Identification: Button Polyp, Sea Mat or something else?

[flanque]

Hi,

I'll let the picture do most of the talking. I've taken on advice that this is a button polyp but to be honest when I look at all of the button polyp images online they don't look much like this. I've looked at Sea Mat's and they don't seem to resemble these much at all either.

This one has longer, thinner tenticles, has just the one brown colour and they do seem to share a common "base". Maybe the lack of colour is caused by the lower light in the tank perhaps?

Apart from knowledge of what these are, I'd like to consider propogating them. They started out as non-existant in my tank about 5 years ago until one started to show some tenticles when it was not much more than a pinhead size. So they've grown from nothing to this in about 5 years.

If they are button polyps it gives me an indiciation of how other button polyps will go in my tank. I only have 2x 30w fluros, one white and one actinic. They've been in various spots in the tank over the years but above the half way mark up the tank.

Any comments on this are appreciated. Now for the picture:

 

[joy13]

Maybe cup polyps? They are nice whatever they are.

 

[flanque]

Yeah it seems they are "Palythoa Button Polyps".

Button Polyp - Palythoa sp.

I supose mine look the way they do in the photo because of the light giving them a semi-transparent look.

Now I need to learn how to propogate them. Any tips?

 

[ccCapt]

They are paly's...and they are stretching to get some light. What do you have for lighting?

 

[melosu58]

Look like button polyps to me also.

 

[flanque]

They are paly's...and they are stretching to get some light. What do you have for lighting?

Hello,

Thanks for replying. Check the My Tanks link for a comprehensive description. I'm suprised they've grown.

 

[thominil]

That is a very vague description on those lights IMO. Be more descriptive like wattage, length, kind (T5 HO, Metal Halide, PC, etc....), brand, etc..

 

[flanque]

Hello,

Yes you are right it is. I have updated it now to be more detailed. Do you have any thoughts now?

 

[juice28]

they are probably stretching because you dont have alot of light. From what I read, you have 60 wats total. I have a 47 gallon with 2x65 wat power compact bulbs and a singlet 15 wat 10000k bulb, the hood came with the tank so its not strong but the 10000k bulb added gives me a total of 145 wats but my tank is a column tank so it is not long enough for some of the bigger lights and honestly, I have a pretty weak lighting system compared to the big boys here, your taking up to 400+ wats! I would say for your 55 gallon you would need to add at least2-3 more Powercompacts. petco sells a pwr cmpmt set up for fairly cheap/reasonable which shoud give you the light you need depending on what you want to keep,(36" 2x65 was like 209.00) it probably wont be enough for anemone's and sps's but you should be good with lps's and softies, leathers shrooms zoa's etc. I have a soft/lps tank and everything is doing great under my lighting. I have a couple hard corals but they are literally at the top of my tank and they are some of the sps's that are tolerant of lower lighting but i did alot of homework on them to see if I was able to handle their needs.

 

[flanque]

Well, the thing is they're growing and multiplying. Probably not as much as they could but still they are. You are right thought I don't have enough light.

How about propogating them?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

If you're thinking propagating them to sell to a LFS... not sure it'd be worth your time. Those types of polyps seem to be a dime a dozen around my parts. I think they can get them pretty cheap from wholesalers.

But to answer your question, you can frag them like any other zoanthid/palythoa... cut with an exacto and glue onto another rock with superglue. Be sure to wear rubber gloves and shield your eyes/face when cutting any zoanthids/palythoas. Their mucous contains a fairly potent neurotoxin which can mess you up... to say the least. Google "palytoxin" before fragging.

 

[juice28]

pretty easy, you can use some loose rubble and they will grow on them eventually or you can cut them off your rock and place then in some loose rubble they will attach and then you have a bunch of little frags.. or if you have alot and a rock you dont mind chipping at, you can just break off a piece of rock with them on it(if you have the tools to do so) I just use a sharp knife and basically pry them off my my rock and place them in my bed(I have a part of my tank that is just crushed coral so they will stick to the pieces fairly quickly then just super glue them to where I want them to go, google button polyp propogation