Identification of lps/sps unknown to LFS owner 3/12/10
Hello,
<Hello Travis>
I am looking to identify this bright lime green type of coral, and after a few hours of fruitless research I thought I'd ask the capable WWM crew.
<Ok>
LFS owner received a 3-4 inch diameter parent colony, from this he placed 1/4 in a display tank and sliced the remainder into frags to be sold,
<I would not have done this with this particular coral>
but the genus and species are unknown to owner and employees.
<Species unknown, yes, but I do think this is a Faviid, possibly a Favia. See each corallite has it's own, not a shared wall? This is a clue. Try here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/faviidae2.htm>.
I have attached three pictures of this coral: two from outside the aquarium, and one taken from above with an underwater camera. Note: these pictures were taken shortly after acclimation and the coral appears slightly more withdrawn than it did in my LFS.
<This coral appears bleached -- hence the unusual colour, and why I would not have fragged it -- puts unnecessary stress on an already stressed coral>
Information to help the identification: total colony is approximately 1/4 inch across with a 1/4 inch tall stony skeleton, each polyp is slightly larger than 1/16 inch wide;
<Very small>
it appears to have miniscule feeding tentacles(about 20/polyp, not seen in pictures) that are out during the day (exposed 10 minutes after placed in tank), these tentacles also have tiny white spherical nematocyst looking tips.
<Excellent observations, first class>
The colony looks like mini-Favia,
<Yes! The nail hitteth the head!>
if there is such a thing, except that each polyp is nearly a perfect circle. Coloration is highly fluorescent monochromatic lime green(picture makes it appear more yellow).
<Bleached>
Cool pic note: in pictures 1 and 2 you can see some zooxanthellae goo that appeared seconds after turning the lights on for the pictures.
<You mean the brown spots?>
The colony currently looks more like picture 3, just add some tiny tentacles.
Thank you for the many answers over the last few months,
<And thank you as well!>
Travis
<Simon>

Coral Identification? -- 02/12/10
Hi Crew!
>Big J<
Any thoughts on what I might have in the attached photo?
<Mmm, maybe a Hydnophora. Read here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/merulinidae.htm>
It seems to me
like some sort of SPS based on how it has grown in the past 4 months that I've had it. What is interesting about it though is that where I'm used to the star shaped polyps of many of my other SPS, this has more like "worms" for what I assume are its polyps. Reminds me somewhat of photos of Millepora. Occasionally (usually at night) translucent tubes come out of it in a few spots and extend to a length of perhaps 2 inches or more. Usually only a few of these, whereas the coral is covered in the shorter wormlike and colored "polyps" as seen in the photo.
Also, any new or interesting thoughts on getting rid of hair algae?
<Just what's posted/archived on WWM. Need to know at least the Division...>
I have a few "fields" of it in between some SPS and higher in the tank where my Tomini Tang, Foxface Rabbitfish, Pacific Blue Tang, and Flame Angel can't seem to get to it. I have a Sally Lightfoot, a few random snails, and a couple of Emerald Crabs, but none of these seem to be taking to the fields of hair algae. Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia and Phosphates are all zero. Hardness is around 6/7. Calcium is up around 500.
<[Mg]?>
Temp is 77 and salinity is 1.024. I use RO water and have not been overfeeding (from what I can tell). The hair algae I'm most worried about is the very thick bush of it growing in the middle of some SPS.
Thanks in advance,
Jon Hoover
<Keep reading. Bob Fenner>

ID hitchhiker anemones -- 09/26/09
On Sunday (it is now Friday) we added 200 lbs of live rock to our new system. The LR had been in a tank for 4 years and in a large trash can with power heads for a month. We picked up RODI water on the way home and
showed the rock to the LFS owner. He said the rock was in excellent condition and the tank would have little or no cycle time. All water readings have been 0 nitrates, 0 ammonia (both by our kit and the store's).
While we were at the store we noticed some anemones on the rocks at the top. The LFS owner looked at them and said he did not think they were Aiptasia. He stuck his finger in one and was not stung. My husband was
also not stung. There was another experienced hobbyist there and he could not ID them as well. I emailed the original owner of the LR and he was not very helpful. He said he had aiptasia in the past, but they had been under
control. He did not tell me if there had been other kinds of anemones in the tank.
We have done hours of searching, but can not find a picture or description that matched these exactly.
- They don't appear to sting.
- They have a fairly wide base compared to height.
- The base is a brownish/yellow color.
- The tentacles are clear with small white stripes and spots.
- The tips have a very small white ball.
They seem to like the tank and appear to be growing larger. We have not added any food to the tank yet since only what came on the LR is in the tank (snail, brittle stars, other stars, sponge, etc). We do not have the good lights on the tank yet. That will happen this weekend.
We would like to know what these are before we kill them off and then find out they were something someone else might have wanted.
Thanks for your help,
Nicki
<These appear to have an underlying (calcareous) skeleton... I suspect they are either single polyp Dendrophylliids or Rhizangiids... Please see the Net and WWM re. Please see here: http://wetwebmedia.com/dendroidfaqs.htm
Bob Fenner>

Re: ID Assistance Needed for SPS Encrusting Coral Re: Coral Id challenge - 10/9/07 WWM (Lynn): <Hi there, JW - Lynn here again.> Forwarded your response to my original source of the frags, who responded: "Very interesting. One thing that I can recall of the coral is that the polyp structure did not resemble any Monti or Porites that I had ever seen. Monti and Porites are distinctively round where as the polyps on the mystery coral are more like tentacles than polyps. <Interesting. In cases like this, every clue helps.> I almost can predict what you will say, especially after reading the Borneman article, but just wanted to see if this rang any bells. <Like Quasimodo? <G> Well, what comes to mind are the more tapered, or needle-like, polyps of Pavona. I think your best bet at this point, however, is to ask Eric Borneman. He has a forum over at Marine Depot and is a heck of a nice guy. By the way, please let me know if/when you Id this coral!> JW <LZ>

Re: Coral Id challenge, follow-up 10/9/07 Lynn, <Hi JW!> I have emailed Eric Borneman, but not posted on the forums. I will do so tomorrow. <Sounds great> Thank you for all of your insights. <You're very welcome -- good luck! -Lynn>

Id...Possibly Merulina ampliata 7/4/07 <Hi Brian, Mich here.> Hmm...I looked at some pictures of the Merulina, looks different. <Could be. Multiple growth forms are possible, often within the same colony. Some pic's I thought resembled yours: http://www.aquarium-design.fr/Img/ImgTelecharge/Pt/1192.jpg http://www.meerwasser-lexikon.de/images/1375.jpg http://www.mailordercorals.com/displayPict.asp?cartID=1154 http://www.reefaholics.org/Sale/reefaholicsimages/images/PIC00088.JPG http://www.atlantisaquarium.net/images/merilina.jpg.JPG The corallites in this species tend to form ridges and valleys which radiate from the center, which is why I though this genus was a possibility.> I did stumble across Agaricia agaricites. Could that be it? <Unlikely, Agaricia is an Atlantic species and generally not available in the trade. Initially, I was think this might be part of the Family Agaricidae, along the lines of a Pachyseris, but the ridges and valleys tend to be more concentric. It is difficult to identify a coral by one photo alone, and for some corals it is outright impossible without skeletal examination. So perhaps it is a Merulina, but it may be something else too. Wish Mich>