New bug??

[Dili]

can someone pls help me to identify this guy?? I bough a torch coral from LPS month ago., it never did well in my aquarium, it was a big coral but it didnt extend well in my aquarium. Later i realized i had high salinity. (im new to this hobby and my tank is 8monyhs old)
today I thought to move it into a different location & this creature jumped out from that dying coral, hes 1 1/2 inch big.. walks like an octopus.
can he be tge reason for the coral not to extend fully??
now he's in a cup outside the tank.

thanks

[bribo12]

Doubt it that’s just a mini serpent star. Harmless detritivore.

[Sniperhank]

And for the record, that’s a plate coral not a torch.

[coralbandit]

Originally Posted by bribo12

Doubt it that’s just a mini serpent star. Harmless detritivore.

^^ +1 ^^

[Dili]

Thanks Guys for your reply,,,
Dont know whether he will survive as I took him out and left him in a cup

Also thanks for correcting me with the coral, Yes it's a Plate coral,, this is the third plate coral I have killed,, Seems like I dont have much luck with plate corals.

Kind regards,
Dili

[Mebbid]

Originally Posted by Dili

Thanks Guys for your reply,,,
Dont know whether he will survive as I took him out and left him in a cup

Also thanks for correcting me with the coral, Yes it's a Plate coral,, this is the third plate coral I have killed,, Seems like I dont have much luck with plate corals.

Kind regards,
Dili

They are tough corals to keep, I would avoid them for a bit until you get some more experience.

[Dili]

Thanks for your advice Mebbid, your advice helps me a lot as I won't kill more corals + $$$
Every time I ask LPS.. they simply says almost all the corals are easy to keep.. in fact not the reality 😰😰😰😡😡😡

[Mebbid]

Originally Posted by Dili

Thanks for your advice Mebbid, your advice helps me a lot as I won't kill more corals + $$$
Every time I ask LPS.. they simply says almost all the corals are easy to keep.. in fact not the reality 😰😰😰😡😡😡

The best bet is to take it slow in reefing. Get the tank running with good parameters for a while, add in some easy corals such as softies like zoanthids or mushrooms. Once these are going good add in some calciferous corals such as duncans or frogspawn. Once these have been living well then crank it up a notch (assuming you have the light for it) and try out some frags of various sps corals such as Montipora, various birdsnest, or acros.

I stress on buying frags because they will be much much cheaper and will give you good benchmarks on how your tank is doing. Also ignore what LFS employees are telling you, they want money and some of them couldn't care less how they get it. Take your phone with you and do some quick research in the store.