Green Star vs SPS?

[SirRoadwolf]

So I have a pretty decent pink SPS colony, but over the last year some green star has been invading from it's stalk. I am not really sure what kind of SPS this is, but the green star surely has been invading it steadily. Any tips on how to deal with this? I figured maybe breaking off the SPS and restarting it would be the only option but i have never really fragged on that level before. I recall once taking the pink SPS coral out of the tank to try to deal with some other issues, and the SPS slimed all over me - so it obviously doesn't like being removed from the tank.

 

[Jekyl]

GSP will eventually take over the entire tank if allowed. Complete removal is unfortunately the only coarse of action

 

[blecki]

The slime is how coral prevents drying out when it's exposed at low tide. It doesn't have the capacity to 'like it' or not but you can take it out for a few minutes without doing any harm.

 

[SirRoadwolf]

Okay that is great. So I can just snap/break the SPS apart? And that should be fine?

 

[Tired]

Yep. It won't make very neat cuts, but the coral won't care. Keep any little bits that shatter off, as they'll likely grow into whole new colonies fine on their own.

Being removed from the water is non-ideal, so the coral could be colloquially said to not like it, in the way that we can say a cactus doesn't like being overwatered. They do cope with it just fine, though. No need to rush- some SPS are exposed to the open air and the sun for hours at a time in the wild. Take it out, break it up, do whatever, then put it back in and it'll be fine.