When I bought these star polyps they were bright green on top with reddish coloring underneath. Since then they have become more and more red brown colored. They are doing fine because they have doubled the area they cover and expand all the way during the day. I have a 250 watt 10k metal halide and the star polyps are at the top and off to the side. Does anyone know how to make them bright green again?
Star polyps change color
- Thread starter mygreengoldfish
- Start date
Coral colors can vary a lot, and seem to be pretty sensitive to light. One generally sees corals get brown because of too little light, but that doesn't sound like your problem. Maybe too much? What were they kept under before? Mine have stayed bright metallic green under PC light.
Colors also react to the chemical content of different waters, from what I've read. Could just be that something in your water is telling them they should be brown instead of green.
At the fish store they were under two VHO bulbs in water about 8 inches deep. Would the change from VHO to metal halide do this? Also, do they eat any filter feeder food and would this change the color?
Possibly to both...
Zooanxthellae (or however you spell it) are usually sort of golden-brown colored from my reading. It turning brown may mean the populataion of photosynthetics in the polyp colonies have exploded. If that's what happened, then the polyps were relying less on light for food when they were green.
Zooanxthellae (or however you spell it) are usually sort of golden-brown colored from my reading. It turning brown may mean the populataion of photosynthetics in the polyp colonies have exploded. If that's what happened, then the polyps were relying less on light for food when they were green.
I think you might be right about the population of the zooxanthellea. The star polyps are growing like crazy, there are a few new polyps everyday. Does anyone know how slow down this population explosion of zooxanthellae? Do star polyps eat any invert food?