Coral ID request

nunlef

Member
Hi,
I bought a complete reef from someone last fall - and it came with all kinds of super things (most of which were hiding between goo and algae) Everything has been living in my system for a while now, but I never did figure out what this thing is. My XL pink spotted goby used to move it around the sandbed - i don't know why.

he has been temporarily placed in every position in the tank. He used to be a darker green, but now the little fingery/hairy things are a pale green (probably do to an accidental freshwater change :smack: ). He also used to have a very circular shape, but I think it's trying to split. The white base is firm but not stony.
It is responsive and alive, but has been about the same size since september 2010.

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Thanks for any help.
 

nunlef

Member
Thanks for the suggestion, after I googled that I figured out what all these crazy things where all over my rocks :) I couldn't find any pictures that looked like what I have, specifically the coloration and tentacles.

The "unknown creature" in the pictures is about 1" in diameter and varies between a medium and pale green, though the base is always white. It also has a very defined mouth that I target feed (when I remember). The base is totally flat, and even after 8 months, it has never attached to anything.

ps, thanks a lot. google also turned up a bunch of pictures of pineapple upside down sponge cake - one of my faves, but I'm on a spring diet.
 

nunlef

Member
OOOH, you're kidding me. That looks more like what I have than anything else I've seen. In fact, when I got it, I thought is was a sickly duncan head, but the base was too substantial. Maybe that's why it kept moving all over stupid place, I had been blaming the fish/crabs.

One question. If that is a walking dendron, did I make a huge error in finally glueing it down last week?
 

Frankie

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Going out on a limb, but maybe a heteropsammia cochlea.
Interesting. :)

Sara has an interesting view there. I was not thinking about a coral.

Unfortunately Hetersopsammia and Heterocyathus have symbionts they depend on for survival. They do not do well in established aquariums and give even the more advanced reefers a hard time for survival.

I took some time to check that picture out on top that is the clearest and zoomed in. I stand corrected by myself and see now that it is some type of anemone.

I would like to see a top down shot if possible to be sure though.
 

seafansar

Well-Known Member
I don't know anything about their care. My guess is that glueing it is probably bad unless the worm in it is already dead.
 

nunlef

Member
Now that I know I'm not the only one a little stumped on the ID, I'm REALLY interested in finding out what the heck this thing is.

It is my understanding that the worm is not required for the coral to survive, unfortunately I glued it down, so I can't see under it to see if there is a hole.

here are a couple more pictures, they are photobucket and LARGE, but at least a little more detail will be seen. The color isn't quite right, though. I have the cheapest camera I could find on the day my old one broke, and I never bothered with learning how to use it other than "click" - "oh, there's my kid being silly"...

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FURTHER INFO...

This guy was purchased with a horribly neglected 29g reef. The lady went to the store and threw down $1000, then went home and ordered another $1000 from foster and smith. The floor of the tank (when I got it home) was littered with at least a dozen frag plugs with dead SPS. a blue tuxedo urchin and a couple of astrea snails were alive. The tank, and all contents were less than 6 months old, but was overrun with bryopsis/cladophora (?). THe only fish were a mated pair of black percs (I didn't take those)

I did a water change back in december - forgot to add salt. GSP and urchin were the only causalities - though gsp started to come back last week :) polyps and orange mushrooms were nearly completely white for a few months after that.

I run Reef Brite LEDs (1 white, 1 blue) over my tank (was a 55, it is a 125 as of last week). I have easily kept SPS under these lights at a distance of about 12". This little guy was on the sandbed the entire 8 months, sometimes in a cave, sometimes out in the open - about 20" from lights. He never moved more than a 4" radius from the starting point. I thought it may be current doing it, but he was never covered with sand. My goby did eat every nassarius I had in the tank, he was a hungry, bossy boy. That is why I blamed movement on him.

I tried to place him on a shelf, but it kept ending up on the floor. I never saw it move. I don't like to glue things down, so I didn't bother until I put him in my new tank. The lights are higher now, so I wanted to make him stay on a shelf. Mushrooms are much happier at 26" away from my lighting.

also, I only target feed about once a month. His coloring is lighter now than it was when I got him, but all corals lightened after my freshwater change, and have taken 4-5 months to recover. one red mushroom is now red with white stripes :shrug:

THanks so much for helping me ID this thing. aside from the urchin and 2 foxface (guessing bryopsis poisoning), I haven't lost a single animal in 2 years, and I would really like to see this guy in all his glory, whatever that might be :)
 
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nunlef

Member
Oh, and though I am female, I have giant hands. for scale, my thumbnail is about 3/4 inch across.
 

mbdave

Active Member
I would almost bet that is a very bad off Quadracolor anemone, "bubble tip" unfortunately I have seen them in that state of decline and that is what it looks like to me. Doe's this animal have a hard base?

Sorry to see it :(

Dave
 

nunlef

Member
The "base" feels very similar to an almost ripe pear. Firm, not hard, not even close to squishy. I've seen a BTA before, but I've never looked to closely because I'm not ready for it. (on the advice of Frankie and BigAl, btw, about a year ago ;) ) The base of an anemone looks squooshy to me.
 

mbdave

Active Member
Ok "firm" or a skeleton, "hard". Walking corals will not attach if I am correct, also yep anemones are squishy when they are fat happy and healthy or at least healthier than this. I could be wrong but I believe it has a chance of being an anemone.
 

nunlef

Member
I guess either way, I messed up by glueing it down.

Now, does anyone know how to remove super glue gel from the soft tissue of a critter?
 

seafansar

Well-Known Member
If it is a walking dendro, which I think it is, and you found out it can survive without the worm, I'd just leave it be. Honestly, I really don't think it's an anemone. For one thing, it's next to impossible to glue down an anemone. Plus it really looks like a dendro head.
 

mbdave

Active Member
I guess either way, I messed up by glueing it down.

Now, does anyone know how to remove super glue gel from the soft tissue of a critter?

Well then I retract my anemone bid, I did not realize it was glued down. If you added that information earlier I missed it and I'm sorry for the misdiagnosis. :)
 

nunlef

Member
Well, I guess now I can see if the color will come back nicely, or if it going to stay pale green.

Thanks for helping everyone, I can now sleep easy knowing I have a totally useless, yet rare, coral ;)
 
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