how to control Green Star Polyps

[Anonymous]

Hi folks, any suggestions on how to keep a mat of Green Star polyps confined to one area of my reef? I am happy to see it lush and growing, but don't want it to eventually take up all the valuable real estate in my tank or overgrow sps corals.

 

[AF Founder]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Brian Boyer:
<strong>Hi folks, any suggestions on how to keep a mat of Green Star polyps confined to one area of my reef? I am happy to see it lush and growing, but don't want it to eventually take up all the valuable real estate in my tank or overgrow sps corals.</strong><hr></blockquote>

One way that I have used in the past is to take a stiff bristled narrow brush and scrub it back. You really have to keep after it, or it will take over. I have seen it overgrow Acroporas.

 

[Big Red]

Let me know if you have some excess you would like to sell/trade.
St. Louis

[ March 22, 2002: Message edited by: Kole ]</p>

 

[puma]

Make some rocks a give it as a present to your friends.

 

[jamesw]

That is a good suggestion Pumas, but hard to carry out in practice.

Getting GSP off of a rock is VERY difficult.

On the other hand, if you can get your GSP to grow onto the glass (Put a rock w/ the polyps next to the glass) then they are very easy to peel off and rubber-band to a small rock to give away or sell to the local fish store.

Cheers
James Wiseman

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies - I suspect I will have to trade out the rock(s) on the fringes of the colony periodically. The colony is deep in my tank where I can barely reach, so it would be difficult to scrub them off.

Kole, when I get to the point of finding homes for the star-studded rocks I will advise via the trading post forums on this site.

 

[Anemone]

My experience in this area is that GSPs can be nearly impossible to stop, once they "take off." I know you said the rock is deep within your reef, but isolating the colony onto a rock "island" in the sand is about the only way of being sure it doesn't take over your tank. The rock island can be any size/number of rocks you want, as long as it is surrounded by sand. The GSPs will eventually begin plating out ono the sand, and are very easy to harvest at this point, preventing their spread to surrounding rocks.

If the above is not really possible, I've found that MH lights really seem to slow the growth of GSPs (compared to PC and VHO lighting). The only coral I've found that fought GSPs to a standstill was hydnophora, but their might be others with a powerful sting that you can "corral" the GSP colony with to help prevent the spread (like maybe galaxea? - haven't tried that one, so don't know if it would do the job or not).

I know you may feel that the GSP rock (or rocks) in the midst of your reef really isn't much trouble, but after having a 2" GSP frag take over 2/3 of a 40 gallon tank, overrunning various corals in the process, I firmly believe that advanced planning can save a lot of headaches later on.

FWIW,
Kevin

 

[danmhippo]

I second Kevin's finding on light factor. Also, my GSP seems to grow faster when I have excess NO3(20ppm+).

 

[MtnDewMan]

I only allow the star polyps to grow on my overflow box. If I see it moving to the outside glass or anywhere else, I take a credit card, slice it, scrape it off and throw the slivers away ... keeps it well confined.

 

[Leloo]

<a ref=http://captive-works2006.50megs.com alt=captive >all about captive works</a> captive-works2006

 

[Anonymous]

methinks leloo is a spammer, or bot-i got a notification to this thread, i'm not 'watching'/subscribed to it, and all of that user's posts are identical, lol

 

[bleedingthought]

I second Kevin's finding on light factor. Also, my GSP seems to grow faster when I have excess NO3(20ppm+).

Could this be the reason why my GSPs aren't opening? The LACK of nitrates? I bought a plastic crate that is about 3"x5" covered in them and they have not opened up since they went in the plastic bag. It's been a week. They are on the sand apart form everything else, get some flow. Different xenias, hammer, different mushroom, different zoas, and kenya tree are all doing fine but the darn GSP haven't opened at all. My nitrates don't ever get to a traceable level though... :roll: