Gsp not doing well

[usc_lax9]

hello everyone, I've had a GSP since around last January. It was doing great not much growth but looked great the whole colony was full and it looked like a bed of grass. I however want on a 2 1/2 week vacation and when I came back it seemed to have gotten thinner. Everything else seemed in check but the GSP. Since the vacation ( late July to early August) my GSP has been going down hill and hasn't improved. I be tried feeding it, I've turned down my flow to it cleared of debris but nothing seems to be helping. Here is picture so you can see what it looks like now. 3 months ago the whole thing was covered in polyps so you can see the difference

 

[SifuMemphis]

Anything specific change since you were gone? How is your water parameter compared to before?

Nitrates
phosphate
KH
Alk
Calc

 

[usc_lax9]

Anything specific change since you were gone? How is your water parameter compared to before?

Nitrates
phosphate
KH
Alk
Calc

everything seemed pretty much the same but like i said i was gone for 2 and a 1/2 weeks so anything could have changed and returned. I explained everything to my house sitter but im not sure how well they grasped testing etc. when i got back everything seemed the same so wasn't concerned until i noticed the GSP.

 

[SifuMemphis]

Are you able to test for those parameters above? What are the numbers for those?

 

[thormx]

Your tank may be too clean, especially with slow growth even when it looked healthy. Gsp is a very fast grower. It could be just coincidence it took a dive while you where gone, especially if everything else looks OK. Gsp likes a tank with higher nitrates than lps or sps.

 

[twilliard]

GSP's are great indicators of water quality
There is something off in the chemistry of your water.
Lack of nutrients will do that.
We needs a full panel of test results

 

[usc_lax9]

sorry, testing values
Nitrate- ~20
Ka- 300+
Nitrite- 0
pH- 8.0
salinity- 1.025
Cal- 500+ ppm
Mg- 1500+ ppm
ammonia- 0

 

[twilliard]

Do you have a po4 value?

 

[usc_lax9]

Im relatively new and this is my first reef tank. I use a calcium additive called purple up that i was told be my LFS to dose twice a week and use 2 capfuls, I dose it every Monday and Friday, so thats why my cal. and Mg is off the charts. Im working on switching to kalk. or maybe two part , since i here that quick spikes like this can stunt growth, but i don't want to waste a half bottle of the stuff. I also dose iodine and run a carbon reactor. I do around a 30% water change every other week.

 

[usc_lax9]

Do you have a po4 value?

no i do not have a test kit for that.

 

[usc_lax9]

i however think its low since i have very little nuisance algae growth.

 

[usc_lax9]

Do you have a po4 value?

The GSP got dramatically worse today

 

[usc_lax9]

The GSP got dramatically worse today

about half of the polyps that were open a few days a ago were closed and the ones that are open are shrunken up really small.

 

[twilliard]

about half of the polyps that were open a few days a ago were closed and the ones that are open are shrunken up really small.

This is a bad sign for those guys
They love what I call "dirty water"
When the water gets to low in available nutrients they will fade away.
This is why I use them as indicators in my tank

 

[Tahoe61]

At this point I would go back to the flow it was under or increase flow. If you can pull the colony I would, and dip it in a Lugols dilution or CoralRX, make sure no algae is growing on the colony or collecting detritus.

No neighbor corals may be stinging the colony at night?

 

[usc_lax9]

At this point I would go back to the flow it was under or increase flow. If you can pull the colony I would, and dip it in a Lugols dilution or CoralRX, make sure no algae is growing on the colony or collecting detritus.

No neighbor corals may be stinging the colony at night?

I be droped the flow about two weeks ago when I notice all of my corals were closing up and all others have improved but the GSP. It's gotten significantly worse since the first picture and has lost half of the polyps in that picture. No corals are close enough to sting it, but I never dipped it. However I would have assumed that after almost a year anything that's was going to hurt it would have early on but I may be mistaken

 

[usc_lax9]

At this point I would go back to the flow it was under or increase flow. If you can pull the colony I would, and dip it in a Lugols dilution or CoralRX, make sure no algae is growing on the colony or collecting detritus.

I dipped a few days ago and a couple of brittle stars came out of it but thats it. he dip seemed to have killed all but 3 to 4 of the remaining, polyps i see a few different ones each day but never the same ones, my real concern now is how to know when i should "pull the plug" so to speak and remove it before it pollutes my tank. will it bleach white/brown out, or will it just look like its rotting away/