Sandra's JBJ 12 Problemo, advice??

[dragon79]

Since owning her tank last year in November til now, her GSP has grown quite a bit. It's growing on the back of the tank wall, and a little on the glass. As far as the rock it's one, it's nearly all covered all the way around, and it's starting to spread onto other rocks. Is there a way to make it stop spreading the way it is? Before it never did that, it would just stay put, but now it appears it's in it's multiplying stage.

My brother suggested putting things in it's way and it'll know it's boundary, but I tried that with some red sea xenia she has in there, and looking at her tank today I see it's spreading over and around that xenia, so that didn't stop it. I need to hella prune or cut/frag this thing as I am sure Sandra doesnt' want a tank of just GSP, lol Any advice on what to do here? Anybody interested in GSP in general? Hers is obviously healthy and multiplying

Thanks guys/gals.

 

[Anonymous]

If it is like the GSP I use to have you NEED to prune it. It has a purple mat like base that encrusts the rock, glass whatever. You can simply peel this up and cut it with a razor - then use a rubber band to attach the purple mat to another piece of rock. Yes GSP is very invasive - if you notice I said I "use" to have? At first I loved it it spread like crazy and the metalic green mouths just glowed under actinic lighting, but it got to the point that it was spreading onto places I didn't want it and I was having a hard time getting rid of the frags cause I had so much. I fragged out a bunch of pieces and gave it to everyone I could for years - but in the end I ended up getting rid of it. Peel all of it off except for the amount you want and be prepared to do that about once a month to keep it in its place. Oh yea one other thing - you could place the rock its on in the sand and it will spread out onto the sand and this makes pruning easier and keeps it away from your other corals and rocks. Kinda like mowing the lawn eh???

 

[Jennie]

He nailed it. GSP can become invasive out of the clear blue. Best bet is to ask around at your lfs to see if they can take any, they might be able to sell it for you or give you store credit for it.

 

[incysor]

One of the great things about GSP when it gets prolific is you can have lots of frags to gift to people, or trade, or sell back to the LFS for credit.

B

 

[dragon79]

is it easy to peel off rock? Looks like it'll be easy to peel off the glass or the back area, but for the rock, it looks like it's melted on there or something. Sucks too, cuz that is one of Sandra's main rocks, A big ol Rock, and almost all covered.

I too chose not to have it when I saw it grow like crazy in sandra's tank. She has to do something soon, otherwise it's going to overun her entire tank.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll be sure to let her know what she should do.

 

[Anonymous]

It will pull right off the rock as well
Another solution though - find someone (LFS) who'll take the whole rock for a big tank, keep a frag on a small rock for her and sell/trade for a new piece of rock to replace it. I don't know about where your at, but I know my LFS would gladly trade me for a very nice piece of rock and maybe throw in something else too. And change is always fun anyway.

 

[puppetmaster_6000]

what about those cholate chip starfish dont they eat corals?,find one and let it chow down till its all gone then get rid of the star. :idea:

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Stevan, I had the same problem in my cube. I tried peeling the stuff off the rock with little success. The problem is, the mat gets into the nooks and crannies, making it very difficult to remove it all. If the rock is flat, it'll be much easier. I ended up removing the rock that had the most GSP on it.

Here's a tank with GSP that has gone crazy - not my tank btw.

 

[dragon79]

OMG, yeah, see the way the background is being overun like that?? Sandra's is doing that. As for the rock she has it's not all flat at all, it has curves and what not, and should pose as a real problem to peel off. Sandra's best bet is to see if the LFS would want that large piece of rock with all that GSP and see if it can be traded with a big rock to replace it. Thanks for all the info guys, I'll pass it along to her, and I'll have to also take a pic to show you how it's spreading.