I bought the wrong coral, and I'm concerned

Seahorse man · Jul 1, 2018

So I bought 2 frags of what I thought were gsp about 3 weeks ago. I was researching gsp more today, and all the pictures online looked way different than the ones that I have. I found out that they are probably Goniopora. I looked online, and all i can find is that they are a really finnicky and difficult coral. Is this true? What should i do?

Side story, one of the frags is thriving, and the other has receding polyps. I read that gsp does this and it will most likely bounce back, but i dont know if Goniopora will. What should i do for that one?

Heres the coral

please excuse the cheesy decor, its just a frag tank and i think it looks weird empty.

Holy_makerel · Jul 1, 2018

Looking at the # of tentacles it very well could be a goni. My first thought was a hydnophora but i think you're correct

Reeferdood · Jul 1, 2018

Not a hydnophora, might be a goni but it is really hard to tell. If it is a goni, it does not look well at all & I would find someone with a well established system to put it in. Flowerpots are not a beginner coral at all. Green Star polyps look like grass on a purple colored mat in case you needed to know.
Good luck

DIvid · Jul 1, 2018

Looks like a green leptastrea to me.

DIvid · Jul 1, 2018

If it is they prefer lower to medium light. It appears the last picture is less happy due to much higher light, I'd move it to a shaded area and see how it does.

Reeferdood · Jul 1, 2018

DIvid said:
Looks like a green leptastrea to me.

It does but the skeleton is rather thick that is why I am leaning towards a Goni..
Still uncertain so it is a guess...

Ranjib · Jul 1, 2018

Its definitely not a GSP, It can be a lepto or a goni. Medium to low light, small particle food (reef roids , for example), medium flow, and you should be ok

DIvid · Jul 1, 2018

The only reason I'm leaning lep is due to past experience with goni when they are unhappy they get much further into the skeleton. My guess would be the thickness is due to someone breaking down a large colony and selling the frags off. No expert just my 2 pennies.

Rispa · Jul 1, 2018

Can you explain a little about your setup. You might be able to keep it.

ReefInskeep · Jul 1, 2018

Hard to tell based on those photos. It looks like it may be very unhappy goniopora. Where you bought it, were the polyps longer, extended and puffy? Like tentacles with flowers on top? If they looked like this at the store (or wherever), and they told you it was green star polyps, try to get a refund and stop trusting them.

Alternatively, these could be a lepto if they’ve looked like that from the start & it’s got more of an encrusting skeleton. If any skeleton recedes, look up goniopora skeleton and compare. Lower light (par under 100-150), low to medium flow, target feed reef roids or goniopower a few days a week if your system can handle the nutrients, then they might make it. But they might not. I lost a few gonis when I was new.

Seahorse man · Jul 1, 2018

Rispa said:
Can you explain a little about your setup. You might be able to keep it.

Right now they are in a 5 gallon frag tank to watch for pests to keep out of my 55 gal display. This is my first reef tank, and i have had no coral in it so far. Im making a reef tank for my high school personal project, so i have 3 years to build it up. I tried to buy gsp because it is supposed to be realy easy, but guess thats out the window. I have 4 t5 bulbs over my display, about 60 pounds of live rock, and about 600 gph of flow in the tank.

DIvid · Jul 1, 2018

Seahorse man said:
Right now they are in a 5 gallon frag tank to watch for pests to keep out of my 55 gal display. This is my first reef tank, and i have had no coral in it so far. Im making a reef tank for my high school personal project, so i have 3 years to build it up. I tried to buy gsp because it is supposed to be realy easy, but guess thats out the window. I have 4 t5 bulbs over my display, about 60 pounds of live rock, and about 600 gph of flow in the tank.

Qt is the right thing to do good job. At this point I would reccomended finishing your qt. After qt place the coral mid to low in the tank, feeding a reef food as others suggested will help. goni is a harder to keep, I've found the leptastrea in my tank has been very hardy but neither like to be blasted with flow or high par.

Fragtory · Jul 1, 2018

It looks like a galexea to me

Seahorse man · Jul 1, 2018

Fragtory said:
It looks like a galexea to me

Its definatly not a galaxea, it has polyp tentacles surrounding a small mouth.

rockskimmerflow · Jul 1, 2018

Tough call. If I had to put money on it I'd say Tonga encrusting horn coral - Hydnophora exesa

TheBackAndForth · Jul 1, 2018

5 if awfully small for water chemistry. Experts have trouble with that. How much light are you hitting that with--less may be better in this case?

good luck--we all have trouble with an occasional frag from time to time. Honesty--any soft coral will be a good starter for you. gps will too, but they actually can be finicky

lzrlvr · Jul 1, 2018

Don’t give up on it identifying corals is not always easy so it may be possible that it is not a gonipora but if you can keep it alive that should be your ultimate goal.

DSC reef · Jul 1, 2018

I'm guessing leptastrea.

TangingOut · Jul 1, 2018

I think it's a leptastrea coral as well. If you focus in on one polyp you can see it has a lot more than 24 tentacles which are more scattered than gonioporas.