ID please

[Rikerbear]

Any idea what this coral might be?
I rescued it from some live rock I ordered for my FOWLR tank. I knew the rock was going to cure and this coral would most certainly not survive.
I put this piece in my nano reef about a month ago. The two pic I have posted here are from about 10 days apart.
Pic #1 is from 10 days ago
Pic #2 is from last evening.
I can't tell if the bleached areas are new or if it's just that the pix are taken from different angles

 

[bct15]

It looks like a sun coral


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[Reef Fever]

it looks like a sponge growing on a coral skeleton

 

[jonny]

it looks like a sponge growing on a coral skeleton

+1


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[Rikerbear]

Well....there are polyps on the ends of each of the cylinders

 

[jonny]

C


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[jonny]

Not sure what happened there haha..are the polyps light orange or yellow? Is it possible to take a pic of the polyp? If its a sun coral and the flesh is coming off,its probably a total loss..


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[Rikerbear]

It looks like a sun coral

+1 I think you may be right. I've been looking over a bunch of pix on Google, and see many that match, but lots that don't as well. But so far this looks like it. I am hoping whatever it is it survives and thrives.

 

[jonny]

If the polyps come out try to spot feed it..sun corals are non photosynthetic..good luck, post lots of pics if it makes it!


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[Dtech07]

it looks like a sponge growing on a coral skeleton

+1 I've had several Sun Corals and as of yet haven't seen a true red one but you never know.

 

[Rikerbear]

+1 I've had several Sun Corals and as of yet haven't seen a true red one but you never know.

It's actually much more orange than the pix suggest.
The polyps I've seen have been very close to the coral structure, and the tentacles are short and brownish

 

[Dtech07]

Well since their NPS then a direct feeding is needed and in the condition they seem to be in just a lite dusting of Reef roid, oyster feast something like that. To get the beat results cut a 1-2 liter bottle and place the tip portion over it and inject with a baster or syringe through the top and let it sit for 15-30 3 times a day. You'll see them open and start feeding during the day. Then you can feed large items. I feed mine chunks of shrimp and fish. Hope it works.

 

[Mike&Terry]

We used to keep Sun Corals (Tubastrea aurea). The polyps normally open at night for feeding. We found it easier to train them to open up for food when the lights were on by placing the coral in a plastic container with tank water for a few minutes a couple of times a day and feeding with a turkey baster which allowed us to keep excess nutrients out of the tank while training. It usually doesn't take more than a few days for them to start to open at the first sign of food. Once trained, we also used the 2-liter bottle method that Dtech07 suggested as a means to keep shrimp and fish from stealing food from the polyps.

 

[Connie]

I agree.....feed, feed, feed.

 

[Rikerbear]

Thanks everyone. I tried to feed last evening, and again this morning. I will try the bottle method when I get home form work this evening

 

[Frick]

Where did you get the live rock that it came on? Did it come from the Caribbean by chance? I agree with Reef Fever's comment that it does look like sponge growing on a skeleton. But I do not think it is Sun Coral (Tubastraea). It would have yellow/orange larger polyps and it would not be branching as it is. It is a non-photo type so still follow all the feeding instructions that have been given. But I am thinking if this came from a company that deals with aquacultured rock from the Caribbean then you probably have Cladocora arbuscula with a sponge growing on the base.
Corals of the World Factsheet and images - Cladocora arbuscula

 

[Rikerbear]

The orange coloration may indeed be a sponge growing on the skeleton....but that doesn't answer the ID issue. I have polyps, very small polyps, in a translucent brown with very pale green tips. They are so small it is near impossible to get a pic of them.
Here is what I was able to get with the limited equipment I have (my macro lens was lost recently by our God son)

 

[Rikerbear]

***bump***

 

[Frick]

Like this?
http://0.static.wix.com/media/7d5ea0_38aa7a539f1e7fa0f33e5c51a606591d.jpg
http://coral.aims.gov.au/coral-images/preview/0567_C1_03.jpg

I can't get them into a pic uploader today for some reason. But I still think it is sponge covered Cladocora. That depends on where the live rock came from too.

 

[Rikerbear]

That's it!! Thank you! Now I can research how to care of it better. :tongue:
The rock came from here http://www.gulfliverock.com/