Blue Ridge Coral .. it's official!

[Mrs Fish]

I've had this 'stone' for a while, wasn't sure what it was ... but it started to grow upwards and B and AG thought it was a blue ridge coral. Today I moved it to a more suitable permanent position (having ripped out some xenia!!) and was delighted to see the bottom is really blue ... so it's officially a blue ridge!

Photos below .. trust me, it's really blue!

 

[Mrs Fish]

Another shot!

 

[ReeferMedic]

The second pic definately looks like blue ridge. It should extend white polyps if you get it in the "right spot".

 

[Mrs Fish]

Yes, it's usually covered with white polyps!

 

[phatbob]

I've never even heard of blue ridge coral, but thanks to your post, I now know that I have one! Is this an unusual coral? I always thought it was just some sort of porites. I'll see if I can get a pic to post.

 

[phatbob]

Found this pic I had showing the polyps. Just tried to get a pic of the blue on the bottom but my camera battery died. Will try again tomorrow. I used to have a fist sized piece of this growing in my tank, but I actually took it out because I was afraid of it encrusting over everything. It's now a piece of dead rock I have lying around somewhere. I just kept this piece in this pic, which is only about an inch tall.

 

[Moe_K]

What's the genus and species name?

 

[phatbob]

I believe it's Heliopora Coerulea.

 

[Mrs Fish]

I believe that it's an unusual coral to find in reef tanks, partly because it's not that spectacular in appearance and also because it's main feature - the blue skeleton - is on the bottom and rarely seen. It's not difficult to care for, requiring medium flow and low - medium lighting.

I have read on-line about it quite a bit .. and I disagree with the recommendations for keeping this coral found on-line. Most suggest Medium - High lighting : which makes it bleach.

 

[Greg Hiller]

I've always kind of liked it, particularly when the polyps are out (maybe 1/3 of the time). I have a pretty big chunk in my 400. Had it for ages. Not a super fast grower. Sheds every so often kind of like a leather. When it's getting ready to shed it will get really 'glossy', and then a really thin layer will come off.

One cool thing about this coral, aparently it had not changed significantly in many millions of years. There are fossils of coral dating back 80 million years that are nearly identical to this coral. I think pipe organ (Tubipora musica) is similar in this respect.

 

[Greg Hiller]

Mine does well getting blasted by 400 W 10K bulbs near the top of my tank.

 

[phatbob]

Mrs Fish, just curious where you acquired yours? Mine came in as a small patch, about the size of a quarter, on a mushroom rock I bought years ago. Never knew what it was until yesterday...lol It's done quite well at the bottom of my tank under PC lighting, in medium/low flow. Eventually it completely overgrew the mushroom rock, and I pulled it out because I was afraid it was some kind of pest coral that was going to overgrow my tank. I kept that one small piece though, "just in case". Here's the dead piece I still have...

 

[phatbob]

Here you can see a bit of the blue skeleton....

 

[Mrs Fish]

Mine came as a free-bee from Reefer Madness about 11 months ago. Thought it was dead and didn't even know what it was. Noticed polyps on it about 3 months ago - it was tossed in a dark corner of the tank out the way.

Moved it gradually into the light at the bottom of the tank. Has since started to grow upwards, developing 3 'shoots'.