Mushroom Coral? Taking over my tank!

[Cytosol]

Hi all,

 

I started my tank almost 2 years ago now. My first piece of LR had a tiny little shrivelled up blob on it, that eventually after a few months opened up into a tiny mushroom coral. I thought it was cool, so I left it on there.

 

2 years later, it has spread into over 20 polyps, and is taking over 3 rocks. It's very aggressive; any attempts to kill it has just caused it to spread. I physically removed the rock, scraped as many off as I could, and a few months later there are 20 where there were only 5 or 6.

 

Can anyone ID these for me? Should I be concerned about their stubborn ability to live through anything? Are they worth anything, and will people take them? I am sick of looking at them and watching them take over the tank. What do you guys think?

 

I am wondering if methods that work against aiptasia will work on these things. I wouldn't mind 1 or 2 large ones, but having 20 is overkill for such a small tank. The bigger ones are the diameter of a golfball.

 

Thanks!

 

[straydog]

When you remove them you have to get it all they will grow back from the base or foot that may left behind. If you can burn where the foot was left it will help to stop it from regrowing.

[giambi4343]

when i scrape off xenia from a rock, i get as much if not all of the flesh and then cover the spot with coral glue and reef epoxy, so if i did miss any, it is covered up. i had a few of them that were green. i have them isolated on one rock so they cant spread.

[BillyMays]

never seen yellow white ones like that! If you were local I'd be glad to take those off your hands I love the way they look.

[blasterman]

Those are pretty common around here, and yes, they tend to get out of hand because they grow fast. Reef stores will sometimes take them in trade, or you can give them away.

 

However, to answer the question, I'd try methods use to nuke aiptasia (alk or acid in a syringe).

[Softhammer]

They are Rhodactis Anemones, or rather a common type of mushroom coral. Tagging them in the base with a syringe full of hot kalk water or aiptasia nuker will cause them to fall loose so you can catch them. Under the right conditions they can get to a few inches in diameter. Frag those boys and sell em! People would buy those!

[bearwithfish]

heck yeah folks buy em .. i would if yo put some up!! pm me and we will work something out

[Kazooie]

I'll take some for free...?

[Cytosol]

I'm in Calgary; if anyone is local, I would be happy to frag em and give them away.. After counting, I have more than 30, and I think more growing underneath.

 

Thanks for the suggestions and not letting me kill the whole colony! Though I definitely need to trim them down.

 

Right now they are mostly brown/yellow with a bit of green. My tank isn't exactly at its healthiest right now, but when they first started growing they were much more green.. So i'm sure in a healthy tank, these babies would look nice.