Quote:
Originally posted by MarkusII
Hello Craig,
from your writing I suppose you do not have a pipe organ coral (as they do not grow encrusting but as colonies) but something like Clavularia viridis or Briareum asbestinum...
Rather difficult to remove when it encrusted a lot.
If you could take the rocks out of your tank you can srutch it away.
Pipe oran coral (Tubipora musica) - if you touch the polyps and they hide there is a red sceleton left: tubipora musica sceleton
if you touch clavularia viridis the skin is almost flat and purple
and if you touch Briareum asbestinum its again flat and the skin is gray or skin coloured
regards
Markus
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Thanks Very Much Markus!,
It was sold to me as a Pipe organ coral (Tubipora musica). I purchased it from Live Aquaria's "Diver's Den" two years ago. (They are not known for mistaken identity). But, having read your post the coral is likely clavularia as the skin is purple when the polyps retract. It looks just like your linked picture, except for the color.
The challenge is that the coral is encrusted to two sepearate large rocks, and I will not be able to lift them out at the same time and avoid damaging the coral. I could get my hand around a good portion of the base and tear it away from the rocks (effectively fragging it in the tank). I could then remove the rocks one at a time and scrape off the remaining encrustment. Would this be ok? Would I risk releasing any toxins into the tank that could damage sps? Again, thanks for your helpful response. Any further guidance would be appreciated.
Craig