Green star polyps not fully opening

[ethankap]

I have a frag of Green Star Polyps that I put in two weeks ago. It was open and started spreading nicely. Last weekend I added a Montipora, Acan and two clown fish. Since then the star isn't fully opening. It is partially open sometimes, but not the way it was. Before this my Kenya Tree was closed up but seems to have molted and is getting better.

Would the addition of new livestock cause this? The lighting profile was also adjusted to a bit brighter.

Params:

0 Ammonia
0 Nitrite
5ppm Nitrate
0 Phosphate
8.4 alk
1.025 d SG
8.2 PH
79.2-80 temp

 

[trio91]

Did you also bump up the flow to accommodate for the Monti? The sudden increase in light could be the issue but can't be for certain.

Is It placed directly under the light in its "Hot Spot"? If so try to move em off to the side in a more shaded area

 

[lolmatt]

For the first few months, my gsp would occasionally retract all its polyps for seemingly no reason. At one point, it was retracted for nearly two weeks and almost completely smooth. When it decided it was done hibernating, all the polyps just decided to come out one day and it had grown probably 50%.


Star polyps are notorious for being "easy to keep" however IME they are just "hard to kill" but can be a little picky sometimes. You can try moving it around, but I'd personally just leave it be for a week or two and see if it doesn't come back out on its own.

 

[Palyzoa]

I have a frag of Green Star Polyps that I put in two weeks ago. It was open and started spreading nicely. Last weekend I added a Montipora, Acan and two clown fish. Since then the star isn't fully opening. It is partially open sometimes, but not the way it was. Before this my Kenya Tree was closed up but seems to have molted and is getting better.

Would the addition of new livestock cause this? The lighting profile was also adjusted to a bit brighter.

Params:

0 Ammonia
0 Nitrite
5ppm Nitrate
0 Phosphate
8.4 alk
1.025 d SG
8.2 PH
79.2-80 temp

My first guess would be your lighting since you've increased the intensity recently. You could try and move it to lower par, or just monitor and it should adapt to the new lighting intensity soon enough.

2nd: It might be worth inspecting it and looking for any critters good or bad that may be irritating it. Pods like to hide in corals like GSP. Algae growth on the Stalon or "mat" may irritate it as well.

Lastly, Ive had GSP close up completely for a week or 2 for not good reason that I could figure out.Eventually it should come around again if left alone.

Hope this helps, GL

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

GSP loves consistency in my opinion, all corals do, but GSP especially. Mine always seems to close up for a little while if I do anything. I can scrub algae off the glass or dose my two-part and it will close up for a couple of hours all the while my acros have full polyp extension haha

 

[ethankap]

Did you also bump up the flow to accommodate for the Monti? The sudden increase in light could be the issue but can't be for certain.

Is It placed directly under the light in its "Hot Spot"? If so try to move em off to the side in a more shaded area

Yeah, I put a power head in and bumped up the flow for the Montipora. It's low in the tank on an "island" of rock since I know they can spread. No critters as I didn't use live-rock in setup. The tanks a little over a month old, so I guess it could be balancing out still.

 

[ethankap]

An update: the GSP was mostly open last night when I came home and seems to be spreading. I think it was just getting used to increase bio load with the addition of the new fish and coral. Tomorrow is water change day so we'll see how it goes.

 

[ethankap]

Picture! GSP is doing really well. I gave it a cleaning with the turkey baster thing. It's starting to spread over the rock too. I gave it a nice little island.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Yep, just acclimating to your water pramameters and light. Stuff grows fast. My island of it is almost completely over grown now and will take off over the sand at some point. That’s the time to frag it.

A local reefer friend has it growing on one of his overflow boxes. Looks cool, but I don’t think I’ll let it do that.

 

[EriksOasis]

My GSP will close up when doing water changes or mag floating the glass then opens right back up. Seems like a slight change in water flow will make it do this. As previously stated they say they are easy to keep but I find them to be picky and hard to kill.