Strange LR growth

[RogerL]

hi everyone. my LR is finally sprouting life!!! there is this weird purple tree thingy growing on one piece of rock though. it looks like a plant. is this a coral? will it survive? i just noticed it today. its actually really pretty... ;-)

[karlas]

it be hard to tell with out a pic but usually the hitchikers on live rock are pretty hardy and live through a lot or will eventually grow back

it could be anything thats one of the surprises of live rock never know what u will get

[RogerL]

well i asked the LFS about my strange growth, and he said its a common tree coral.i looked at the ones he had, and sure enough, thats what it was! really cool. its getting bigger!

[Gresham]

Sounds like a forum to me, not really a coral, more like a hydrocoral. BTW, this post sould be posted else where as it has nothing to do with fish. I'd have posted it in the coral or general discussion.

[RogerL]

my apologies about the misplaced post gresham. :-)

[Wrassman]

Hey Roger,

Does the thing on your rock look something like this?

Picture courtesy of www.aquariumarts.com .

That is a Purple Clove Polyp. *Related to Xenia. *Just leave it alone, and if none of your fish eat it (unlikely) it will grow like a weed.

Edit: Roger, I hope you don't mind; I moved your thread to "Corals" instead of "Fish."

[RogerL]

thanks wrassman! it does look like that, but mine is more branching, and doesnt have the flowery look that one has. same color though.

[RogerL]

now i have these weird little black slug things with a little piece of shell on their backs... i think its a chiton.

[Wrassman]

Hey Roger,

Doesn't sound like a chiton. Sounds more like a Scutus unguis, or what the Germans call, "schwarze Fingernagelschnecke" (black finger-nail snail). Here's a pic:

That picture is from a German site, www.korallenriff.de , where you will find a LOT of useful info (and you don't necessarily have to speak German -- but it helps ).

BTW, a chiton is totally covered in shell. It doesn't appear to have any front or back; it is just a rounded-shell that moves, VERY SLOWLY. Here's the best pic I could find of a chiton:

This picture is from www.biology.ucsc.edu .

If neither of these critters identifies what you have, let me know and we'll keep looking. I love to ID critters.

[RogerL]

its kinda like the black finger-nail snail, but ALL black, and the shell is just on the very top of his back, like some kind of strange hat. :-)