Problem with new GSP

Deadlocked · Jul 30, 2021

I bought my first 5 corals this week. 2 hammers, a frogspawn, a GSP and a clove. Everything has been okay, but the GSP stopped coming out. I caught a tiny little worm looking thing poking out of it and i tried to grab it with tweezers but it hid inside the purple mat thing. I dipped my coral when i got it and i dipped it again earlier today and it's still in there.

Could this be the cause of the GSP not coming out? Whether it is or isn't, how do i get rid of this worm? I don't want it in my tank. Thanks in advance.

Spieg · Jul 30, 2021

Don't know about the worm thing, but it's fairly normal for GSP to retract for a few days when introduced to a new tank.

Deadlocked · Jul 30, 2021

Spieg said:
Don't know about the worm thing, but it's fairly normal for GSP to retract for a few days when introduced to a new tank.

It was coming out fully the first few days. Now almost nothing

theishkid · Jul 30, 2021

My GSP sometimes retract for a few days for no reason. I wouldn't worry about it... they will come back out in a day or two.
If you can put your GSP in a small bowl full of water and watch it for a little while to see if the worm comes back out. Or you could even pull it out of water for 20 - 30 minutes and see if that forces the worm out. The GSP will be fine.

Deadlocked · Jul 30, 2021

theishkid said:
My GSP sometimes retract for a few days for no reason. I wouldn't worry about it... they will come back out in a day or two.
If you can put your GSP in a small bowl full of water and watch it for a little while to see if the worm comes back out. Or you could even pull it out of water for 20 - 30 minutes and see if that forces the worm out. The GSP will be fine.

Thanks I'll see what happens

MaxTremors · Jul 30, 2021

Deadlocked said:
Thanks I'll see what happens

I honestly wouldn’t worry about the worm. It’s most likely a harmless bristle worm. It’s your tank, so take it out if you want, but it’s not harming anything. Also, taking the coral out and dipping it again is just going to encourage it stay retracted. Even if it was open for a few days after you first got it, GSP can stay retracted for up to a few weeks after being moved. I would gently turkey baste any detritus off of it (detritus is the #1 thing that will make it retract when water quality is good), and give it some time.

melonheadorion · Jul 30, 2021

i would just be patient with it. find a spot that has decent flow and moderate lighting. it will likely come out on its own. it wont be like "boom" alright, here we are. it will likely be slow coming out, probably a week or so.
i got my first GSP about 2 weeks ago, and took up to a week to be at a point where now its all open. i saw small polyps open here and there, and gradually got to the point that all of the poiyps are open a week and a half later.

not only do they have to acclimate to the new tank, but if it was a piece that was fragged, you also have to think about the process in which it got fragged. when i got mine, it was fragged at that point, and they used a razor blade to do it, so the fleshy area was physically cut, so the coral not only is acclimating, but is going to take a bit to get over the trauma of being fragged. give it time. it will start to show results. the more you do to it now, the more it will take for it to be comfortable.

theishkid · Aug 5, 2021

Did they open back up yet?

Deadlocked · Aug 6, 2021

theishkid said:
Did they open back up yet?

They did, actually. They don't like being dirty. After using a baster on them they opened up. My Royal Gramma has a new habit of spitting my sand on the rock that my gsp is on so I'm constantly cleaning it off lol. But now my hammers aren't too happy. Found out my Halloween hermit was eating them. Got rid of it today. They come out, but nowhere near as much as they did when i got them. Hopefully that'll change cause they're beautiful

theishkid · Aug 7, 2021

Deadlocked said:
They did, actually. They don't like being dirty. After using a baster on them they opened up. My Royal Gramma has a new habit of spitting my sand on the rock that my gsp is on so I'm constantly cleaning it off lol. But now my hammers aren't too happy. Found out my Halloween hermit was eating them. Got rid of it today. They come out, but nowhere near as much as they did when i got them. Hopefully that'll change cause they're beautiful

I bought some hammers and frogspawn as some of my first corals in this tank 7 years ago. They both closed up when moving and never inflated back up like they were in the store. Still living but not inflated like when I bought them. I have (slowly) tried different areas of the tank, different lighting, different flow. After about 5 years my frogspawn started puffing up and look closer to what I remember in the store but my hammers are just as small as ever. I just don't have a clue what I'm doing wrong with them.

Deadlocked · Aug 7, 2021

theishkid said:
I bought some hammers and frogspawn as some of my first corals in this tank 7 years ago. They both closed up when moving and never inflated back up like they were in the store. Still living but not inflated like when I bought them. I have (slowly) tried different areas of the tank, different lighting, different flow. After about 5 years my frogspawn started puffing up and look closer to what I remember in the store but my hammers are just as small as ever. I just don't have a clue what I'm doing wrong with them.

My frogspawn is great. It's just the 2 hammers that won't come out all the way. But that sucks. Hopefully our hammers stop hiding