maybe a coral?

[Mihai]

Hi, I got this green thing with a white skeleton (see the picture) on my Haiti live rock (sold as caribbean live rock from FFE). I think it's rather nice and I would not want it to die.

It is hard, like a coral, and it seems to have some green stuff in it (the simbiotic algae?!). The green stuff can come out (there is a portion of the picture that started to go white, and I have some completly white on other rocks). From the fact that it is hard and it seems to "bleach", it sounds like a coral, but I have no idea which type, if it can be saved in any way?

If you know, please tell me, I can move the rock with this piece from the curing vat (a 31gal Rubbermaid) to my tank that now has only salt water and sand (90gal) if this would help.

I do not have lots of lights for now (I can only put 4 x 40W NO).

In short, is this thing alive, what it is, can I save it, how?

Thanks a lot for your help,
Mihai

 

[Mihai]

Hey,

Where are the pictures?
In the preview of the post the pictures were there. How can anybody identify this without pictures? Please help.

Thanks,
Mihai

 

[John_Brandt]

Mihai,

Welcome to reefs.org. To see photos and graphics you need to log in. Go to the top of the page and click "Login".

It's a live coral, but very close to completely dead. Almost no tissue left, if any. I think that green color is algae growing on the exposed skeleton.

If that really is Haitian rock then it appears to be Agaricia coral.

 

[Mihai]

Thanks a lot for the help with the ID and the pictures. It breaks my heart to hear that. Can I save it in any way (what can I try?).

Thanks

 

[Mihai]

It *is* Agaricia. I found pictures that look very close to what I have at:
http://www.hsu.edu/faculty/engmanj/bio2 ... aricia.jpg

Is it salvageable? It's true that it has no tissue left on it (at touch). However, I'm not sure that the green stuff is algae, as other agaricias on other rocks are completly white... OK, poor argument in here, it might be that this was the only one with enough light on it, and that it actually died some time before it was harvested and sent my way...

Thanks for the time again veteran (1415 posts, and figuring the name of the coral from a blurry picture... wow!).

Anyway, if I have further identification questions, is there a site where I can browse through pictures of corals, worms, and other invertebrates to avoid bothering others?

Thanks again,
Mihai

 

[John_Brandt]

Well it's an easy one to ID if you know it was from the Caribbean, that's why I added the Haiti qualifier. If the rock's origin wasn't known I'd also have to include Pavona and Agaricia as possibilities from the Indo-Pacific. They all look very similar.

Best you can do is give it some light and gentle water flow over it. There might be a few bits of tissue here or there, but the thing looks close to stone dead to me.

I don't know of a good online live coral or invertebrate ID site. Anybody?

 

[Anonymous]

Well it's an easy one to ID if you know it was from the Caribbean, that's why I added the Haiti qualifier. If the rock's origin wasn't known I'd also have to include Pavona and Agaricia as possibilities from the Indo-Pacific. They all look very similar.

Best you can do is give it some light and gentle water flow over it. There might be a few bits of tissue here or there, but the thing looks close to stone dead to me.

I don't know of a good online live coral or invertebrate ID site. Anybody?

AIMS (australian institute of marine science) I believe they had some nice parts from Verons research there to help ID some species. For tropical Atlantic species - no idea.

 

[Mihai]

Thanks a lot for your time and help,
Mihai