Mushrooms?

[Axolotl]

Got these guys on my live rock. Two different kinds just dont know what they are. Do these like dim or bright lighting. I had a small flourescent over them for a couple weeks and it didnt seem to bother them. And today i briefly placed a 150watt halide over them and they seemed to get bigger! Anyone know what these are. I have never kept coral before and didnt want them to die. Temp is 79 degrees, there is a power head and spongefilter in there with 40lbs of live rock. All kinds of critters came in with this rock including sponges and tiny starfish.

 

[Axolotl]

The tank is a 40g breeder. There is a six inch reef lobster in there too. He doesnt seem to bother them. What should i feed the coral

 

[Jmnazari]

You have palythoas (palys) in picture two, and mushrooms in picture three. These are just about the easiest corals to keep! They can live in almost any lighting condition. The metal halide is more than enough. They can get most of their food by a symbiotic algae that lives in the flesh of the corals, but, you can also supplement their feeding with almost anything! I use brine shrimp for mine, just turn off the filter during feeding. You might want to consider getting a turbo snail to eat some of that hair algae I see. And do you have a picture of the tiny starfish? Some tiny star fish can be bad....

 

[Axolotl]

Thanks Jmnazari! But will the metal halide burn them? Should i only be using Flourescents? This tank will be getting a water change soon and moved from the floor to a new stand. Just couldnt pass up the price on this rock! I will try and find the starfish again he has disappeared.

 

[Jmnazari]

No prob!!! Nah, I don't think a 150w could burn them. It might make your water temp go up though. Both corals are common in most reef tanks and some people can have way more lighting than 150w. I think one starfish is okay, but if you have a few of them, they will multiply like crazy and could be a very serious problem.