GSP: Can we call it a weed? (1 Viewer)

[Copingsaw]

I'm feeling a need to vent my frustrations with these damned Green Star Polyps.

When I first started in this hobby a few years back, I picked up a small square of GSP from a fellow hobbyist. At first I was excited: It was pretty and it actually thrived in my new aquarium. Soon it started to grow and I was excited to have a coral doing so well. Not long after that it started to spread from one rock to the next. Then it started to kill all the other corals it came in contact with. By this time I was no longer so enamored by the pretty green grass I had growing all over my tank.

I tried every tool and technique know to man to remove it. It truly acts like a weed: It grows quickly, it thrives in any environment, it is difficult to remove and, just when you think you've killed it, it grows back.

I finally removed several rocks that were almost completely covered and put them in a holding tank with no daylight. After waiting several weeks I was able to fairly easily scrub the GSP off with a brush. I still have it on one rock and it is literally part of my weekly maintenance to keep it in check.

In my three years in the saltwater side of this hobby, I can honestly say that the most time consuming and frustrating problem I have faced is trying to control the GSP outbreak in my tank.

Okay, I think I feel better now ...

 

[Guest]

8O

 

[crvz]

I dont know, I like them. But they don't overtake anything in my tank, so I don't quite appreciate you're plight!

 

[Guest]

Maybe if it was a bright red star polyp you wouldnt mind.

 

[toefu]

hmm.. i hope I wasn't that fellow reefer. If I was, i'd like to plead the 5th by saying you were warned of this menace.

 

[NeoTheWicked]

Well sounds like you have a problem but i have a solution. Scrape off what you dont want and give it to me :} love GSP and so does my girlfriend lol managed to kill the bit i had

 

[toan]

please do share lol

 

[Guest]

I can see killing off algae in your tank rock by rock in the manner in which you did the gsp(isolate the rock, then keep in the dark, then scrub).
Instead of killing it off next time, maybe a generous donation to your lfs, or a fellow hobbyists woud be a better idea. IMO, of course.

 

[BayAreaAquarium]

hey copingsaw i hope your not still battling this from last year...i remember you had posted a thread that asked about how to get rid of it like last sept or oct. sometime. man you must have had a huge population of it to be battling this long.

 

[troypham]

i feel your pain.. i have a bunch i need to kill myself. i've scrapped and pull off as much as i can but they keep coming back.

 

[Andy]

Why dont you trade it with fish stores or other hobbiest???

 

[Copingsaw]

Well sounds like you have a problem but i have a solution. Scrape off what you dont want and give it to me

Part of my problem is that the stuff just doesn't scrape off. If I could peel off a little patch and give it to you I would. Like most live rock, my rock is very porous and unevenly shaped. It will not peel off. You literally need to scrub and scrape the stuff away.

hey copingsaw i hope your not still battling this from last year...i remember you had posted a thread that asked about how to get rid of it like last sept or oct. sometime. man you must have had a huge population of it to be battling this long.

Yes, that was me. The good news is that I only really decided to get take drastic action a few months ago when I removed the covered rocks from the tank.

hmm.. i hope I wasn't that fellow reefer. If I was, i'd like to plead the 5th by saying you were warned of this menace.

I wasn't going to name names but since you've just named yourself . In your defense, I still remember your clear warning about the nature of GSP when you gave it to me. If only I had listened ...