Green Star Polyps Closed for 2 weeks

I had a friend that gave me a green star polyp frag. He adapted very well in my tank and was fully open for a month. The last 2 weeks he has been closed. I have been checking everything params, debris, and I moved his placement away from my other corals. I have a wavy hand and a small pineapple tree coral. They are healthy and growing perfect. The GSP was placed about 5in away from the tree coral before and I moved him to the other side of the tank 2 days ago. Do you think those two had an issue? I'm stumped. My lighting is perfect and installed new bulbs 2 months ago. The GSP did have some algae on him and in the picture it looks like he still does but I did get most of it off. In my old tank I never had this issue my GSP grew like a weed.
All my other livestock are happy and healthy.
Salinity 35ppt
Temp 78
PH 8.3
Phosphate 0.01
Ammonia 0.00
Nitrate 0.0
Nitrite 0.0
Any ideas?

 

What lights are you running? and how far from the lights is the green star now?

When I had green star polyps, they refused to open until I shut down half my lights. Once they opened, I slowly eased them into full illumination. After that they just started spreading out over the rocks.

 

Thanks RockStacker

Right now the GSP is about 16in and the lighting is Marineland marine series pro 1X150W HQI & 4X24W T5 actinic

more specs here
Marineland Marine Series Pro Metal Halide Fixture 1X150W HQI & 4X24W T5, 24 inch

You might be on to something. At night when the LED's come on he would open a tad bit but lately nothing at all

 

It is very important to acclimate new corals to lighting as well as the water.

There are several ways to do this. One is to take a few layers of screening material over the tank and every few days remove one. Another is to cut back the photo period down to half of what you are at, then over the course of a few weeks, build it back up to where you want it.

 

Thanks thats great information I will be sure to do that next time

one thing about this that doesnt add up is he was fully open for about a month

You can see what he was like in my profile picture

This just happened all of a sudden. So should I still try adding a few layers of screening material?

 

I beleve when I tested it was a little lower than normal, but nothing crazy. I don't remember the reading. I will check again when I get home.

 

Coral response time to environmental changes is different for each species, but they are usually very slow compared to mobile creatures.
It is possible that during that month the coral was still assessing the new environment and thinking of the appropriate response.
[In other words, it was still acclimating]

In your GSP's case, it concluded that the only response was to close up and protect itself from sunburn.

 

RockStacker thanks I added a few layers of screening material on the light and my GSP started to open up a tiny bit. Your acclimation knowlage really helped me out and I will make sure I always do this. It's funny cause when I started with coral over 2 years my LFS told me different.

My ALK was a little low so I fixed that and today it's stable again.

I did also do another water change.

Thanks again everyone and I'll keep you all posted

 

In this hobby, you will find that to be a common theme

 

Probably the other corals did not hurt your GPS. GPS trumps just about all other corals except Yellow zoas.