[WannaBeAReefer]

I just introduced a green star polyp into my tank yesterday. This morning it appeared to be peeling away from the rock and some of it had the appearance of being eaten or at least stripped away . I did see a turbo snail on it this morning but they are supposed to be reef-safe. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

I moved it to the quarantine tank but now I'm wondering if perhaps I bought it like that and didn't inspect it carefully...

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

[bongobrian]

Welcome to Reefland!

What kind of fish do you have in the tank? certain types of angels will eat star polyps such as a flame angel. Your snail shouldn't be a problem.

Keep enough calcium in the water 380-420 ppm

[WannaBeAReefer]

I'm just starting out... I have two maroon clowns (paired) and a 6-line wrasse, a bubble coral, long-tentacle anenome, various hermits and margarita and turbo snails.

Is it possible that two much calcium or too much GH/KH could be a problem?

[bongobrian]

What are your levels at? (Ca and Alk) you can only have one or the other too high. If one is too high, the other will be too low and visa-versa. Although I doubt that either one would cause star polyps to start dying right away.

What are the rest of your water params? water temp, salinity, PH, ammonia, nitrite/nitrate, phosphate, etc.

How close are the polyps to your lights? what kind of lights are you running?

All of your livestock should be reef safe.

[WannaBeAReefer]

Temp: 75.6 (set for average temp for tropics in Jan.)
SG: 1.0245 (slowly lowering this over the next 3 weeks)
pH varies between 8.15 and 8.3 (night/day)
ammonia:unmeasurable
nitrite:unmeasurable
nitrate:0

I have not measured phosphate.
I did a Ca test before leaving for a work.. and either I screwed up or it is over 640...

I am worried about my GH it seemed rather high but can't remember what it was (records are at home) and KH was around 120.

2 x 250@ 10000K° MH + 2 55W blue actinic PCs
24 inch high tank with polyps at bottom. (started low)
medium (leaning towards medium heavy) water flow.

A question: Does peeling off indicate a creature is working them or that it doesn't like a water condition?

Also you can see small circles inscribed in the rock where the polyps were... would that indicate something stripped it right off the rock?

[bongobrian]

I don't think your Ca and Alk numbers can be right. 640ppm is EXTREMELY high. and 120 DKH... well... I think that's just impossible. I would say that the mat peeling is because of a water condition. The only animals I know that would go after star polyps, would go directly for the polyp, and eat the polyp leaving just the mat. Because sp really utilize calcium to build the mat, and since your Ca levels seem way off, then my first thought is to say your Ca and Alk levels are the problem. The patterns you are seeing on the rock, I think, are directly related to the mat peeling off. I don't believe it indicates that it was "ripped off", but simply that the mat was growing on the rock and I know they tend to leave patterns underneath the mat. Like I said before, I don't see a problem with any of your livestock. I just find it hard to believe that a water condition problem would cause such a drastic change in the matter of a day or two.

Question for you- are any of the polyps opening up on the coral? if so, then here is my suggestion... pull the rock with the star polyps out of your tank. Cut the peice of the matt off that seems to be dying. A clean x-acto knife should work just fine. Now, you could try putting the "dead" peice somewhere else in your tank and see if it will re-establish itself. If it does, then hey! now you've got star polyps in two places not just one! well... that's just what I would do.

[thezookeeper]

Hi there. First of all, it is not possible to have your calcium and alk at those levels. Extremely high levels of calcium will cause alk to rapidly decrease. I'd evaluate the types of tests your using. Also, it is not uncommon for star polyps to take a few days or even longer to acclimate to your tank. They can peel off in sheets and do this frequently to attach themselves on nearby rocks, glass, sand, etc. Do the polyp "stalks" themselves look like they've been eatten, or is are the polyps just not open? And what brand of test kits are you using?


Joanne

[WannaBeAReefer]

Thank you for your replies and interest in my problem.

I am using the Hagen brand of chem tests. All other tests NH3/NH4, NO3, NO2, pH appear to be fine. I the above mentioned tested corroborated by a LFS.

I am wondering if I got a bad batch of reagents or something?
I bought a new testkit for GH/KH yesterday but didn't try it yet.
-----
Some of the mat is gone, just rock showing but evidence (the circles) of where it was. Other places look like the polyp were sheared off 1mm above the mat but you can still see some of the stalk... A couple of places the mat is unanchored and is waving with the current.

The polyps do open when the lights are on.

Is it possible I battered them with too much water flow?

As I had mentioned before I did catch a snail cruising over it sucking a polyp into its mouth but while I was watching it didn't appear to eat them -- perhaps it was scraping algae off it as it was new to the tank (from the LFS)?

If I were to transfer the "flapping" parts to somewhere else in the tank do I epoxy them down or what? [Sorry, I am a newbie]

I did move the SP back into the main tank last night in a quieter place (less water flow), less trafficed by the hermits and snails. I checked it out late at night and nothing was grazing on it.

This morning the polyps were starting to open when I left for work...

[Penguin]

Your test kit is probably fine. There is some confusion because you didn't specify the units you're measuring your alk in. With a value of 120 you must be measuring in ppm, which corresponds to a value of 6.7 dKH (dKH * 17.86=ppm CaCO3). This is a little lower than where you want it, but not too bad. Try to get your alk to 8-10 dKH, then your calcium levels should fall a bit, as mentioned earlier.

[bongobrian]

I don't think you have anything to worry about... I have never heard of a turbo snail eating coral. They primarily eat short algea and nothing more. I have snails that crawl on top of many of my corals, but they never harm any of them. I don't think you saw your turbo eating the polyps, but like you said, it was just enjoying a new form of algea that was on your new rock. Too much current should not have been the problem. As long as you didn't have so much current that the coral could not even stand up straight, then don't worry about it. Actually, more current is usually better for polyp type corals. It can actually be a substitute for food in some cases. For star polyps I think a nice, even, moderate flow is the best. Just enough flow to get all the polyps moving around a bit, but not so much that they are being bent totally over. I even have some where there is very little current. If you decide to frag and move some of the coral around the tank, you can glue the mat down using epoxy. I've also wrapped a rubberband around a smaller peice of rock and then secure the mat underneath the rubberband. If you don't mind looking at the rubberband, I would say this is the easier of the two.

[bongobrian]

I agree with Penguin- you should be more concerned right now with getting your Alk and Ca at the proper levels. Focus on getting your alkalinity where it should be and everything else should fall in line. If you need to adjust calcium, make sure you do it AFTER the alkalinity is established. Once you have optimal levels, your star polyps will be healthy, beautiful, and will flourish in your tank.

[WannaBeAReefer]

My thanks to you all.

I wonder what people used to do without the miracles of the internet to connect people around the world sharing the same interests.

[bongobrian]

they probably just had tanks that suck

[popcorn]

LOL! I don't know what we would have done, either!

I usually just use superglue, but the rubberband method works well for fragging, too. As for the little pieces, you might be surprised... It is amazing how a tiny piece of purple mat can spread and sprout polyps. The mats do just peel up, too. If this is a really new addition, just keep an eye on it and work on the other issues. Heck, ours didn't even open for a couple of days. Good luck.