GSP and chemical warfare (+ mushrooms)

[richiev]

I always thought GSP were harmless in terms of releasing stuff, though they'll of course overrun things. I just read some posts saying GSP is one of the most chemical warfare softies.

I've been trying to figure out why my tank has slowly gotten worse in regards to my SPS. AFAICT the numbers are stable. Phosphate always <= 0.1. Nitrates 5-10. Awhile back everything was great. Over time it got less so. Triton ICP are good.

This got me wondering if it's something else in my tank. I was starting to blame my shrooms, but I thought as far as softies go they're minor. I then got for whatever reason googled GSP today and was shocked people say they're big chemical warfare corals.

Chemical warfare seems like another area that's likely full of minimal real data though.

What do you BAR smarties believe? GSP are innocuous from the POV of SPS, or bad news? I really like my GSP rock, but I'll ditch it if it's an allopathic problem.

 

[CaseyP]

Hm I never considered this with GSP. I have a GSP island that's been in my various tanks over 10 years but always keep it trimmed to its 8x6" rock, so small relative to total water volume. You can try running carbon or ozone to remove the toxins as a test to see if things perk up. As an observation, I've had corals frags land in my GSP colony for an extended period of time and all have been ok with no excessive sliming. Versus if they land on a more aggressive coral they slime up and bleach on the side in contact.

I've removed all but 1 leather coral and a huge growth of yellow sponge from my sump when my SPS were not doing so hot. Same theory that toxins could be the culprit so I ran a lot of carbon as well. Things got better but I had other issues that were corrected so hard to say what was the true problem.