Problem with yellow polyps

[Chyendra]

I'm having trouble keeping my yellow polyps alive. I received a frag of probably 9 poylps, which split apart into a group of 6 and 3. the group of 3 looked like it got eaten about a week after I got it and now there is only one. the group of 6 has been slowly disapearing, and lately one polyp has been getting smaller and smaller and is now almost gone, leaving 3 polyps. I haven't noticed any bugs or nudibranches or anything on them.

Do peppermint shrimp or skunk cleaners eat yellow polyps?

Specs:
150w 14,000K HQI over 30gal
nitrate 5ppm
phosphate 0
calcium 440
alk 11dkh
SG 1.025

astreas, 2 hermits, 1 peppermint 1 cleaner shrimp, royal gramma, firefish, neon goby. leather, rics, GSP, shrooms birdsnest monticap, LTP, candy cane

[jfalcaro79]

I had a something like this happen to mine after first adding them to my display with 2x250w MH. What Worked for me was to slowly increase the amount of light that they were exposed to. Starting of very low and almost tucked away under a over-hang for a couple days.

I've had them know for about 2 months and there spreding everywhere. I also feed Cyclopes ( did I spell that right? ) Anyway do you have any fish that would pick/eat them i.e. Dwarf Angels Butterflies Ect.

[Chyendra]

I forgot to mention that I've had them for almost 3 months, and they have been slowly deteriorating. I feed them cyclopeeze once a week, but maybe it should be more often? The only fish I have are the ones listed


edit: and I run chemipure elite 24/7

[dendro982]

If you can split the stone and place each of remaining groups in different conditions, like very moderate might and flow. And they grow much better with feeding.

It seems to me, that none of your livestock should create any problems. You always can try Reef Dip, but likely it is not necessary.

Is it possible to lower alkalinity at least to 10 DKH? 9 even better.

Mine were few months without changes in basic reef (10g beginners tank, 54W 6,500K CFL and direct sunlight, low to moderate flow, then they started to grow and grow fast, when tank was fed few times a day.

They do fairly good in well fed tank under 27W daylight CFL, low flow place, in sea cucumber tank.

[lancer99]

I'll second what Dendro said...they really need to be fed more often than once a week, preferably daily.

-R

[Chyendra]

Thanks for the advice, I will try to lower my Alk. Is cyclopeeze ok to feed them? thats what everybody else gets

[lancer99]

Cyclop-eeze should be fine, but they are big enough to take larger food, like mysis. That might be a more efficient means.

-R

[fox1987]

I feed them daily with frozen baby brine shrimp and JBL coral fluid. And they grow fast and bigger .

[CoralBeautyII]

yellow polyps are supposed to be tasty, alot of things munch on them
dwarf angles, some tangs, and some crabs..thats what happend to mine.
so the next time i got a nice looking yellow polyp rock i placed it way up high on a mag rock, sure enough i found my sally lite foot crab walking the glass to get to it, and she did, within a month all polyps were eaten. i wont bother getting it again
my coral beauty wiped out the previous batch :(

the only time mine flourished is when they were in a nano tank with only a pair of clowns

[Bud Reeferman]

Agree that ALK is high. I'd also suggest lowering calcium down to 380-400ish. Unless you've got a lot of stonys to support, I don't think you need all that calcium.

[Chyendra]

I do have 4 SPS and 3 LPS corals, so I'm trying to make sure that they're getting the ca they need. I will definetly try to lower the alk. I've been feeding them every 3 days or so (all I have time to do) and they seem stable, but haven't split.

[topside]

I had a sundial snail eat an entire colony of yellow polyps before I figured out it was the culprit. It came in as hitchhiker from somewhere, and every day a couple more polyps went missing. You may want to check for those too. They are small and have a checkerboard (black and white) nautilus-like shell.

[Chyendra]

I've been keeping an eye out for them since I've learned what sundial snails were, and I thought I had one, but after looking at some pictures it seems like I have Collonista snails, not sundials.

[boxerzz]

I had the same problems as you but now my yellow polyps are thriving.

1. Look out for predatory snails. Those with conical shells are usually no good IMHO.

2. Flow. They give me the idea that they like gentle swayy flow. I have place them in a few places and this finally place they settled down and started budding and spreading. Once they settled down try not to move them again because IMO they don't like to be moved.

[clockman]

If the polyps are suddenly disappearing, I would look for a preditor of some type. Yellow polyps do best when they are fed once in a while. For some reason they don't derive as much nutrition from their xoothanzellae. If they are all shrinking and not suddenly disappearing, than they need to be fed. Seems like you all have already figured out that they love cyclops.

[jetblacksdart]

I feed mine every day when I feed my fish. They really seem to like mysis. I have mine in a spot where they recieve lots of flow. They seem happier there than when they were in a low flow area. Maybe because they are getting more food. :-)