Not exactly a HH but what is it?

Okay, I bought a fully established system about 1 1/2 mths ago. The system had several corals and other inverts in it. No fish. I have yet to add any other livestock except for expanding the CUC. Anyhoo, I just moved my rocks around yesterday to change the rockwork, and something appeared out of the blue. It's not exactly a hitchhiker because it has apparently been in the tank since I got it, I just didn't know it. I'm assuming it was on the back of the rockwork where I could not see it. Yesterday, it floated to several pieces of rock before finally settling down on the same rock as my hammer coral.

Here is a brief description of the thing. It is round and flat and roughly the size of a quarter. It has alternating brown and whitish/green stripes radiating out from the mouth at the center. The thing is grooved with the brown thicker stripes being deeper and the thinner whitish/green stripes being raised higher. It has a foot that it attaches to the rock with. I fed it some mysis shrimp last night and it curled into a ball around the food. It seems mildly aggressive. The shrimp tried to steal it's food and it was having none of that. It would jerk and perhaps try to sting the shrimp every time the shrimp would try to get it's food. Also, since it chose that location on it's own, should I leave it alone or should I prod it to move again? Since it is obviously capable of relocating itself, would it move on it's own if the hammer coral was bothering it? I have posted a pic of the thing below. And this pic was taken right when the lights came on so the hammer coral hasn't yet expanded it's tentacles. It's tentacles do get very close to this thing when fully expanded.


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BigAl says mushroom which is kinda what I had thought. But since I'm still new to the hobby, it's still a good idea to double-check.
 

chipmunkofdoom2

Well-Known Member
It does look like a mushroom, like the "fuzzy" or hairy type. We'd need a clearer picture though.. it could even been a ricordea yuma... sometimes their bumps make it hard to tell them from the fuzzy mushrooms.


I recall you saying that you have a 150w MH over your tank... if this mushroom was previously in the shade and now it's in the open, that lighting will melt it in a matter of days. I would shade it or try to move it.
 
It does look like a mushroom, like the "fuzzy" or hairy type. We'd need a clearer picture though.. it could even been a ricordea yuma... sometimes their bumps make it hard to tell them from the fuzzy mushrooms.


I recall you saying that you have a 150w MH over your tank... if this mushroom was previously in the shade and now it's in the open, that lighting will melt it in a matter of days. I would shade it or try to move it.

I'm not sure where it was before. It might have been getting full light on the back part of the rockwork. If the light was too intense, wouldn't it just move itself again? I didn't move it to this location. It moved there on it's own after trying several spots in the tank. And it is pretty low in the tank too. Probably about an 1/8 of the way up.
 

chipmunkofdoom2

Well-Known Member
Well, it's possible that it would move itself, but rics and mushrooms don't move as quickly as anemones do. They will move, but likely by the time they've traveled to where they'll be safe, it'll be far too late.

It's possible it was getting full exposure where it was, but I think if you moved rocks around, it's likely that it's getting more light now. Mushrooms can be kept under NO fluorescent, so going from shade to direct exposure under one of the most powerful lighting types we have for aquariums would not be good. You can see how it likes the new exposure, but be prepared to move it if it starts stressing.

If this is the first you're seeing of this coral, how do you know it moved several times before picking this spot?
 
If this is the first you're seeing of this coral, how do you know it moved several times before picking this spot?

No, what I meant was when I moved the rockwork yesterday, it moved to several spots in the aquarium over the course of the day before it settled for good on that particular rock.
 
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