Help my green starburst coral is completely retracted!!

All of the polyps have retracted...its never done this before, even during acclimation. I see a mini brittle stars legs poking out of a crevice between the coral and the liverock its attached to....could this be the reason it is stressed out? How long can the coral be under this kind of stress before it is a goner?

BTW....I'm a real newbie at reef stuff and my tank has only been up for 2 months but the levels are as follows: nitrate 0 nitrite 0 phosphates 0 calcium 410 alkalinity 9 temp 80 salinity 1.023, no recent changes to any levels

Thanks

 

It should be fine. Mine (especially early on) would close up for no apparent reason for several days or longer. I don't think I could kill the thing now - I even subject it to underwater "grooming" and it still comes out!

 

Thanks. That makes me feel a lot better, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still a little concerned. Did yours retract at night when the lights were off?? Mine hasn't and I thought that was a bit strange because almost all of my other corals do.

 

Mine has no real "behavior" pattern - sometimes in the morning it will be fully open, sometimes not. Sometimes all it takes is a hermit crab trambling it to close it up. Here's a before and after of mine, just in a matter of months - yes, it's attached to a plastic "tank" - long story!

 

BTB0923

I have several pieces of GSP - green star polyps
1 piece is very small, and I found it behind the reef in June when I did a tank swap
I have no idea how long it was there but it looked the same as your does now

I relocated it, and a few polyps opened that day, the following day a few more, and within 1 week it was back to full opening and none the worse for its experience behind the reef

I tell you the above story so you can see, just how hardy this coral is

if it does not open within a couple of days, blast it with a turkey baster or direct your power head towards it , as sometimes sediment can block the pores and the polyp stays inside

Steve

 

Thanks!!

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think those type of corals need iodine every once in a while. Atleast thats what I was told and my GSP never looked better, and there pretty much the same things.

 

I'd love to hear that story! Do I smell some Jwin mischief?;D

 

I came downstairs this morning and found that the GSP are out and about again ;D Thanks again guys!

 

you'll get used to this, every few months mine close up for a few days for undisclosed reasons ... come back in full force not too long afterwards.