Hitchhiker on lobophyllia

adamlodge14 · Nov 20, 2021

Hi,
I bought a new lobophyllia today and after drip acclimating it for 2 hours, popped it into my tank.
After about five minutes a flowery thing popped out of the side of it, is this a feather duster?
If so are they harmful or not?
(Btw I dipped the coral for five minutes in aqua forest protect dip)

Lost in the Sauce · Nov 20, 2021

Feather duster. Harmless filter feeder but it may annoy the flesh of the lobo

adamlodge14 · Nov 20, 2021

Lost in the Sauce said:
Feather duster. Harmless filter feeder but it may annoy the flesh of the lobo

Thank you very much, I’ll make sure to keep an eye on it.
This lobo is amazing though! It’s the first time I’ve got a scoly/trachy/lobo

MaxTremors · Nov 20, 2021

Feather duster, harmless filter feeder. Also, you shouldn’t drip acclimate corals. Corals take water in and expel water through diffusion, meaning they are self-acclimating. By drip acclimating, you are just prolonging the time that it is unable to respirate (corals need flowing water to properly and effectively respirate). I know this advice contradicts what a lot of people have always been taught by LFSs, but I promise you, your corals will open up and extend their polyps faster and acclimate sooner if you just float them for 15 minutes, dip them (don’t forget to rinse), and then put them in the tank. You still want to drip acclimate fish and inverts (clams especially), but for corals it doesn’t help and can even be detrimental.

adamlodge14 · Nov 20, 2021

MaxTremors said:
Feather duster, harmless filter feeder. Also, you shouldn’t drip acclimate corals. Corals take water in and expel water through diffusion, meaning they are self-acclimating. By drip acclimating, you are just prolonging the time that it is unable to respirate (corals need flowing water to properly and effectively respirate). I know this advice contradicts what a lot of people have always been taught by LFSs, but I promise you, your corals will open up and extend their polyps faster and acclimate sooner if you just float them for 15 minutes, dip them (don’t forget to rinse), and then put them in the tank. You still want to drip acclimate fish and inverts (clams especially), but for corals it doesn’t help and can even be detrimental.

Wow, I never realised this before, it’s very interesting. I guess it makes sense but I’ve never really thought about it like that!
Thanks for the top tip!
Although that being said I’ve always drip acclimated corals and they have always turned out great, so I personally haven’t had any bad experiences with dripping them.