Help with ID please

[diverdick]

Not sure if this is the right forum for asking for ID, but here it goes.

This octocoral has really taken a hold of one of my reefs.....does anyone know what eats it or even what it is?


http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=263034

best regards,

-Rich

 

[livingcorals]

star polyps...
Can be a pain if let to get out of control....
I have heard people place the rock in sand to which can help keep it from spreading.
I have heard mushrooms can kill them off
kalk paste to keep it within boundaries might help as well.

 

[diverdick]

ahhh, that's the key, what to do about control?

 

[James Wright]

it really looks like a xlove polyp but it's hard to tell

 

[gh0st]

Are the polyps growing out of a common "mat" base or are they all seperate little polyps?

Star polyps are connected to each other, this pic looks more like "Daisy Polyps" (sorry, can't remember the scientific name right now) or perhaps a Xenia realitive of some kind.

 

[diverdick]

gh0st,

They seem to be joined only by small strands, nothing like Xenia. The rock is visible beneath the polyps. I have a bubble tip anemone that I managed to move with a little water flow change and they get wiped out immediately.