Are these... Micro Zoas???

sbash · Jul 15, 2017

I was buying some frags from someone who is in the process of tearing down his large tank (I love the clearance sales!!!). He offered me this nice big rock with some 'zoas' on it for $5. At first glance, it did look like some sort of life on it, so I thought 'what the heck'. So, it has been in my frag tank for a couple light cycles now, and there is some definite signs of polypy life.

Sorry for the potato quality photo; it was the best I could get with my phone. Unfortunately, my DSLR is at my other residence. These are the healthier looking ones, and are slightly green-ish. Each polyp is about 1mm across.

Any ideas!?

Thanks in advance

kamakazian · Jul 16, 2017

Interesting! I have no clue, but would like to see if anyone has an answer!

saltyfilmfolks · Jul 16, 2017

Defiantly a polyp. It. Not zoas I believe.
And encrusting coral. That's the Skelton on the right

sbash · Jul 16, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Defiantly a polyp. It. Not zoas I believe.
And encrusting coral. That's the Skelton on the right

Yeah, very good eye! I did notice the skeleton, but I am not sure the encrusting coral has any flesh on the rock anywhere... But really, this rock looked pretty rough when I picked it up; and the frags from this guy also were more withdrawn than I would have liked. However, it all looks better now; so time will tell!

I will post back up as this rock 'heals', hopefully I can get a better shot with some colour in the future

joshporksandwich · Jul 18, 2017

look like a short tentacle goni

sbash · Jul 19, 2017

joshporksandwic said:
look like a short tentacle goni

Interesting... Time will tell. There are more and more polyps showing up every day; but still no colour (I guess that could take a while to redevelop).

Also, I think @saltyfilmfolks is onto something pointing out the skeleton. Looking at the rock, which is a smallish tonga rock, there is definitely a large skeleton encrusted on the top. So these polyps do seem like they are (a live) part of said skeleton. Aside from the dead looking skeleton, these small details are very difficult to see... Anyway, it will be a while before I can post more photos...

In the mean time, I think it is safe to say there are no zoas on this rock. Should I request a mod to move this thread to an LPS or SPS forum?

cmcoker · Jul 19, 2017

Maybe a cyphastrea of some sort. Some of the polyp can get largish. Random pic from google

sbash · Jul 29, 2017

Well, it has been two weeks, and these are definitely not zoas, lol...

I did, however, bring my dslr home and took some more shots. I thought the skeleton @saltyfilmfolks mentioned in his first post was a dead encrusted coral. BUT it looks like it is very much alive:

These are the same polyps as the first picture in the first post, looks like the colour is starting to return:

Finally, we have the entire rock (profile view) so you can see the whole skeleton (some parts appear to be dead) and some patches of polyps here and there:

DSC reef · Jul 29, 2017

Looks to be cyphastrea.

sbash · Jul 29, 2017

Yeah, I think so! It has recovered so much in the last two weeks, I am keen to see it once it is fully healthy!

BoomCorals · Aug 1, 2017

DSC reef said:
Looks to be cyphastrea.

Agreed!

sbash · Nov 14, 2017

Okay, here we are, five months later and we are finally seeing some colour! The tank is not really stable because I was travelling a lot over the last few months, so hopefully the improvement gets better and better now that I am home enough to properly maintain it

It is a poor cell-phone picture. I will try to take a better one of the whole rock with my DSLR soon! There are patches of these blue/green polyps all over the encrusted skeleton portion of the rock.

sbash · Apr 12, 2018

Alright it's been 10 months, and it survived nasty an alk swing back in the fall... I moved it into my 90 gallon and it is looking fantastic:

This is about half the rock, there are little patches all over.

Are we still certain it is cyphastria? The initial pictures definitely look like a cyphastria, but the polyps weren't fully open; now, when the polyps are closed, it doesn't really look like cyphastria... I'm wondering if it is an encrusting monti...

Kremis · Apr 12, 2018

i think it looks more ilke a monti now

sbash · Apr 12, 2018

Kremis said:
i think it looks more ilke a monti now

Yeah, I think so too... We'll find out for sure once it starts to grow... Either way, it is turning into a nice score for $5!

Cary · Apr 12, 2018

2nd that is a montipora. Great catch

sbash · May 21, 2018

I'm getting some good growth and colouration over the last 6 weeks. A funny green base with a bright blue polyp. The left side is starting to creep over the edge of the rock; I'm curious to see what it will do! I'm also going to post this picture up in the SPS forum, see if anyone can ID it.

hwntunda · May 21, 2018

I agree Monti, looks like some good coloring up and growth too!

sbash · Aug 30, 2018

Just a quick update:

This is real time too, so the growth seen here is since May of this year. I also had a tank crash that browned it out and halted the growth for about a month (hence the birdsnest not being alive in the background). The base colour is still browned out, but it looks great!

So far no sign of branching, although my red digi took about 10 months before it was done encrusting and decided to start branching again.

Capitol Reef Corals · Aug 31, 2018

I had an encrusting monti like this that I received in a large package I purchased from a large retailer. It never branched out just encrusted, I lost the coral a few months ago after I had a large tank move. But looks great!