green star polyp question

[NMReef]

I've had a very nice sized(maybe 6-8 inch around) Briareum sp.(flourescent green star polyp)for close to 3 months now.....intially when I got it from the lfs it had obviousely been stressed and was not in the best of condition.....still I got it and gradually it recovered well enough that most of the time it was fully extended(encrusting sheet covered totally with polyps)......lately(for the past 4-5 weeks) it goes through periods where all or a majority of the polyps are closed...sometimes for a few days at a time......what little I know of this coral is from Sprungs "Corals of the World"...and from boards....it is under a combination of 260 watt pc/220 watt vho...current is fairly high(when polyps are extended they are very active)..all water chemistry is good(current-- ph-8.3..sg-1.024..ammonia-0..nitrate-5..temp-80-84calcium-425-450..alkalinity-3.5-4.25 meg/l ..there are no other corals near enough to inflect damage....but I do see my emeralds eating what appears to be a film from the encrusting sheet when the polyps are closed......just saw this a few minutes ago.....it is positioned med/high in the reef and gets good lighting..question is.......can someone give me additional info on this coral......is there something I'm missing or something more I can do....when extended and in good condition I really like this coral and I want to do all I can to improve and stabalise its condition.......
--------------------

 

[cindywennin]

My experience is with blue leg hermits and daisy polyps. What you describe is what I went through. All water parameters were good, everything else in the tank looked healthier than ever but the daisy polyps kept disappearing...I happened to wake up one morning about 2 a.m. and got the flashlight...just as the last polyp got snipped by one of my hermits.

Watch the crabs.

Cindy

 

[danmhippo]

I don't like crabs, hermits, and anything with a pincher next to my corals. I have several occasion to witness crabs picking on my prize collection and irritating them on the long term basis. I have started picking out hermits one by one out of my system and back to LFS. The same for the emerald and sally's.

My experiences may be an exception. I know for sure that many other reefers on the board rates the contribution of crabs and hermits very high to their reef tanks. However the above are just my personal experiences and opinion. All I got left in my tank are the cukes & gobies to stir subtrate and snails to graze on glass.

Did I ever tell you what a daunting task it is to pick up each and every hermits in a 150G tank? There are probably at least 80 hermits of all kinds (mostly from ISPF, and Inland)

 

[reefhope]

I have noticed my flourishing yellow polyps are being "snipped" by something/someone...I suspect it is my blue leg hermits as I have recently noticed them strolling through my sinularia and button polyps.

In the past the hermits have been rather docile, eating remains off of substrate and rock but as they get bigger and hungrier I've notice them turning to some of my more vulnerable corals. I hate to yank the hermits and emerald though because they do a lot of house cleaning. Anyone with experience with these problems???

 

[NMReef]

Hmmmmm....lets hear some more on this....I hate to think my emeralds and or other hermits are the problem......I do see crabs and or snails travel across this coral......when polyps are extended they just close then re-open after the intruder is gone.....right now the polyps are closed except for a few......normally when its closed is when I see my emeralds munching what appears to be a film from the encrusting surface,,,,,,,,need more info on if this disaperance of polyps is normal....will they return.....are the crabs the cause.........who is the GSP guru??????

 

[SPC]

NM, this is my experience with these polyps. I purchased one polyp rock about baseball size and another about the same size 3 months later. These both looked to me to be the exact same species, but I can't say for sure they were. They both did fine for about 4 months and then I noticed the first one started acting in the same manner yours did. I began to read all the info I could to see if I might not be meeting its requirements, unfortunately the info I found was conflicting so I tried more light, blowing them off with a turkey baster, more current, etc... It finally stayed closed for about 2 weeks and began to slime up very heavily. I decided to place the polyp rock in the sump and there it sat for about 2 months looking like a regular rock. Last week I noticed what appeared to be about 20 small white feather dusters on the rock but upon closer examination I see that it is polyps, today there are about 75. By the way, the other polyp rock has never shown any kind of problems. Just one more observation, mine do not like strong current and will not fully extend if subjected to it. Sorry for the long post.
Steve

 

[NMReef]

Hmmmm....every thing I've seen or read says....strong current.....maybe I'll try relocating it in the reef and give it some more time.......thxs for the responses.......this coral is very nice when polyps are extended.....was sort of hoping to maybe frag it a lil and maybe trade some back to the lfs......we....we'll see.......

 

[Tim Reed]

What about temperature? Does anyone think that 84 is high? I got a piece of green star polyp laying in the bottom of my LFS (for free-yeh!) and I feed it a mixture of minced shrimp and phytoplankton and it has doubled in size in a month.

 

[MelanieF]

Just some word of mouth from my LFS....

I also have fl green briareum and when it closed up for 2 days immediately asked my trusted LFS what I was doing wrong.. He said that it was most likely getting ready for a major growth spurt and low and behold he was absolutely right! It opened back up about a week ago and is growing almost too fast. I'll be giving some of it back to LFS soon I'm sure.

Not positive that this is what yours is doing but figured this may be a possibility.