Did I get something cool??? Plus first Corals added

I found something really neat on one of my live rocks. I have no idea what it is though. I haven't seen anything exactly like it on any sites that have pics of various corals and algae. Is it Algae or coral? I hope these links work I uploaded them to the image gallery and pasted the code here. If they don't work It is a small flat round disc on a stem almost the same color as the rock. It is definitly plantlike. It is a deep purple with some green accents. It blends in with the colors of the rock extremely well and flows with the current in the tank.


On another note. I added my first corals last night. Took me hours but they seem to be doing fine now. They were extremely ticked yesterday but they are open up and looking nice today. The zoanthids I got on bargain because they were such a small colony but they had such nice colors I really liked them. I really hope they spread out. Plus the bargain corals seemed a good place to start for such a new tank. I also pasted the codes for them at the end just to parade around my newest additions. Am I going to feel like a new daddy with every new coral or fish that I get?



The mystery thing



Another picture of the mystery thing



My first Leather



My first zoanthids

Hope the pictures work and thanks for everyones help in getting me this far.

Brian

 

that first picture looks like a small mushroom coral. They are nice and hardy and will do well in moderate lighting and get bigger and split. Keep an eye on it. They are cool.

Brian

 

The camera kind of lies a little the edges of it are actually pretty smooth and not fringy like the zoas. It looks cool though I really hope it keeps growing. I couldn't get a great picture due to it's size even when I moved the rock it was attached to closer to the glass. I'm very hyped up about having corals and maybe a freebee as a hitchhiker as well.

 

Yep I'd say a mushroom. You won't have to do anything special to take care of it, just watch it grow and spread. Congrats.

 

Oh a few questions. I probably should have started a new thread but oh well.

I started dosing calcium and every time I do my protein skimmer goes nuts? I have the coral life 125 and just started with the Seachem Reef complete formula. Has anyone ever experienced this? I thought my skimmer was broken but noticed it happened again after I dosed the second time. After I dose if I take everything apart and put it back together it starts working again. It's very weird but it suddenly stops drawing air when I dose. Am I suppossed to turn it off when dosing for stuff?

Also, corals don't add to the bioload of a tank right? Do I need to figure anything in besides spacing/lighting/current when adding corals? I'm so hooked I want to go get another coral this weekend but don't want to upset any balances that are going on in the tank. I did go a bit overboard though and put T-5s on my refugium. I could probably grow corals in there too.

 

My calcium is at 300 right now. I want to get it to around 400ppm so I can look at getting some hard corals later on. I haven't seen any change yet since I started dosing but I've only done 2 doses over 3 days. If I understand right and read the directions right I may not see the correct results for almost 2 weeks???

I am still worried about my skimmer. I live in a second floor apartment downtown. If that thing goes nuts when I'm not home I would be afraid the landlord would tell me to get rid of my aquarium and I really don't want to have to move but I would before giving up my tank!!!

 

I dose with that Seachem complete before and my skimmer never went haywired before so I don't understand why yours is...sorry.Maybe you should go ahead and shut the air valve for a couple days after dosing.I had a tank on the 3rd floor of an apartment before so I hear you on that.

 

What type of skimmer do you have? yes you should turn off filteration and skimmer when dosing and feeding corals. Corals do produce different types of waste so yes they will add to the bio-load in a sense whether it's by producing waste or toxins. You need to pick up some type of invertebrate food.

 

I've got the coral life 125 skimmer. It's only acted up when I have dosed otherwise it works great. I'll be making sure it gets turned off when I dose from now on.

Invertebrate food? Thats for the corals? I thought they got all their food from the light? Ooops I've only been feeding my fish the frozen stuff. I'm thinking I may need to make a trip to the fish store then. I'll have to exhibit some serious self control not to bring home a new coral or fish.

 

Some corals will get all the food they need from the light, but most of them will need supplemental feeding of some sort. Larger polyped corals may take frozen mysis placed on their tentacles, but most will accept smaller types of food like the ones that Yote mentioned and Cyclopeeze target fed to them with a turkey baster.

 

Ok thats good stuff to know. I'm going to take a look at what the LFS has to offer I know they have photoplankton just not sure what brand. I'm sure they will have something good to use.

So if I put 2 small corals in the other night is it safe to put in 2 more? hehe I really really want more but trying to go slow with it. I want to fill the entire tank up right now but know I can't. It's like after all the work I finally get something to show for it.:^:

 

If your tank is only 2 months old then I would wait a little bit before adding more corals. I'd make sure the ones that you have do well for at least a few weeks before adding some more, if I were you. The easiest way to crash your tank is stocking a new one too quickly.

 

Yeah I know I just wish I could speed it up a bit. I was thinking I could satisfy the urge to add something by adding a star of some kind since they are technically a cleanup crew. Maybe a brittle or serpent star? It's so frustrating waiting but I know I have to.

 

back to the original topic, does the hitchiker coral have a skeloten? is the stem a skeloten or is the whole thing soft tissue? from the picture and your discription it looks like a branching fungia plate. they are pretty rare but possible to come on some live rock. if it doesnt have any skeloten it is probly some type of mushroom.

 

From al my research and the replies here I think I have a mushroom. It is all soft and will close up if I touch it. Wow it would be so cool if I got something rare but I think it is a mushroom. It is a very cool one though.

 

I found an exact match for my hitchhiker at a LFS today. It is definitly a mushroom. He had some small colonies of them in his frag tank in a back room. He also showed me a trumpet that is the brightest most intense neon green I have ever seen. In 3 or 4 months I'm getting a piece of it after it's had time to grow and spread more and my tank is farther along. But anyways, I'm estatic I have a mushroom growing in my tank. I don't see how it survived the cycle but I guess enough of it did and its bouncing back. Can't wait to watch it spread some.

I also got some DTs photoplankton stuff to add in once a week. I guess I'll have to buy a turkey baster though.