Green star polyps losing colour.

[KyleC]

Hoping someone has some input. So I've had my tank for 8 months or more... everything was fine, gish, corals etc... recently I added some carbon and my palys etc open fully now and corals are thriving! All but my gsp, which for some reason has lost all of it's green pigment! It now looks the same pinkish colour as the mat just paler. The same happened to my brown star polyps (glowed green under blues), they too have lost all green. Only their mouths are green.

Recently I added a lot of sps, have now started testing my calcium etc and have been slowly increasing mag levels (currently at 1300).

The issue started around the time I added my red sea carbon (75g for my approx 340ltr system). Around the same time I manually scraped GHA from the back wall. This caused a spike in nitrates, which has since dropped to 10ppm, and has been there now for weeks. No other obvious issues. Some have suggested low iodine levels due to the carbon (still yet to test iodine).

Can anyone confirm if carbon would cause low iodine, and in turn would affect my gsp? Snails and inverts are all doing fine (although I did also have issue with trochus dying until recently). I'm at a total loss, and now the gsp looks to be slowly disintegrating. Thr brown stsr polyps however are still growing. Pics to follow (lights off and don't want to disturb the fish).

Any help appreciated, thanks!

 

[DenverSaltyFarm]

I’m guessing the carbon caused light shock to your system which bleached out the gsp a bit. Typically when adding activated carbon you start out with half of what your system calls for then 2 weeks later you can bump it up to the recommended amount.

The jump in clarity of water causes higher par to the corals and can bleach them if it’s too fast.

Also GSP likes dirtier water at least 10+ nitrate and around .08 phosphate

Having said that as a good rule never change tank conditions to make one coral happy, only do so if other corals are unhappy too

 

[KyleC]

Thanks dude! I think you hit the nail on the head, that all makes sense. Shame manufacturers don't include that on their instructions after adding the GAC clarity did dramatically and rapidly increase so I imagine that has a part to play. That coupled with the fact I've been changing my filter socks etc more frequently to battle this GHA, and in doing so reduced the nitrate and phosphate levels quite a bit must have contributed to the bleaching like you say.

I've spoken to quite a few people and this is the first bit of advice that makes sense, so thank you!

Hopefully they'll recover they were the last corals I'd expected to be affected too.

 

[DenverSaltyFarm]

Thanks dude! I think you hit the nail on the head, that all makes sense. Shame manufacturers don't include that on their instructions after adding the GAC clarity did dramatically and rapidly increase so I imagine that has a part to play. That coupled with the fact I've been changing my filter socks etc more frequently to battle this GHA, and in doing so reduced the nitrate and phosphate levels quite a bit must have contributed to the bleaching like you say.

I've spoken to quite a few people and this is the first bit of advice that makes sense, so thank you!

Hopefully they'll recover they were the last corals I'd expected to be affected too.

Awesome! hopefully it will recover soon. Also I highly recommend using pelletized carbon like polyp lab pro carbon. It won’t strip trace elements that you need like granular carbon does. Then make sure to replace once a month

 

[KyleC]

Awesome! hopefully it will recover soon. Also I highly recommend using pelletized carbon like polyp lab pro carbon. It won’t strip trace elements that you need like granular carbon does. Then make sure to replace once a month

Just getting into carbon use, I'll check it out! Thanks!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hoping someone has some input. So I've had my tank for 8 months or more... everything was fine, gish, corals etc... recently I added some carbon and my palys etc open fully now and corals are thriving! All but my gsp, which for some reason has lost all of it's green pigment! It now looks the same pinkish colour as the mat just paler. The same happened to my brown star polyps (glowed green under blues), they too have lost all green. Only their mouths are green.

Recently I added a lot of sps, have now started testing my calcium etc and have been slowly increasing mag levels (currently at 1300).

The issue started around the time I added my red sea carbon (75g for my approx 340ltr system). Around the same time I manually scraped GHA from the back wall. This caused a spike in nitrates, which has since dropped to 10ppm, and has been there now for weeks. No other obvious issues. Some have suggested low iodine levels due to the carbon (still yet to test iodine).

Can anyone confirm if carbon would cause low iodine, and in turn would affect my gsp? Snails and inverts are all doing fine (although I did also have issue with trochus dying until recently). I'm at a total loss, and now the gsp looks to be slowly disintegrating. Thr brown stsr polyps however are still growing. Pics to follow (lights off and don't want to disturb the fish).

Any help appreciated, thanks!

Assure moderate to medium water flow along with light not too bright and salinity not low

 

[KyleC]

Assure moderate to medium water flow along with light not too bright and salinity not low

I think I am good in that sense. Although as Denver mentioned above, par may have increased (if I'm using that correctly) since the water is much clearer. I'm also wondering if I should take the carbon out, and only use it when/if I notice yellow water again. It's worth noting I also have 2 large leather corals and one small (green leather, 2 different toadstools). The carbon helps with removing their toxic sheds/chemicals?

Would adding and removing the same carbon bag as and when needed (so long as it's still active) cause any issues in itself? I might consider doing that since my water is now clear and everything but the GSP seems to be doing well. I also feel like my hermits colours have faded somewhat too. Possibly unrelated but just an observation.

 

[Spare time]

I think I am good in that sense. Although as Denver mentioned above, par may have increased (if I'm using that correctly) since the water is much clearer. I'm also wondering if I should take the carbon out, and only use it when/if I notice yellow water again. It's worth noting I also have 2 large leather corals and one small (green leather, 2 different toadstools). The carbon helps with removing their toxic sheds/chemicals?

Would adding and removing the same carbon bag as and when needed (so long as it's still active) cause any issues in itself? I might consider doing that since my water is now clear and everything but the GSP seems to be doing well. I also feel like my hermits colours have faded somewhat too. Possibly unrelated but just an observation.

There was a study on this by Dana Riddle and it showed carbon not to have a significant effect on par. BRS found the opposite but didn't run any stats. I would list the water parameters and test kits used. Also, carbon does ore than simply make the water clear, hence why I leave it in 24/7

 

[vetteguy53081]

I think I am good in that sense. Although as Denver mentioned above, par may have increased (if I'm using that correctly) since the water is much clearer. I'm also wondering if I should take the carbon out, and only use it when/if I notice yellow water again. It's worth noting I also have 2 large leather corals and one small (green leather, 2 different toadstools). The carbon helps with removing their toxic sheds/chemicals?

Would adding and removing the same carbon bag as and when needed (so long as it's still active) cause any issues in itself? I might consider doing that since my water is now clear and everything but the GSP seems to be doing well. I also feel like my hermits colours have faded somewhat too. Possibly unrelated but just an observation.

Carbon can remain