ID these freebie corals

[cordell]

Ok guys, another "ID this" thread... Maybe I'll figure out what all the stuff in my tank is sooner or later (yeah right!).

Ok, so I ordered a few cheapie frags (zoas) to get a taste of some color in the tank without breaking the bank, and these 3 frags came as freebies. I'm not sure what they are, though. Probably easy to spot for most of you guys...

No idea here, but after looking at the closeup, could it be a closed up goniopora? I hope not...

Could this be a galaxy coral?

No clue on this one...

 

[shifty51008]

first looks like a monti
second I am not sure
3rd looks like a brain.

BTW these look like they were from mr. coral, if they were good luck keeping them alive. lol

 

[cordell]

Yep, mrCoral alright. Trust me, I did all the research and decided at $10 a frag, it was worth the risk. A lot of people had good luck with the zoas, just not anything else. Anyways, we'll see. The zoas all look good, so far, but it's only been a week as of today.

Thanks for the help!

 

[shifty51008]

I had 12 from him and only 2 are left. I thought the same thing with the $10 was worth a try but will never spend any money there again, not worth losing corals just because they were cheap.

 

[cordell]

Wow, that's not a good record. Did they just melt away, or what? Did they look good at first, as mine seem to be so far?

I'd rather get some frags from some frag swaps, but there's never any in my area. And the LFS only keeps some few SPS and rarely some zoas, but none I like (plain brown colors). Next time, I'll probably try a different site. Have some good ones on my list...

Anybody else have any ideas on the IDs?

 

[JaneG]

To me:

First looks like an encrusting monti (or goniopora)
Second looks like Torch to me but I'm not sure
Third looks like a favia

 

[BigCountry74]

To me:

First looks like an encrusting monti (or goniopora)
Second looks like Torch to me but I'm not sure
Third looks like a favia

/this

u should be able to keep them up no problems except maybe the torch. those are a hard frag to keep up. I lost my torch frag.

 

[NirvanaFan]

First one looks like a montipora.
Second one a torch
Third one a favia

 

[SpinyReef]

1: some sort of montipora
2: a tiny torch (or some other euphilia)
3: favia

 

[cordell]

Wow, lots of post all of a sudden!

Looks like it's settled then.. montipora, torch, and favia. Time to go do some research...

Thanks everybody...

 

[shifty51008]

Wow, that's not a good record. Did they just melt away, or what? Did they look good at first, as mine seem to be so far?

I'd rather get some frags from some frag swaps, but there's never any in my area. And the LFS only keeps some few SPS and rarely some zoas, but none I like (plain brown colors). Next time, I'll probably try a different site. Have some good ones on my list...

Anybody else have any ideas on the IDs?

all 10 corals that died were LPS and SPS. they looked great for 2 weeks then either bleached or lost their tissue, not sure why as my other SPS and LPS are doing fine. my guess was because they never gave them time to heal before shipping, I guess thats what happens from a chop shop.

now I will only use local reefers or fosters and smith, I don't mind paying shipping for quality, I may try out other stores later on though.

 

[cordell]

Yeah, seems the "chop shop" style cut n' ship is the main problem with those guys. I'm thinking about trying Austin Aqua Farms next time I'm looking for small cheap frags. I think they have had a pretty good reputation on most of the forums so far.

Keeping my fingers crossed for these corals! As if that has anything to do with it...

 

[mrbigshot]

my mrcoral experience

2 years ago i order 11 zoa/ paly frags and 2 challas frags, 2 never survived shipping, 5 more made is less than a week, 1 of the remaining 3 had zoa pox. not worth the money at all. the final two were so full of bubble and hair algae that it wasn't work keeping them. sad part is 3 of them didn't look anything like what they were supposed to. it just happens to be the 3 that i ordered the pack for.

the challace frags survived, they went to my cousin when i broke the tank down. they just finally started to grow two years later!

 

[cordell]

That sounds pretty bad, mrbigshot. I need to get to looking at mine for zoa pox. I haven't noticed anything, but haven't looked for pox yet.

I think only one or two of mine look like they were supposed to look. I think mrcoral's definition of WYSIWYG is different than ours...

 

[jtrasap]

The first is a Montipora, probably undata but hard to tell with that small of frag.

The second is a single polyp of Galaxia.

The third is a Favia.

 

[cordell]

Well, here's a quick update on these corals. The Torch and Favia seem to be doing pretty good, but not the Montipora. I'm not sure if the Montipora is getting too much light or if I should be feeding it a little something, but it's obviously turning white along the edges. I had moved it midway up in the tank, but since it's turned white, I've moved it back down to the sand. Should/can I be doing anything to help save it?

The Torch seems to be spreading out from the underside, is this normal? And the Favia is getting "fatter"... which I guess any growth at all from any of these mr. coral frags is a good thing.

Pics! [Edit: I resized the pics to 400x400, but they are showing full-size for me still.. Gotta love Photobucket!]
Favia:

Torch:

And the sad Montipora:

 

[SushiGirl]

2nd one is definitely one small piece of galaxea. Looks like it's growing more polyps too, I wouldn't have expected much from one polyp, congrats!

 

[cordell]

Thanks Sushi! I'm pretty happy that it has been doing so well! I'm still trying to find the best location for it.. It seemed to extend more when I first got it, but because it is growing some where it is at now, I suppose I'll leave it and see how it does before I move it any more.

 

[rwb500]

i wouldnt be so sure that it is a galaxea and not a torch. does the skeleton look like a long skinny stick (stuck into the sand maybe) or does it look like it was cut out of a flat chunk?

because the way it is growing is exactly how torch coral grows back from a single polyp.

 

[SushiGirl]

I've never had a torch, but I've had 2 galaxeas. Looks just like when one on the edge of the piece would break off. And with the new polyps growing in a circle around the main one, that seems consistent with how a galaxea grows. A couple of galaxea polyp pics for him to compare.

A polyp on the edge of my old galaxea. You can see the mouth on the individual polyp.


One that broke off.