Tubipora musica Fungus?

[MarsRover]

Hey all,

purchased this piece about 3 days ago from the LFS. First piece in my Oceanic tank. Came home from work today and it looks like the attached photo....

Has had ~3/4 of the polyps open since i got it. My coral banded shrimp has been crazy about it since i got it too.

I did a coralRX and a iodine dip before putting it in the tank as well.

ideas??

[brandon429]

I remember seeing that and reading about it in the late 90s see if current searches still support this take:

 

It's likely sponge association. I think unless things have changed, all pipe organ corals are wild caught and due to associations with sponges in and around those tubes the hitchhikers may or may not take over when conditions favor them in a reef tank for whatever reason. I believe your infestation is a type of sponge not sure how to remedy that. The polyps likely are not harmed, these organisms may have been paired for eons as a lineage will just have to see how they do. I wouldn't treat for it currently, merely keeping the coral alive will be the hardest part, the reason they are all wild caught frags. They may have dietary or particulate feeding needs that go beyond what we provide, don't know.

[MarsRover]

it does look like the fungus/sponge/fuzz is harming the polyps though. I'm noticing browning of some of them. Standby, let me see if can get a good enough picture

[brandon429]

I firmly think any loss to the coral will be not from the sponge, but for the same reasons nobody is growing and producing tubipora as frags. They don't keep well long term. I got about 18 mos w mine then loss

 

 

That's not to say we couldn't Google up some TM frags cut and mounted onto frag bases...just that actually producing new mass is so rare not one hobbyist is doing it on this site. Again that's not to say some dealer can't ship us nineteen frags of it just that not one reefer on this site is producing any of it for export. Prob the hardest octocoral to keep long term is that one

 

 

Let's break the past outcomes to try and make the coral more robust than normal...feeding. Something way beyond the norm, maybe like live phyto could do it or some live zooplanktors?

[MarsRover]

Thank you for responding!

[brandon429]

Yep based on details shown I wouldn't treat the entangler, I'd boost the coral and let the tangler do what it wants but have tubipora polyps so fat and extended they just grow up and over it anyway

 

The best bet for that coral is some aspect of feed and export that simply goes way beyond a normal tank. Kept in a normal reef tank that supports every other coral we keep and farm, it likely won't make two years. This sets quite the high bio bar for you!

 

 

I wouldn't see early polyp losses as indications of tank problems either. This is a requisite live harvest coral being forced to re adapt inside a tank, loss is expected. Your tank could be ideal params and you still lose six polyps to whatever shipping stress it saw last year. Feed well change well and hold course

 

http://www.reefdup.com/2012/03/11/intro-to-pipe-organ-corals/

 

This guy has no trouble growing it only wish I had to frag mine 100 times...it's red skeleton sits in the bone bin drawer as we speak

[ajmckay]

+1 it looks like a type of sponge. I've had similar situations in the past where a sponge grows over a coral and though Brandon is right these corals don't typically do well in our tanks the sponge certainly can't help things IME depending on how fast the sponge grows.

 

It's tough to say what's causing the sponge to grow though, so I can't really say for sure what might remove it - other than physical removal. If you use a SOFT brush like a childs toothbrush or something and you're very persistent in keeping it clean you may be able to slow the sponges growth, or give the coral enough of an edge that it keeps the sponge at bay without your intervention. The tubes are pretty fragile so I would try to avoid too much handling but I'm thinking something like putting the coral in a bucket or something at night (after polyp retraction) and carefully removing the sponge then returning the coral (after a quick rinse in fresh SW) back to the tank.

 

About a year ago I had a pretty invasive sponge growing in most of my tank. I didn't have to quite resort to manual removal, however, I did keep have to move some corals around and maintain a higher than normal water quality. I spent a bit more time cleaning the tank and eventually the invasive sponge lost it's foothold. Still have it in some spots, but nothing that would affect my corals.

 

A quick question - do you have a nutrient issue by chance? Increasing your water quality temporarily and doing some additional research on this coral might yield some additional actions you could take such as feeding or a better combination of lighting and flow.

 

Good luck!

[MarsRover]

My water parameters have been pretty solid, with the exception of phosphates which I'm still controlling slowly.

Unfortunately I think it might be too late for this guy, the sponge has seriously taken it over. Not sure if I should just leave it alone or remove it to stick it into quarantine or what....