Coral ID help please!
- Thread starter Shino74
- Start date
JokerGirl
Whistler's Mother
1. Mushrooms
2. Xenia?
3. Mushrooms
4. Goniopora
5. Yes, aiptasia
All are pretty easy except for the Goniopora. Check out goniopora.org for tons of info and help on any questions you may have. They require medium light with medium/light flow. They have a pretty short livespan in captivity <1yr if not cared for properly. They seem to thrive if target fed on a regular basis. Keep an eye on it for anything like bleaching. Definitely not a good coral for a beginner unless you are willing to target feed it almost daily.
Oh.. and another note... get it out of the sand!
2. Xenia?
3. Mushrooms
4. Goniopora
5. Yes, aiptasia
All are pretty easy except for the Goniopora. Check out goniopora.org for tons of info and help on any questions you may have. They require medium light with medium/light flow. They have a pretty short livespan in captivity <1yr if not cared for properly. They seem to thrive if target fed on a regular basis. Keep an eye on it for anything like bleaching. Definitely not a good coral for a beginner unless you are willing to target feed it almost daily.
Oh.. and another note... get it out of the sand!
JokerGirl
Whistler's Mother
Ehhh I don't think many people really know the specific species types of mushrooms except for the different ones like yuma, ricordia etc...
I'm not sure if you saw the last note I put on there
Get that Goniopora out of the sand. The sand will irritate the flesh around the perimeter and usually allows for brown jelly infections to occur, which is usually the demise of the coral. When you take it out of the sand, be very gentle in case any of the flesh is already kind of buried. They are very sensitive to their flesh being handled as well.
I'm not sure if you saw the last note I put on there
Get that Goniopora out of the sand. The sand will irritate the flesh around the perimeter and usually allows for brown jelly infections to occur, which is usually the demise of the coral. When you take it out of the sand, be very gentle in case any of the flesh is already kind of buried. They are very sensitive to their flesh being handled as well.
JokerGirl
Whistler's Mother
It very may well be Alveopora as well. The photo is a little hard to tell though. Count the tentacles surrounding the mouth. If they have 12, it's Alveopora, if they have 24 then it's Goniopora.
Like Paintbug said though is that their care is pretty similar. Baby it for a little while with target feedings to get it into good health, and I'm sure it'll do fine!
Like Paintbug said though is that their care is pretty similar. Baby it for a little while with target feedings to get it into good health, and I'm sure it'll do fine!
Travis L. Stevens
Active member
Re: Coral ID help please!
Red Mushrooms (Discosoma sp.)
Halimeda Algae with some type of Star Polyp
Green Striped Mushrooms (Discosoma sp.)
I'm leaning towards Goniopora sp.
Definitely Aiptasia
Red Mushrooms (Discosoma sp.)
Halimeda Algae with some type of Star Polyp
Green Striped Mushrooms (Discosoma sp.)
I'm leaning towards Goniopora sp.
Definitely Aiptasia
Thanks guys, Yes it as 24 not 12 so you reckon Goniopora? What is best to target feed it? You say to lift it off the bottom - what is the light/flow requirements?
Right thats it then the aiptasia will be tackled tomorrow.
Many many thanks for all your help you are all great
Steve
Right thats it then the aiptasia will be tackled tomorrow.
Many many thanks for all your help you are all great
Steve
JokerGirl
Whistler's Mother
24 tents around the mouths mean it is Goniopora for sure. I feed mine a mixture of cyclop-eeze, live phyto, and dt's oyster eggs. You can probably get away with using concentrated phyto as well. It may take a little while before you actually notice it actually eat, but word has it that the food only has to touch the mouth for them to gain some nutrition. One of mine, which has smaller polyps than yours, develops a thick mucous slime when I target feed it which holds the food in since most of it is too large for it to digest.
They like medium-low light, and medium-low flow. They should have a gentle current, but not so much that they look like they're going to be torn off their skeleton.
The reason for taking it off the sand is because most of the species of Goniopora aren't free-living specimens. If you look on the bottom of it or somewhere else, and see an area where it's been broken/chiseled off a larger colony then you have one that doesn't belong in the sand.
They are considered to be hard to care for corals but only because they have special care requirements. The two main reaons why they die in captivity is from starvation and brown jelly disease. Taking it out of the sand *gently* should keep it from getting brown jelly disease. Be very careful when you handle the coral also because if you damage the tissue, it can also develop brown jelly disease. If it's going to get brown jelly, it will usually start around the perimeter of the coral where it's been in the sand, and in early cases you may not even be able to see the brown jelly but if you notice any tissue falling off or receding tissue then keep a close eye on it and you may want to give it an iodine dip for a couple days.
If you take really good care of it, you should start to see better polyp extension in the next couple of months and it'll probably colour up a bit more too.
They like medium-low light, and medium-low flow. They should have a gentle current, but not so much that they look like they're going to be torn off their skeleton.
The reason for taking it off the sand is because most of the species of Goniopora aren't free-living specimens. If you look on the bottom of it or somewhere else, and see an area where it's been broken/chiseled off a larger colony then you have one that doesn't belong in the sand.
They are considered to be hard to care for corals but only because they have special care requirements. The two main reaons why they die in captivity is from starvation and brown jelly disease. Taking it out of the sand *gently* should keep it from getting brown jelly disease. Be very careful when you handle the coral also because if you damage the tissue, it can also develop brown jelly disease. If it's going to get brown jelly, it will usually start around the perimeter of the coral where it's been in the sand, and in early cases you may not even be able to see the brown jelly but if you notice any tissue falling off or receding tissue then keep a close eye on it and you may want to give it an iodine dip for a couple days.
If you take really good care of it, you should start to see better polyp extension in the next couple of months and it'll probably colour up a bit more too.
