stupid newbie question :)

[dive in]

how can you tell if its a zoa or a polyp? i have a frag that is a round ball with many orange and green circles on it. it is not attached to anything hard,

[firsthesitation]

K, #1 no stupid questions. We were all newbs at one time. A lot of research and sharing information has gotten us all where we are today. I think you'll find most of the people here or on other reef forums like Reef Central will be more than happy to help you along the way.

#2, threads with no pictures are worthless. its nearly impossible for us to help you ID what you're looking at it we can't see it too. We could probly make an educated guess but pictures are helpful!

[Loverotties]

It's very hard to tell without a pic.It could be a sponge the way you say it.But it sounds like a zoa.

[XeniaGirl]

Ummm... I have the same question about polyps that I've had for 2 years. lol - the other thing that's confusing is there are about 1943470 kinds of zoas. But yes, upload a picture and we should be able to figure it out.

[aquawolf]

Normally it goes by polyp size itself more than anything else. The smaller size polyps are zoanthids and usually grow in much tighter groups while palythoas have larger polyps and take up quite a bit more space.

In this picture you can see the Eagle Eye Zoanthids on top and then the Cinnamon Polyps, which are a palythoa, on the bottom.



Notice how much bigger the polyps on the bottom are compared to the ones on the top.

HTH

[jl1x1]

Originally Posted by aquawolf

Normally it goes by polyp size itself more than anything else. The smaller size polyps are zoanthids and usually grow in much tighter groups while palythoas have larger polyps and take up quite a bit more space.

In this picture you can see the Eagle Eye Zoanthids on top and then the Cinnamon Polyps, which are a palythoa, on the bottom.



Notice how much bigger the polyps on the bottom are compared to the ones on the top.

HTH

What kind of mushrooms are those? I think some of those hitchhiked in on a big chunk of LR I bought.

[OneDummHikk]

Just purple mushrooms. Pretty common in the hobby. Nothing to worry about.

[aquawolf]

Thanks Randy.

Those are actually blue striped mushrooms that are too close the the metal halides though. Once they reach that level in the tank they release and go with the flow to an area where the lighting is less intense. If you look at them closely you can also see some whitish looking, harmless, flat worms on them.

[umakemekissu]

it's not a stupid question.. that would offends lots of beginners.. like me lol.. jk