Hitchiker Coral

Hey everyone!

I added in my live rock about a week ago, and so far the tank is doing great. It went through the usual cycling process and has been holding at zeros the past few days.

Before I put the live rock in, I checked each piece, but somehow this one little coral escaped my eye! Of course only after I put the rock in, I noticed him and by then it was too late to acclimate the poor guy. He didn't do so hot the first day, but now he's starting to perk up again. He's definitely soft, not hard at all. He likes being fed, and has opened his "mouth" to take in what food he can, but aside from the tentacles curled up inside, he hasn't really extended anything. His color is a bit better (it was starting to go white, and is now more green with a tiny bit of pink).

The photos are crappy, sorry! It makes him look totally white, but he's really got a little more green on him, and he glows neon green under uv/blue light.

 

Oops, forgot the second without blue light.

 

Looks like a bleached mushroom or ricordia. Just needs some time in the light. Does it have a skeleton?

 

No, it appears to be a soft coral. No skeleton. He was very white when I first saw him and he had begun to detach from the rock, but he's starting to turn more yellow/green and has not detached anymore (if anything, he's attached more to the rock).

He does have more of an oval center "mouth" that opens when I am feeding him or at night when the moon lighting kicks in. There appear to be small white guts/tentacles that are curled up inside. I've not seen him extend them further than just slightly pushing them out.

Is there anything I should be doing to help him grow stronger? I've got him in the light, I've started target feeding for him. He's in a moderate flow area. Since I'm still new to reefing, I don't know everything about every coral yet. Should I be looking for fast growth or do these type tend to be slower?

 

I think mushroom as well, time will tell. No need to feed it, it will grow just fine under anykind of decent lighting. Mushrooms tend to split quite often.

 

If the coral is staying put it's ok in that spot. Appropriate lighting and good water chemistry is probably most important. As far as target feeding, if you see it actively eating then feed it, if not that I would not worry about it. Nice little hitch hiker, it might turn a cool color.

 

Congrats. Hopefully you will get a nice piece once it recovers completely. Amazing how a coral could survive such a stressful journey.

 

Thanks! I was surprised too. There was also a small button polyp (brown with a green center) that made it through the journey as well. It started as one polyp and now has three! Here's hoping I have a nice full colony soon.

I do have the mushroom in a moderate-high flow area. I'll try to move it to a lower level of the tank tonight, see if it a calmer flow helps it to open up a bit. I looked through some various mushroom coral pictures and, if I had to guess, it may be a neon green mushroom. Since he does respond to feeding, I think I may keep it up. If anything, he likes it and it makes me feel good to see the little guy responding.

 

It looks like some sort of bleached anemone to me. I've not seen a mouth on my mushrooms or ricordeas - that's what's throwing me on how he describes it eating.

 

Anemone?

I'll try to get a better picture of the mouth I'm talking about. I may be describing it inaccurately. Still learning everything!