First Coral

[Ineubis]

Well, I bought my first coral on Monday, an "Octopus Coral", from the research I've done, it appears to be part of the Euphyllia Coral family (taken from: http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/coralidprofileresource/ )

I put it in my tank (a small 20g reef tank with 20 lbs. of live rock, 3 fish, and some hermits) and it's all closed up and not moving.

I told my friend who is also in the hobby, and he said "you didn't remove the coral from the water, did you?"

I said, "well I took it out of the bag, and put it in my tank."

He said that the coral will fill up with oxygen if removed from the water, and it can stun or kill the coral..

No one at the store I bought it from mentioned "DO NOT REMOVE FROM WATER OR IT WILL DIE!" so, what the heck?

Can coral die from being out of the water for 10 seconds tops?

 

[Hara]

yes it can

 

[Ineubis]

well, is it dead?

most of the tentacles were up, and have gone limp in the past two days...

here's a pic

 

[seaham358]

I can't make out what kind of coral that is? never heard of Octopus coral???
Euphyllia corals are hammers, frogspwans ect.. This is not a pic of one of them.
and the Euphyllia can be exposed to air with no issues. I have mine out all the time with no issues when doing a WC or fragging they are out in the air. I have only heard of issues with the spounge corals.
It is not uncommon for corals the retract the polyps for days after adding it too a new environment. if there dead you will see them melting or breaking up.

the one book I have has a frogspawn named as a octopus coral, this IMO is not a FS. I see no hard skelton, its all sofe tissue right??

 

[Ineubis]

well, the good news is, all of the tentacles were UP this morning!

I did not handle any of the tentacles when I placed it in my tank, but I did brush against it, and it's firm, not soft.

I'm optimistic that it will pull through.

I have a Coral Run & Reef Sun bulb in a twin-strip light, for lighting (specs available here: http://www.zoomed.com/html/lites.php ) temp is at 76° and I added Essential Elements brand Trace Elements to help it along.

I too have been looking this thing up online, and cannot find anything that looks like it.

Anyone else have a clue on ID'ing this? The photo does not capture the color well, it's a dull purple color, with traces of neon green inside of it.

 

[FishFrik]

That's one weird coral. Can you post some more pictures please?

 

[seaham358]

what kind of light do you have? Is it the strip light that came with the tank? Is it VHO?
Looking at your info your light will not be enough light for any corals.
If its the 24" twin strip light thats listed..

 

[Ineubis]

here are more pics for ID'ing purposes...sorry my camera is not the best.

from the side:

if you zoom in once or twice you on this one, you can see the tips of the tentacles, etc..:

As for my lighting...it's a $60 hood, with 2 $20 bulbs, one specific for lighting corals, and the other for reef aquariums....I would think a $100 light on 20 gallons is sufficient. I listed the bulb specifications in a previous post.

 

[FishFrik]

Wow, i've never heard or seen that coral before. Looks pretty cool though. Keep us update!

 

[demodiki]

A $60 hood and 2/$20 lights really doesn't say too much about what kind of light you have.

 

[Ineubis]

it's the coral sun and reef sun bulbs listed here: http://www.zoomed.com/html/lites.php

that's all the info I have.

Anyway...one polyp was open this morning, so hooray, it's alive!

it closed up after I turned on my light. Could it have too much light?

 

[seaham358]

Thats just a regular flourescent bulb IMO not going to be enough for corals. You need PC, VHO or MH to keep corals. I don't see that coral lasting long. Maybe some low light corals will do ok under that light.

 

[Ineubis]

I moved him down on to the bottom of the tank on Friday night, and Saturday morning, 3 polyps were open.

Today, 4 polyps.

So, it is progressing on a daily basis. I guess it prefers less light? The polyps close shortly after I turn the light on, so assumed it likes shade, so now it's on the bottom.

I will post more pics in a week or two, once a lot of polyps have openned. Hopefully there will be a better shot at identifying it once it's open.

Thanks!

 

[SeeDemTails]

I would put it as close as possible to the light, you have insufficient lighting!

 

[dorian965]

i have no idea what it is but it could just be nocturnally feeding, or trying to feed. either way, there is no way your lighting is TOO STRONG. the coral is probably just adjusting to the tank and new water parameters.

check it out at night to see whats going on with it. maybe see if it would feed , brine shrimp maybe??? hard to say , thats a strange looking coral.

 

[Bearfan]

I have never seen that...interesting.

It is slightly possible that it is not photosynthetic and requires direct feeding, but who knows.

Oh, btw, I've added you to the Michigan/Wisconsin forum Ineubis.

 

[Ineubis]

thanks

Well, the coral is doing great...8-9 tips open in the morning now. Will need to take some updated pictures when I first turn the light on.

The closest thing I have found trying to ID it is: Cladocora arbuscula or Cladocora Cespitosa (most likely the first one), which are types of Tube coral.

Says it will eat live plankton, and prefers cold water. ( >64° )... although a fellow hobbyist of mine has a Red Coral, that books say require >61°... that he's keeping at 76 and it's doing great!

I will try to give it a direct feeding when the light is off and alot of tentacles are open.

 

[Bearfan]

Good luck with it! Keep us updated.

 

[weemanpow3]

Thats weird because when your at a fish store they have to take the coral out of the tank and when you put it into you main tank you have to take it out. You dot want the fish stores water in your tank.

 

[Ineubis]

I have finally ID'd this!

Snake Polyp (Isaurus tuberculatus)

http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=2157&N=0

Snake Polyps are colony polyps with very long tubular bases with white feathery ends. They resemble many species of polyps in the Protopalythoa genus. Snake Polyps are photosynthetic but will normally only show their feathery polyps during nighttime hours when the lights are off. They make an interesting addition to a reef aquarium and will add a diversity of form.

Snake Polyps are peaceful in nature, but space between their own colony and other corals and invertebrates should be provided to protect them. They require a moderate to high light level combined with a medium water movement within the aquarium. For continued good health, they also require the addition of iodine and other trace elements to the water.

They will reproduce in the reef aquarium on their own by budding (splitting off a portion of their base or mouth), if adequate water quality parameters are maintained.

The symbiotic algae zooxanthellae hosted within their bodies provide some of their nutritional requirements through photosynthesis. The remainder of their nutritional requirements will need to be provided in the form of regular weekly feedings of zooplankton or brine shrimp.

I purchased Kent Iodine, Strontium/Molybdenum, Liquid Calcium, and Essential Elements, and a few of the polyps openned a little....even with the light on.

I will move it back up top, so it's closer to the light for photosynthesis purposes, but that's a bummer about the night-time thing...

Oh well, I'm glad I finally found out what it is.

Feel free to move this to the Identification thread, as it is not a "sick or dying coral"

Thanks!