Unidentifed coral

ToadWart

New member
This coral showed up on a rock that has been in the tank for almost two years with nothing on it. It doesn't look like anything else in the tank. They shrink down to little white bumps if disturbed. Is it something I should leave or remove?

polyps.JPG
 
I'm not sure what they are, but I'd definitely keep a close eye on them. have you recently added any coral or rock near where the new things are growing?
 
No, this rock wasn't near anything new. The rock itself is just a piece of rubble that was on the bottom of the tank, in the dark, under some other rubble. I saw these little guys sticking out. First I moved the rock out into the light, but left it at the bottom of the tank. Then, after several weeks, I moved the rock up to mid level. They haven't done much since I found them. They virtually disappear when disturbed, but eventually come back out.
 
They look like very bleached daisy polyps that were stretching for the light. It could also be the yellow polyps that bleached and stretched.
 
daisy,clove, or palm polyps all are very resilient and can appear after being gone a long time. Are there serrations or fringes on the "petals" Are they chained together, or individuals?
 
those are most definitely not aiptasia.. I don't know why every hitchhiker has to be an aiptasia.. doesn't matter if it's a hydroid or a hitchhiking LPS, someone in the group always yells aiptasia..

soft coral of some sort.. really looks like a colorless star polyp to me, although they're really long (but that could be stretching for light if they've been in darkness)..
 
daisy,clove, or palm polyps all are very resilient and can appear after being gone a long time. Are there serrations or fringes on the "petals" Are they chained together, or individuals?

My tanks 2 year birthday is tomorrow. There may have been some clove polyps (never really knew what they were) on that rock 18 months ago. But I pulled a newbie and killed them all. I even sent so far as to use a brush to remove what was left from the rock. They had spread to two rocks at the time. This may have been the smaller of the two rocks that they had grown on, but the exact rock is lost to time.

This picture makes the polyps look much bigger than they actually are. I have taken the rock out to look at it, but I cannot say if they are connected or single, because their stalks appear to wrap around the rock to find what little light they could. Is the part that wraps around the rock "stalk" or "mat"? Its too hard to tell.

I have several pictures from my original clove polyps from 2 years ago showing new sprouts, but they don't look much like these critters either.

My first thought was the original clove polyps, but for the reasons mentioned above, I didn't think that was a possibility. But if they could have come back after this long and after what I did to the rock, I guess its possible that they are the original clove polyps.

Since multiple sources have confirmed that they are not aptasia, and since they haven't really done anything since I found them, other than survive, I will probably let them stay and see what happens.
 
They look like very bleached daisy polyps that were stretching for the light. It could also be the yellow polyps that bleached and stretched.

+1 those look like daisy polyps. If it has a yellow center thats what it is. Be careful, those guys spread like crazy once your parameters are in check...
 
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