Pipe Organ Coral Spreading Like A Weed

[bzotter]

I bought a small frag of pipe organ coral, or what I believe is pipe organ coral, about 6 months ago and it's now spread to cover an entire large rock in my tank and is still spreading. It pops up in random places in the tank, too and I just epoxy over it and it usally dies. I've partially kept it from spreading on one side by placing a particularly aggressive torch coral next to it, but I'm running out of options. Is this a rare problem to be having, or does anyone else have trouble controlling their pipe organ coral? I'll post a picture of it later tonight, just incase I'm a moron and it's not actually pipe organ, but I'm almost positive it is. The polyps are a dark yellow, almost light brown color and builds a light yellow skeleton. Thanks for your help.

 

[hyperfocal]

When you say pipe organ coral, are you referring to Tubipora musica?

 

[bzotter]

Yes, I believe so. It has very short "stalks", though (for lack of the scientific term), i.e. the stem-like structre connecting the polyp to the skeleton. Some images of corals from that species appear to have much longer "stalks", but the polyps themselves look almost identical to mine. Is this characteristic of a different species perhaps?

 

[SaraB]

Sounds like something more like a hydroid. See the 5th or 7th photograph down on this link ... I have the yellow ones in clumps in my tank as well: http://www.reefs.org/library/aquarium_net/1097/1097_2.html

 

[bzotter]

That seems like a definite possibility. I'll post pics tonight, but any suggestions on how to get rid of them if they are hydroids?

 

[bzotter]

Here are the pics of the supposed Pipe Organ Coral. I apologize for the crappy quality. Bad camera and compression to upload it didn't help much. If you think it's Pipe Organ, or a hydroid, please let me know. Also, if you know of a way to contain (or kill) it, that would be very helpful. The links below take you to the photos in my gallery. Thanks for your help.

Photo 1

Photo 2

 

[avp]

that looks like Green Star Polyps (gsp) or an encrusting gorgonian I can't think of the name right now. I can't remember seening true organ pipe grow like that.

-avp

 

[bzotter]

Good call. I am now almost positive it is an encrusting gorgonian. So, any ideas for containng/killing?

 

[avp]

I ended up isolating it on individual rock "islands" to keep it from spreading. That only prolonged the situation, becuase it started growing across the sand.

I did end up trading a lot of it in at the LFS for credit and more live rock to replace the colonized pieces.

-avp

 

[bzotter]

Thanks a lot, avp. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one to have experienced this problem. Yeah, I'm probably going to have to do that before it starts spreading to other rocks in my tank. It's too bad, though, I mean it is really pretty and seems to do a lot of filtering of my water given that the colony is so large, but it just has to go. Any other ideas for containing/killing still much appreciated.