Kind of Polyp Coral

[Lobo]

Just got this frag of Polyp as my 1st coral but never got it's kind. Please someone ID this for me and would appreciate any tips for it's care. The photo quality doesn't makes justice but believe me it's looking awesome and it's doing well since I got it 5 days ago.

 

[iDream]

Green star polyps, low-light, medium flow. It'll grow fast, but IMO a beautiful coral, wish I could find a piece around here

 

[Lobo]

Should I use an additive or supplement?

 

[mr_X]

no special care. i found that it thrives in various flows, and lighting. some believe it to be a "weed" of sorts, since it encrusts on whatever it comes across, and takes up valuable real estate very quickly.
it's actually in the gorgonia family.

 

[Lobo]

no special care. i found that it thrives in various flows, and lighting. some believe it to be a "weed" of sorts, since it encrusts on whatever it comes across, and takes up valuable real estate very quickly.
it's actually in the gorgonia family.

So...should I be aware of it's growth? Should it be controlled? If so how?

 

[mr_X]

well, the good news about GSP is that you can use a butter knife, or screwdriver or even your fingernail and peel the mat up off of whatever it grows over. if you have a deep tank and detailed rock structures that would make that hard to do, you may want to try and keep it isolated to a certain rock or area. google "green star polyp images" and you'll see some people's tanks and how it grows in them.

 

[joy13]

My friend glued a frag on the the back of his tank and it is growing like crazy. If it gets to close the the rocks he can just peel it away. Mine doesn't seem to grow as fast but it is in lower flow.

 

[Lobo]

Does this looks like a good placement for this Coral? Any advise?

 

[austinsdad]

How old is your tank and what are your water readings? Can't tell, but either you've got a bad case of cyanobacteria or new tank diatoms. Is that covering your rocks red or brown? Or both? It doesn't look good. I'd not add any more coral until you get that under control.

 

[Lobo]

How old is your tank and what are your water readings? Can't tell, but either you've got a bad case of cyanobacteria or new tank diatoms. Is that covering your rocks red or brown? Or both? It doesn't look good. I'd not add any more coral until you get that under control.

Tank is 4 months old, readings are ph 8.2, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 0. As for the color on the rocks it started looking brown and now is like a cardinal color purple/red. The glass and the sand has also been covered with that color of algae but I just cleaned the glass 2 days ago and siphoned during the PWC.

Is it Cyanobacteria? I thought this was algae. Is it bad? What should I do?!!!

 

[austinsdad]

Diatoms is something ALL new tanks get. It'll pass on its own. I'd still wait for that stability before adding more coral. Cyano is more red. Here's something from our articles section on that... Cyanobacteria, AKA Red Slime Algae

 

[mr_X]

any new additions should be placed low in the tank (perhaps on the sand bed), and slowly moved up the rock until it's at an ideal spot. your lighting may be much stronger than the lighting it was previously under, and it's important to acclimate it.
i also agree that the color of your rock is suspicious. if you aim a power head directly at it or wave your hand in the tank vigorously does it blow off of the rock?

 

[Lobo]

any new additions should be placed low in the tank (perhaps on the sand bed), and slowly moved up the rock until it's at an ideal spot. your lighting may be much stronger than the lighting it was previously under, and it's important to acclimate it.
i also agree that the color of your rock is suspicious. if you aim a power head directly at it or wave your hand in the tank vigorously does it blow off of the rock?

Ok, I started from the middle an have tried 3 different spots finding one that the frag liked in terms of the frag opening...so I kind of did a light acclimatization for the first 3 days finishing on the higher place on the LR.

The purple thing definitely blows of the LR with water movement specially when I blow off the debris and uneaten food from the LR with a turkey Baster leaving a clean spot on the LR...My powerhead is a nano Koralia 240 and it doesn't blows of the purple thing ( it is less powerful than I thought) but the spot where it hits the LR more directly doesn't have any growing of it. BTW I noticed this is being growing on the filter and powerhead on a more slimy form...

What does this means? Is it Cyano? What is it?

 

[mr_X]

yep. cyanobacteria. read rays link above. nothing to get freaked out about, but it's a sign of excessive nutrients and needs to be addressed.

 

[Lobo]

yep. cyanobacteria. read rays link above. nothing to get freaked out about, but it's a sign of excessive nutrients and needs to be addressed.

Is it ok to blow them with the turkey baster? How about scraping the rock? How should I do it?

 

[austinsdad]

Blowing only moves it from one spot to settle in another. Siphon out when doing a water change. Most importantly, fix the source of it.