Green star poly help!

[Cooper924]

Just picked up a GSP from my lfs and when I started floating the bag in my tank I noticed a red spot on it. Is this normal or is it a parasite? Sorry for how bad the quality of the pics are trying to get better

 

[ScottB]

Whether you use a pest control dip or not, you should always baste new corals aggressively. Yeah it will temporarily irritate them, but you would be surprised sometimes by what you can blast out of them. I use a small powerhead. Even a soft toothbrush.

GSP may stay closed for a full light cycle, but they are hardy, don't worry.

 

[Cooper924]

Thanks for the reply! Also I never took it out the bag yet though? Should I not worry about it, are gsp known to have purple/red bases?

 

[ScottB]

Thanks for the reply! Also I never took it out the bag yet though? Should I not worry about it, are gsp known to have purple/red bases?

Purple base yes. Red spot might be a touch of cyano which is nothing to worry about.

Open the bag, clamp it to the side of the tank, grab a turkey baster and blast the c**p out of it top to bottom. Then pop it in your tank and discard the LFS water and bag.

If in a month or so you see that the GSP is actively growing/spreading, you may want to think about keeping it isolated to one/two rocks. Everybody starts with GSP, and most eventually have to deal with it overgrowing everything. It won't grow over sand unless the sand is very coarse.

 

[Cooper924]

Thanks for all the info! I’ll certainly try the turkey Baster and see if that works. Here’s another picture I did manage to get of it

 

[ScottB]

Thanks for all the info! I’ll certainly try the turkey Baster and see if that works. Here’s another picture I did manage to get of it

Looks like a healthy specimen. See if the red blotch can be blasted off.

 

[BZOFIQ]

if all else fails, trim it off. That much will grow back in 2 weeks. if not faster.

 

[jd371]

Yeah, if you're worried just cut it off. GSP are like weeds and that will grow back in no time. Like was mentioned isolate on a separate rock because it will spread quickly. I was lucky when starting off and although I put GSP on the main rockscape, the rocks weren't glued together I was able to remove the rock and isolate it when it started growing near other corals. The rock is near the back glass and the GSP grow onto the glass now and I need to remove matts of it every few months.