Mystery blue - is this a sponge or a soft coral?

[flyingpolarbear]

I bought this at the local LFS but I have no idea what this is. The owner said it is a kind of sponge but he wasn't sure. Any ideas?

[panmanmatt]

Colonial tunicates. Commonly called lollipop corals or blue palm corals.

From what I've read, their survival is marginal at best.

[Hormigaquatica]

A quote from Calfo:

commonly ascribed to the genera Oxycorynia or Neptheis, this tunicate is referred to as the (blue) Lollipop "coral". It has an absolutely dismal rate of survival in captivity. It escapes me why the organism is even collected or offered for casual hobby use (versus collected for scientific use, study or at least species specific home tanks with focused care

I think they are really interesting animals, admit I had one several years back before I knew anything about them (that was the last invert I bought without researching first). Unfortunately, I have yet to see one live more than a few months in a tank.. sorry..

[Morel]

http://www.dynamicecomorphology.com/...uirtseries.htm

Quote :

"The ninth chapter defines some basic guidelines that can be utilized to maintain ascidians within captive systems. These guidelines are primarily based on my experience with tropical ascidians. Captive aquarist will find this information to be extremely valuable. Ascidian scientist that are experimenting with captive laboratory systems might find some useful information within this chapter. Topics discussed include: cryptic sea squirt zones; semi-cryptic sea squirt zones; semi-exposed sea squirt zones; exposed sea squirt zones; marine snow storms; phytoplankton as supplemental food; organic nutrients to stimulate growth; and supplemental iodine additions. The final chapter details my personal experiences maintaining specific ascidian species in captive systems. Most of these species have done extremely well. Colonial specimens have propagated asexually, while solitary specimens have survived for over 12 months. The ascidians discussed include: the ‘blue lollipop’ stalked ascidian; a purple stalked colonial ascidian; the ‘candy cane’ Polycarpa papillata; a cryptic white Ascidia specimen; a colonial Clavelina sea squirt; and a long term surviving Botryllus species."


Basically reading the entire page, you get the general idea that they eat bacteria and pollution.. Along with Plankton and all sorts of things that grow in heavly polluted waters.. It also talks about

If I were you i'd try find out as much as possible in an attempt to meet at least some sort of basic requirement for food.. The odds are heavly against you, but hey, worth a shot..

Too bad alot of what it seems to eat would kill alot of ther other stuff in a reef tank..

[imyoraven]

I contributed to the dismal survival rate as well

[flyingpolarbear]

So far it's doing really well, but it's only been a week. I use squirts from Bioplankton weekly. If it just needs plankton I might be able to keep it alive a little bit, but if it needs bacteria I have no idea where to get that kind of pollution.

[LegendLand]

i got an idea

Use Marine snow, its full of bacteria. also try leaving it out in a cup of saltwater for a couple of days..let bad bacteria build in it, then target feed it..also it might be feeding upon cyano-bacteria..some corals especially sponges can & do, so if you have that it might feed off of it..but try the marine snow first.