[scudd]

Does anyone have any advice for star polyps? Ours are not spreading. For the most part, they seem healthy. Most of the polyps come out daily - some days they are not all out. We have also noticed if the water temp is too warm they will not come out at all. We've read that phosphate levels could be one cause. Any suggestions or advice on maintaining their health?

[chet-tonja]

How are the rest of your corals acting? I had to give a bunch of mine away at one time because they were going crazy in the tank. If your phosphates are high, you can use a couple different types of media to help get rid of it. If you don't have a sump with caulerpa in it you might want to consider adding one to help with nutrient export.

[bongobrian]

Mine grew like wildfire for about a year and then just totally stopped... still not sure why that happened. Anyway, are you using R/O water? that will greatly help reduce the phosphate levels. Also feeding less obviously. Other factors are going to include ph, ca levels, alkalinity, magnesium, and strotnium levels since those are important for calcification and since star polpys are an encrusting coral, calcification is very important (as is with most corals). Lighting, flow, temperature, and salinity are the basics, but obviously very important. Why don't you give us a rundown of your tank specs and test your water and give us the results. Are there any other corals nearby that may be stinging the star polyps?

[bongobrian]

I just thought of something else... do you have any fish that may be nipping at the polyps? certain fish such as angel fish and butterfly fish are known for nipping at star polyps. Also, give us your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels.

[scudd]

We tested for phosphates and they are .25 to .50. We do use R/O water. No corals nearby -the only corals we have are what came on our live rock purchased locally from Tampa Bay saltwater. Our nitrates are a little high (approx 30-40 MG/L), calcium is almost perfect. The temperature is high - we came home today and it was almost 84 degrees, so we've added a fan. Flow may be an issue - we recently moved the rock the polyps are on and I don't think it gets as much current in this new spot. We're going to try moving the jet so they do get more current. They did spread about 3 months ago - just a small area but nothing since then. The only fish in the tank are 3 domino damsels and 2 clarkii clowns. We have also been told to add iodine so we have been doing that occassionally. How often would you recommend adding iodine to the tank? Thanks!

[bongobrian]

how about the ph and alkalinity? Actually, the warmer temperatures are supposed to facilitate higher growth rates, so I don't believe that is your problem. Your nitrates aren't bad, but I would try getting it down under 20 ppm, or even better 5-10 ppm. Do a couple water changes and that should take care of it. Adding iodine is a good idea and does help soft and hard corals alike, especially soft corals such as xenia and mushrooms. It's important not to overdose, I add about 2 drops per week in a 46 gallon tank... just read the dosage instructions on your bottle.

[TNT]

Is the live rock the Tampa Bay Aqua cultured Stuff?

[scudd]

The live rock is from Tampabay Saltwater(tampabaysaltwater.com).

[TNT]

We have seen phospate problems with Fl. gulf rock. Most of the Fl. gulf rock will leach out phospates. Try checking phospates with a different test kit. Some phospate test kits don't give you a good reading.

[Poseidon]

My Star Polyps grew like wild fire when I was adding Reef Plus from Sea Chem!!!

I stopped and so did they

Mike