My First Coral - Need Advise

[sKuLLy]

I bought my first small coral yesterday and I'm not certain what it is. It has pink branches which look like a tree and it is of a soft texture. The problem I'm having is when I brought it home it turned into what looks like a piece of pink bubble gum on the rock and is no longer "branched out". What is going on with this piece of bubble gum? How do I get it to transform from bubble gum into the tree it was???:rollingey

 

[Woodstock]

I hope it is not a 'carnation' coral. At best, those are very, very difficult to keep due to their heavy feeding requirements. Got a pic?

List your water parameters.

http://reef.geddis.org/rip.html
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=645
http://www.janetsreef.com/carnatio.htm

 

[Gina]

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/seafans.htm

Is this what you have?

 

[sKuLLy]

I believe it is a polop of some kind but not a seafan. Is it common for corals to gum up when first introduced into a new environment?

 

[sKuLLy]

My water parameters are perfect. All at zero. I took a sample to the LFS and they said "perfect".

Not a carnation coral.

 

[Little Luey]

Is it a soft coral? hard? we need more info to help you out. What name did they have at the LFS?

 

[sKuLLy]

Just found out from LFS it is a star polop.

 

[ReefLady]

Ah, OK, green star polyps will look like that when adjusting. They may look like that for a couple of weeks before they come out. Don't worry, they're EXTREMELY tough corals- they just tend to hold a grudge when moved.

 

[Witfull]

im so glad its not a dendro!

 

[Woodstock]

im so glad its not a dendro!

 

[sKuLLy]

Are dendro's tough to care for??

 

[Woodstock]

Yes. They require almost constant feedings of plankton.. conditions only found in the ocean.

 

[ReefLady]

I'm not sure "tough to care for" does it justice... more like "damned near impossible to keep alive and should not be kept by reefkeepers at this point."