Is this a coral?

I got this piece of live rock with a big load of it and the growth on it feels a little slimy. Algae won't grow on it. I am thinking that it is some kind of coral, but I don't know what it is called. Any help? It conforms to the shape of the rock, like coraline algae.
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It might be a sponge

Yeah... I never thought of that! It might be a sponge!
Here's a more distant pic, that might put it more in perspective.

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Well, it doesn't look as closely to what has been suggested because it is sunken in and not real healthy at the moment. It looks like it can be saved. Given some time and good water parameters and feedings, it is going to change a lot and be better recognizable. I would bet it is an echinophilia. If it comes around and colors up for you, you might have a very expensive coral.
If it is an echinophilia, you will want to set it closer to the bottom a little further from the light. They tend to bleach out when set too close to the light.

lilfishie wrote:Well, it doesn't look as closely to what has been suggested because it is sunken in and not real healthy at the moment. It looks like it can be saved. Given some time and good water parameters and feedings, it is going to change a lot and be better recognizable. I would bet it is an echinophilia. If it comes around and colors up for you, you might have a very expensive coral.
If it is an echinophilia, you will want to set it closer to the bottom a little further from the light. They tend to bleach out when set too close to the light.

Lilfishie, I don't think I am describing it well. It is as if it is part of the rock. If it were not slimy I would think it was some kind of algae. The googled pics of echinophilia appear to be separate entities from the rock... though attached to the rock. This thing is like a part of the rock. If it looks sunken in, that's because that's what shape the rock is. It has uniform thickness all over, but is completely attached to the rock. There is no part of it that is not attached. It is exactly as it was the day I got it a few weeks ago. So far, the only thing that makes any sense to me is a sponge. Never saw one that covered such a large area before, but this came out of a 220 gallon tank that had been established for many years. The rock is real thin... almost like a shell.

Chalice's grow just like that. I think Trido is right. What you have is a type of chalice and it is almost dead. I think Trido could have been a little nicer about his statement on RF. Give it some time. Set it a little lower so as to not cuase any more bleaching and try feeding it mysis. It may come around and be really pretty for you.

Ok... between here and Reef Frontiers, I am reasonably convinced that this is echinophillia. I will move it to the bottom of the tank and do as you have suggested. Thanks for the help! How do I feed it? If I just drop some mysis down on top of it... where's the mouth? Do I have to stop the flow in the tank while feeding it?

Here's a thought... what if I put it in my refugium. Will it eat pods?

I just read both site, I have the same type of growth, wish I could tell you the name but it grows under rocks, more like a type of sponge, when I exposed a piece to light for a long period it disappeared.

I would get a picture but it's not in an area you can see since I rearranged.

If you hadn't said it was slimy I may have agrees with the other but............good luck on whatever you decide to do

By the way I have a echinophillia, it's not slimey even out of the water

unconv-reefer wrote:I just read both site, I have the same type of growth, wish I could tell you the name but it grows under rocks, more like a type of sponge, when I exposed a piece to light for a long period it disappeared.

I would get a picture but it's not in an area you can see since I rearranged.

If you hadn't said it was slimy I may have agrees with the other but............good luck on whatever you decide to do

By the way I have a echinophillia, it's not slimey even out of the water

"Slimy" may not have been a good adjective. It doesn't leave any slime residue on my fingers if I touch it... just feels slippery... kinda like a pealed peach, but not soft. So, at this point, I am going with the echinophyllia idea. If I care for it as echinophyllia, and it turns out to be that, then I win! If it is just a rock undergrowth and I kill it with the wrong treatment, I guess I haven't lost much. So far, I have not lost any corals (knock on wood!). I would like to maintain that record.

Thanks for the help!

I figured that was what you meant by slimy,

Good Luck

Oh, don't be too disappointed, cause you WILL loose coral.

Typically at night chalices will put out little tentacles and catch food. They eat brine shrimp, cyclopese, mysis, and other stuff. they also benefit from trace elements in the water. Calcium for their skeleton and such. The center of each of the little circles you can see are the mouths. All the little bumpy spots you can see are the skeleton. There should be more flesh around them so you wont see the skeleton.

You want to put it in low to medium lighting and medium water flow. I buy all my stuff from Drs Foster & Smith. Here is their link to the reef supplements you might think about getting some. That reminds me I need to buy some more.

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I use an all in one that replaces some of the trace elements that coral uses up. I also feed coral friendly and sps grow and frozen cyclopese, which the fish love too. Also feed food for filter feeding inverts for all the leathers and tube worms and feather dusters and sponges.

It looks like some of them still have a little reddish color to them. With good water quality and a little nourishment, you may save it.

Well, I waited until 2am and went to feed the Echinophyllia some brine shrimp... don't have any mysis on hand. I don't know if I can save it or not. There were no tentacles and the centers of the mounds were only slightly raised up. I used a syringe to place some brine shrimp right on top of the mounds. Occassionally, I would get too close and noticed that the mounds retracted just a little. Upon inspecting it with a maginifier, I can see what you meant by, "all sunken in". This poor critter is almost gone. It will be a miracle if I can save it. A couple of the mounds had tiny nobs sticking up... probably all it can muster for tentacles in its present condition. I may have to put it in a hospital tank. The fish didn't seem to be going after the brine shrimp in the dark. If it doesn't perk up in a day or two, I will set up a ten gallon hospital tank for it.

I do add trace elements every day... a two part solution called B_Ionic. It seems to be helping the other corals, so I am hoping it will help the Echinophyllia also. I'll go get some mysis and invert food tomorrow.

I had to look at the picture to be sure, but it appears that much of the yellow color has turned to brown. I hope that's a good sign. (Frankly, I thought the yellow was prettier, but I am expecting some spectacular results when it recovers fully) Can this kind of coral be split into fragments after it recovers?

Yes, it can be "fragged" Some chalices can go for a good price. As long as when it is cut you get at least one eye on the frag, it will grow more and spread.
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You will notice the circular patterns in these. They look just like the skeleton pattern on your rock only there is a lot more flesh and color to these. Yours still have flesh on it, and may recover.

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unconv-reefer, it is showing that you posted a couple of times but nothing is written in the posts.

I fed more brine shrimp last night (still didn't make it to the lfs for mysis)... put it right on top of the mouths. Those little nobs (tentacles) were a little longer and latched onto the shrimp immediately. I stuck around long enough to watch it consume some of the shrimp. Today, more of the skeletal bumps are covered with thicker mass and more of the yellow color has turned to brown. I was going to post some more pics, but I will wait until I have some great changes to show.

Time for an update on my Echinophyllia. This photo was taken today (2/4/11), less than two weeks after my original post. You can see that the coral has almost completely lost its bleached out appearance and has filled out to cover most of the skeletal bumps. I am hand feeding it frozen shrimp at least every other night. You can even see some tentacles on one of the mouths (in daylight) where the black arrow is pointing.
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Hey, good job Larry. Keep it up. It will get even nicer looking. Its definately on its way. It almost looks like the one they call lava flow.

also, you will want to take the rock out of the tank for just a minute to pick those little green balls off the rock. It wont hurt the coral any if just for a minute or two. The coral will slime up to protect itself. Dont break those green balls in the tank or you will have a major outbreak. Those are called Valonia Algae, more commonly known as green bubble algae.