Blue Caulastrea Question??

[brocker]

1st Question:

 

Is this a Caulastrea? I got it off some guy breaking his tank down and he couldn't remember exactly what it was called.

 

2nd Question:

 

I've had it for going on three months and within the past three weeks or so all of these little white pins started growing off of it. Being pretty new to owning corals I wasn't sure exactly what was going on....are these new branching heads (good) or some crazy coral eating parasite (bad).

 

Thanks

[Reefer_Buddha]

looks like candy cane coral to me.

[bobioden]

It dosen't look like Candy Cane (Caulastrea) to me.

 

???

 

If it is, get it in some shade. It doesn't look very good

[bobioden]

candy bad

[bobioden]

candy good

[brocker]

Here are a couple other 'candy canes' I have in my tank.

[brocker]

another

[brocker]

and another

[enrico]

Apart from the white one none of your Caulstrea looks good. They look really bad.

 

You should feed them to make them recover and, of course check your water params to see if there is anything wrong.

But I think feeding should resolve your problem in a few months.

Please check my suggestions here:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=23613

[brocker]

All of them with the exception of the white frag were bought from the same guy. Believe it or not they actually look better than they did when I bought them. The link was a huge help. I started target feeding each head and they definately seem to appreciate it. It's amazing how wide those tiny mouths can open.

 

Thanks for the Info!!!

[JohnnyMTB]

That first pic is a trumpet coral, closely related to candycanes, but they prefer a little higher flow area. I would not put them in the shade. My colony started out as 4 heads about 6 months ago and now has well over a dozen heads running all around the coral. I've never actually target fed mine, but to bring yours back it's probably a good idea.

[JohnnyMTB]

Oh, and I'm not sure what you're seeing is new growth. Mine have always developed two mouths on one head and then later split into two seperate heads, but maybe being in poor shape it'll branch to preserve the colony. Maybe someone else knows that answer.