pale GSP's?

[Alaska_Phil]

I posted this on another forum and didn't get much help, but my green star polyps have been getting gradually paler until they're now looking ghostly white.

http://www.mosquitonet.com/~wanderer/stars.jpg

When I first noticed this about 6 weeks ago I discovered that my temp was fluctuating between 70 and 80F daily with my houses temp. I've since corrected that and the tank is stable at 78F. The stars recovered completely, but then started fading again.

My Ca and Alk have been at the minimums for a while 350 and 8.2 respectively, so I'm slowly bringing them up. Mg is actually a bit high at 1500, nitrate and phosphate are undetectable. Lighting is 2x55W 50/50 PC's over a 20 long tank. I changed the lamps, which were about 9 months old last week in hopes of perking them up, but no improvement so far.

I don't feed them at all, should I be? I've had these for 2 years now and and they've always done well, even when I neglected the tank for months. Any suggestions? This was my first coral in this tank and I'd hate to loose it.

Thanks.
Phil

[Laurier]

I had the same issue when i changing my lighting. ended up doing this in a 3 day span

day 1 - 3 hours on
day 2 - 4 hours on
day 3 - 6 hours on
day 4 - back to 9 hour on

worked for me, could give that a shot

[Alaska_Phil]

I had this issue BEFORE changing my lights. I changed them in hopes of fixing this. :(

Phil

[Schwe]

Did you notice anything remarkable or an unusual event around the time they started to bleach?

[Alaska_Phil]

Schwe, The only thing I've been able to think of, is that they were getting a couple hours direct sunlight through a window this fall, and now they're not. In fact there isn't much sunlight period right now.

Phil

[melev]

Pale usually means lack of light or lack of nutrients. Can you post a couple of pictures of the tank so we can see the other livestock?

[Alaska_Phil]

The lights are off for the night Marc, I'll try to get some current shots tomorrow.

Phil

[melev]

How does the rest of your livestock look? Have you verified that all of your test results are correct, including stuff like temperature and salinity? It's always best to compare with other items just in case, like glass thermometers and a simple hydrometer. Or have your LFS do the same tests to see if the numbers vary.

[Alaska_Phil]

Marc, seems I lied, I played around with the camera a bit last night.

http://www.mosquitonet.com/~wanderer/brain.jpg
Hmmm...my brain isn't doing to well either, I've been feeding it again and it's slowly recovering. My bad there.

http://www.mosquitonet.com/~wanderer/zoa.jpg
My little zoa's are doing nicely, despite the turf algae and poor white balance.

http://www.mosquitonet.com/~wanderer/stars2.jpg
Another of the poor stars. :( looking at past photos, this is the worst the turf algae has every been, which is puzzling since I've actually been staying on top of my water changes again and my skimmer is up and running.



http://www.mosquitonet.com/~wanderer/shop.jpg
This shot is looking pretty nice though. ;)

Thanks for the help.

Phil

[melev]

Ooh, you buildin' a plane?! Let's talk about that.

Pluck that algae so your corals can be happy. :)

[Alaska_Phil]

Been plucking algae, did a water change and plucked some more tonight. But that darn turf sticks pretty tight. However, I have mixed feelings about it, it does keep my Nitrates and phosphates undetectable after all. And short green fuzz does make for an unique looking tank.

Plane building is why my tanks keep getting neglected :D Hmmm...it may be why my tank is in trouble too. I was painting the wings just before the GSP started to bleach. Despite my efforts I know some of the paint fumes got into the house. The reducer contains MEK and Tolulene, both very nasty chemicals.

Phil

[gh0st]

It's possibly a combination of bleaching from the temp swings, and then the new lights probably caused them to bleach further.

Try dosing a bit of Iodide, as well as some Ammino Acids, and keep the temp stable and they should recover.

[Alaska_Phil]

Thanks gh0st, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. What do I use to dose amminos?

Phil

[Alaska_Phil]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13768314#post13768314 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
How does the rest of your livestock look? Have you verified that all of your test results are correct, including stuff like temperature and salinity? It's always best to compare with other items just in case, like glass thermometers and a simple hydrometer. Or have your LFS do the same tests to see if the numbers vary.

I'll try a different thermometer tonight to compare, and bring my specific gravity tester home from the office and compare it too. My test kits are about 9 months old, except for the Mg. So I'll take a sample into the LFS when I can.

I'll admit that it's been a bear trying to keep the salinity constant with the humidity down near 30% this time of year. I'm ordering an auto top off kit, but not sure how much good it'll do without a sump. the tank level might not be sensitive enough.

I lost my Rainford's Goby last summer and wonder if that might be part of the problem. He kept my sand nice and clean and was constantly picking at the turf algae too. I've been holding off replacing him since I'm planning to upgrade to a 29 with sump set up soon.

Phil

[melev]

A Seahare of Lawnmower blenny would definitely help. And with that much lush growth, PO4 will read 0 usually. Try ripping some out and see if the numbers don't sudden rise.

Blow of your rockwork with a turkey baster. That would be food for the GSP. You could do that daily, solving two things at once.

What is this about not having a sump! :lol:

[Alaska_Phil]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13771462#post13771462 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
A Seahare of Lawnmower blenny would definitely help. And with that much lush growth, PO4 will read 0 usually. Try ripping some out and see if the numbers don't sudden rise.

Blow of your rockwork with a turkey baster. That would be food for the GSP. You could do that daily, solving two things at once.

What is this about not having a sump! :lol:

Why do you think I keep offering to send you some Marc. I'm sure this magic turf would bring your nitrates down in a hurry. :D I actually tried to get it started in my 50 gal tank, but apparently yellow tangs love the stuff (I'm sure the tang police would have a fit if I put one in a 20 gal). I pluck out as much as I can every 2 weeks when I do my water changes, and blow the rocks off about 2x per week.

A lawnmower blennie would be nice, I guess I could always move him to the 50 gal when he out grows the 20. Wouldn't be long with all the food he'd have. I'll see if the LFS has a baby one in stock. Last time I was in there he had a baby blue tang that was pretty beat up, wonder if he'd let me take it and nurse it back to health with lots of fresh food. :p

I have a sump, it's just not plumbed in, or baffled or anything really. Get's back to the plane thing...soon as that's ready to fly I'll do some of my tank upgrade projects. :rolleyes: Won't be long, I'm hoping to mount the wings this weekend.

Phil

[melev]

Maybe you could get a cute tiny yellow tang, which would move out once the tank is clean. Then again, what happens once the eradicator has been moved? You probably need more snails and a good skimmer to keep that stuff at bay.

Be sure to post some pictures of the plane's progress. We had a guy in our club that built them and rented out hanger space to others that needed a place to do the same. It was really neat, and almost affordable. ;)

[Alaska_Phil]

Well, I used to have a deal going with the LFS for Yoyo loaches. I used them to control the snails in my planted freshwater tank. But they'd get agressive when they got larger. So, I'd just take them back and exchange them for small ones. The LFS could actually sell the full grown ones for a higher price. Especially since they'd be fat and colorful when I was done with them. Wonder if they'd go for the same thing with Tangs or lawnmowers? :p

I need to add a plane construction page to my web site. I've got another one waiting to start as soon as this ones done and both my tanks have sumps. :)

Phil