Tentacles to Rock?

[JamieC]

I have a frag that was sold to me as an Echinata...looks Acan like...I'm new to LPS.

Well, I slid it into a shady area because it didn't seem super happy - not too inflated.

Upon inspection just a bit ago, I see this
...any idea what's going on? Just tentacles connecting to the rock? Should I move it?

 

[ying yang]

Umm I will bump thread for you as I'm curious to what it could be also ^_^

Could it be the corals mesamental filaments / stinging tentacles/feeding?
Just a guess to see how close I be to the more experienced guys and girls when they give you the correct answer ^_^

 

[Shirak]

Looks like it could be an Acan echinata. They can be pretty aggressive and looks like it has decided there is something on the rock it wanted to eat. They will send those mesenterial filaments out pretty far to eat stuff.. including other corals.

 

[sfin52]

Looks like it could be an Acan echinata. They can be pretty aggressive and looks like it has decided there is something on the rock it wanted to eat. They will send those mesenterial filaments out pretty far to eat stuff.. including other corals.

Thats what I was thinking

 

[JamieC]

Interesting. Will it retract on its own? Any danger moving it with those fillaments still on the rock?

 

[Shirak]

Interesting. Will it retract on its own? Any danger moving it with those fillaments still on the rock?

They should retract on their own in fairly short order. Why move it? You can if you want. Shouldn't hurt the coral they will retract.

 

[JamieC]

I don't need to move it right away...but that isn't its permanent spot.

 

[MaxTremors]

They will retract on their own. They usually send these out to dissolve/digest other corals (it more warfare than trying to get nutrition). It must’ve sensed something on the rock that it interpreted as a threat. It looks like an echinata, but could also be Acanthestrea Pachysepta based on how large it is. Both are very aggressive, they don’t have sweeper tentacles, but they will send out these mesenterial filaments that can essentially digest or dissolve other corals/coral tissue. I’ve had several considerably aggressive corals just get devastated by these guys over the years, it’s not like a sweeper tentacle that will slowly kill another coral over days or weeks, these will kill an entire colony in a couple hours if they’re left close enough. You can gently blow them off of whatever they’re attacking with a turkey baster and then move whatever is being attacked, they blow off fairly easily. You want to give the coral at least a couple inches on all sides. Pretty coral, but you have to be mindful of where you place it.

 

[JamieC]

Right now it is small. Bigger that a nickle, but smaller than a quarter. I never would have thought it was soooooo aggressive. Good to know for sure.

It's very pretty. The pics I took didn't do it any favors...I was just trying to photograph the fillaments. But this guy has purple, pink, orange, yellow, and green coloration. Pretty cool looking.

 

[MaxTremors]

Right now it is small. Bigger that a nickle, but smaller than a quarter. I never would have thought it was soooooo aggressive. Good to know for sure.

It's very pretty. The pics I took didn't do it any favors...I was just trying to photograph the fillaments. But this guy has purple, pink, orange, yellow, and green coloration. Pretty cool looking.

Most likely an echinata then, I was thinking it was a couple inches across, which is what made me think it could be A. pachysepta. Both (true) acans, and both really aggressive, but the polyps of echinata don’t get nearly as big, pachysepta is often misidentified as a lobo or scoly. Echinatas come in just about any color combo you could think of, but be careful if you get any more, echinatas will kill other echinatas, they’re not like micromussas or blastomussas where you can keep several next to one another.