Coral identifications - 3 please

[mdpitts]

Good morning folks! My tank has been up since October. Some of my first corals are having babies.

Part 1 id - found this tiny little guy floating along the sand. I’m wondering if it is a baby frog spawn and if so what do I do so it grows up big and strong.

Part 2 id - are those colonial hydroids on that Little Rock? If they are going to spread all over I’m getting rid of the rock.

Part 3 id - I don’t know what that green and tan one is called. The place I got it just said “brain coral”. Anyone know exactly.?

I’m also enclosing a photo of my tank (see below - I had to add it separately) in case you don’t think that tiny guy in part 1 is a baby of the frog spawn . Thanks y’all!

 

[mdpitts]

My tank looks cruddy looking at it on here

 

[mdpitts]

Bump

 

[Mr_Knightley]

1- looks like a frogspawn to me! Likely a bailed polyp as opposed to a spawn, as you need two genetically distinct corals in the tank for that to work. I have heard of people growing bailouts by putting them in baskets with rubble in low flow and waiting for them to attach, sort of like mushrooms.
2- definitely. I have had these in several tanks and they have never been a huge nuisance. Urchins will take care of them right away IME.
3-Looks to me Merulina or Oulophyllia... Never been a Meruliniid expert though so I could be wrong. @ISpeakForTheSeas @Reefkeepers Archive y'all have any thoughts?

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Wonderful little tank by the way

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

1- looks like a frogspawn to me! Likely a bailed polyp as opposed to a spawn, as you need two genetically distinct corals in the tank for that to work. I have heard of people growing bailouts by putting them in baskets with rubble in low flow and waiting for them to attach, sort of like mushrooms.
2- definitely. I have had these in several tanks and they have never been a huge nuisance. Urchins will take care of them right away IME.
3-Looks to me Merulina or Oulophyllia... Never been a Meruliniid expert though so I could be wrong. @ISpeakForTheSeas @Reefkeepers Archive y'all have any thoughts?

Oulophyllia would be a solid guess, I'd say that's probably the species, especially looking at how it buds rules out any "favia" species

 

[mdpitts]

1- looks like a frogspawn to me! Likely a bailed polyp as opposed to a spawn, as you need two genetically distinct corals in the tank for that to work. I have heard of people growing bailouts by putting them in baskets with rubble in low flow and waiting for them to attach, sort of like mushrooms.
2- definitely. I have had these in several tanks and they have never been a huge nuisance. Urchins will take care of them right away IME.
3-Looks to me Merulina or Oulophyllia... Never been a Meruliniid expert though so I could be wrong. @ISpeakForTheSeas @Reefkeepers Archive y'all have any thoughts?

Thank you! A bailout! Something else to research. That little thing actually bailed out on me. I put it in a nook on some rock and it was gone when I checked later.if I find it I’m going to try and get it to attach like you said.

 

[mdpitts]

Oulophyllia would be a solid guess, I'd say that's probably the species, especially looking at how it buds rules out any "favia" species

Cool thanks! I’ll go look that up.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

#1 Looks too small to be a frogspawn polyp that bailed out - that's when the entire head separates from the skeleton. Looks to me like a piece broke off... basically like breaking a branch off a plant and highly unlikely to grow into anything. Check to make sure nothing is nipping at your coral.

#2 is too blurry... but if they are colonial hydroids, I recommend getting them out of your tank ASAP.

 

[mdpitts]

#1 Looks too small to be a frogspawn polyp that bailed out - that's when the entire head separates from the skeleton. Looks to me like a piece broke off... basically like breaking a branch off a plant and highly unlikely to grow into anything. Check to make sure nothing is nipping at your coral.

#2 is too blurry... but if they are colonial hydroids, I recommend getting them out of your tank ASAP.

Thanks for the info. I took that rock out yesterday. I’m with you and didn’t want to take any chances plus I’m stating to think I’ll be cramped in there and that was a do nothing rock.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

3-Looks to me Merulina or Oulophyllia... Never been a Meruliniid expert though so I could be wrong. @ISpeakForTheSeas @Reefkeepers Archive y'all have any thoughts?

Haha, I think this is a good time for me to finally start learning a little about coral anatomy and ID (I honestly haven't bothered before now because the community is usually good with coral ID's, so I've been putting it off).

From what little I've learned so far, though, I'd think Oulophyllia.

Part 2 id - are those colonial hydroids on that Little Rock?

Yeah, those look like these:

That said, they're either colonial hydroids or Nausithoid jellyfish polyps (probably from the Nausithoe genus - I'm currently leaning toward jellyfish personally); sometimes they're invasive to the point of tank breakdowns, other times they don't seem to spread much at all - in both cases, though, they reportedly do have a nasty sting for some people:

Are we sure these are colonial hydroids?

I found some of these in my tank- and I'm really not convinced that they're colonial hydroids. Every single ID thread I've come across has them labeled as colonial hydroids, but based on a few observations I've made, I'm not convinced. Here are some pics of the exact type I'm talking about...

www.reef2reef.com

Hydroid advice. - Reef Central Online Community

Hydroid advice. Reef Discussion

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