I did a full tank teardown, cleaned all my liverock with a bristle brush and suctioned the top of the sand. While most of the big rocks are in the same place some of the smaller rocks have been turned and placed in different areas of the tank. Now I have noticed on one of the rocks something that looks alot like a very small polyp colony. It looks to me like about 10 or so little polyps on a common base about the size of a dime. Any thoughts would be helpful.

Thanks
Ian

 

[steve-s]

They can survive on very minimal lighting although they will start to shrink back and waste eventually. I have seen them last a few weeks easy. Once the light source is renewed (slowly) they should start to recover. Just be sure you allow them time to adjust low in the tank so they don't bleach.

Can you ID the species or are they too small yet?

Cheers
Steve

 

[easyian]

Right now they sort of look like a greenish colored Button Polyp colony but they are very small.

 

[Meola]

I had a 4x3 sized rock full of green star polyps shrink then totally disappear for more than a week. Then about 10 days ago they started coming back and the whole rock has recovered well. I was also dealing with cyano

 

[steve-s]

Give it time, I think you'll be pleasently surprised...

Cheers
Steve