Favite and it's tenticles?? Also a hitchhiker question

[tviquez10]

I've had my nano for about 8 years and FINALLY decided to add some corals. I started with a Zoa and from there it felt like an addiction so I had a few impulse buys yesterday. I let the salesman know I needed easy corals and the tanks of corals weren't labeled all that well. I also can't remember what he called them but I believe it was in an lps section. I tried researching and found that it looks like a favite? If so, I also read that they have tenticles underneath that come out to feed at night so do these look like tenticles or some sort of hitchhiker?

 

In addition to that coral, I got a green pipe organ and it looks to maybe be a bristle worm hiding inside?? 

 

I usually research things before I buy to make sure I know how to care for it and I failed this time. Lol

[Tired]

Looks like aiptasia. Pull the frag out of the tank, wait for the aiptasia to retract, then put a couple drops of liquid superglue over it to glue it down. Try not to glue the coral's flesh down. 

 

By the pattern, I'd actually say you have a lucky find in the pipe organ- I think that might be a black micro brittle star. Great detritivores. Completely harmless to everything other than detritus. If there's multiple, they'll spawn in your aquarium and produce more of themselves. They stick their arms out when they smell food, and grow to be about 2" across. This is one of mine. 

[tviquez10]

I had a sneaking suspicion that's what it was but was hoping I was wrong.haha How long do I need to wait after gluing it to put the coral back in the tank? Does this look like a favite to you?

I hope it is a starfish and it comes out fully for me to see! 

[Tired]

The glue will harden a film over itself as soon as you put it in the water. Put the glue on, wait maybe 20-30 seconds, then put it in a cup of water for a bit. It should probably sit in the cup for an hour or so to let the layers underneath harden thoroughly, if you have any sort of fish that might pick at such a thing. You don't want fish picking at barely-covered liquid superglue, they can stick their mouths shut. 

Looks about like a favia to me. I'm not great with IDing different LPS. Most LPS have two kinds of tentacles, the feeder tentacles and the sweeper tentacles. One is for catching small bits of food out of the water, one is for personal-space-preserving murder. Keep it a few inches away from other corals, the sweeper tentacles are surprisingly long and will do a lot of damage to other corals they touch. Both kinds of tentacles come out at night, but usually you only see sweepers when they're provoked. If you want to see feeder tentacles, turn the pumps off and settle a bit of food on top of it, it should try to eat. Reef Roids is great for getting its attention with smell, mysis is great for getting it to grow fast. 

 

Brittle starfish basically never come out fully, but will extend multiple legs if they smell something good. You'll probably see legs when you feed the coral. 

You could go back to the LFS at some point and ask if they'd be willing to look for some brittle stars for you. If they have micro brittles in their tanks, they can probably find some pretty easily by looking underneath frags and inside shells. I got about half a dozen of them from my LFS for $5. That way you can see some, take them home, and get a breeding population started.

[tviquez10]

Thank you so much for your help!!! I will most definitely see if they would do that for me because they would be a great addition to my tank. 

 

[tviquez10]

Oh, do you happen to know how long it normally takes a pipe organ to come out fully?

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

Favia and favites have been recategorized in different taxonomic families. Favites will have fused or shared walls between the corallite heads. A favia will have those heads slightly separated and their own wall by that right. Favia heads tend to be slightly more raised giving a distinct textured look.

 

You might have this: http://www.coralsoftheworld.org/species_factsheets/species_factsheet_summary/favites-flexuosa/

 

For that weird tentacled animal off to the side that can be done with the super glue trick that Tired suggested. It might be even exposed enough that scraping or plucking it off may work since its on the frag plug.

 

Favites feeder tentacles will look similar to the effect of this. I have a Favites pentagona, but it should be similar to yours.

 

A newly acquired coral can take as soon as a few hours or a few days for polyps to come out. Any change in water or home will make them look a little unhappy for a short time.

[tviquez10]

Thank you for the info! Mine does look similar to yours. I guess time will tell once it (hopefully) starts growing. I took the frag out and took a butter knife to it and it retracted so fast I'm not sure I got it. But I did put some  super adhesive glue I had on hand and I hope it was a good kind to use because it was white. I've got it sitting in a cup of tank water and it appears to be slowly dripping off so I may have to get actual clear super glue. Fingers crossed I killed it because I definitely don't want that in my tank. I've got a ton of bubble tip anemones and I had to get rid of some on the liverock to add these frags. Those are at least not as pesky. Although I did read that they can harm the coral so I'm keeping an eye out for ones that try to inch closer. Lol

[tviquez10]

I've got brine shrimp and I'm about to order some phytoplankton. Do you recommend anything else to periodically add in for the corals? I know they use light for food/energy mostly, but if I can sometimes add good things for them, I'd like to.

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

Yeah I've had aiptasia before from a live rock and I couldn't quite scrape it off so I ended up just using a lot of 2 part to burn the anemone basically. Not a method I would recommend unless you know what you're getting to. Fortunately it was only one aiptasia before it got worse. Now that area is covered by a nice tuft of GHA.

 

For super glue, get the gel form. From my understanding the cyanoacrylate gel is safe for aquarium use. People even use it for planted aquariums. This cyanoacrylate gel is sold in many labels. Loctite, Gorilla Glue, the no name $1 brand, and even Seachem makes it! Thankfully, you can find it anywhere. I get mine from the local drug store/pharmacy.

 

11 minutes ago, tviquez10 said:

I've got brine shrimp and I'm about to order some phytoplankton. Do you recommend anything else to periodically add in for the corals? I know they use light for food/energy mostly, but if I can sometimes add good things for them, I'd like to.

I guess I can share my coral cocktail I feed out 2x a week during the evening. I target feed my corals with a syringe or disposable pipette.

 

4x .15mL scoop of Reef Roids (about 1/8 tsp of powdered goodness)

5mL of Seachem Phytoplankton (it's not alive)

2 cubes of Hikari Coral Gumbo (frozen food)

about 10mL of Aquavitro Fuel (amino acid supplement)

 

I have a supplemental broadcast feed, pour directly into the aquarium during the day. I do it at least once a week not on a feeding evening. Sometimes I treat my corals to more broadcasts per week.

 

5mL of Fuel

2.5mL of Seachem Phytoplankton

 

I'm planning to expand more on the recipe. I know this sauce works on my Caulastrea corals as some of my colonies have developed new mouths and want to split in time.

[Tired]

Gel superglue is good for attaching corals and frags, but you want liquid to get rid of aiptasia, since it flows over them. Cyanoacrylate is what you want for both- it's completely aquarium-safe. It can even be used directly on corals, to attach something like a zoanthid to a rock. I'd suggest you get some gel superglue to have on hand, and grab a tube of liquid in case you see any further aiptasia on anything. They're not expensive. 

Scraping aiptasia off can work, but frequently leaves cells behind. Scraping and then covering in glue can do the trick pretty handily. 

 

Brine shrimp isn't very nutritious, for anything, unless it's newly hatched baby brine shrimp.

Corals mostly use light for energy, but they also need materials to grow. Even plants need materials, and they're completely photosynthetic. Think of the food you give your coral as being like fertilizer. Target-feeding appropriately sized foods, with the pumps off, is probably your best bet. LPS like chunks of meaty food like mysis, and I believe pipe organs need smaller food? But I don't keep pipe organs. Whatever you give them, leave the pumps off until they've engulfed it properly, so it doesn't blow off of them. If you have any shrimp, try to distract them away so they can't steal the food. 

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

Feeding a pipe organ is similar to feeding a clove polyp in some ways. Pipe organs filed under a soft coral even though they have that hard shell on the outside. They will take to those micro foods. If my soft corals have their polyps out I'll do a small sprinkle of powdery food suspension.

[tviquez10]

Thanks to both of you for your tips and suggestions! I really appreciate the quick responses ☺️

[mcarroll]

Joe's Juice or Aiptasia X for aiptasia – costs like $10, no risk, no mess, no expiration date, easier to use.  

[tviquez10]

I used the glue and it's no where to be found! Hoping it's gone for good and doesn't pop up anywhere else.