Porites?

[Donya]

I've had a mushroom rock in my 1 gallon bowl for a several weeks. There's one part of the rock that I thought was a piece of long-dead stoney coral, but it's all fluffy with extreemly small orangey-brown polyps now. It's only visible from the back of the tank, so I must have missed it before. From what I can tell, it's some sort of Porites species. I've read those need bright light, and all I have is a 12W fluorescent on the tank (can't really upgrade due to heat problems). The Porites part of the rock is as directly under the light as it can really be, but I'm concerned that if it's likely to die, I need to frag the rock or something so I don't wind up with a nuked tank. Only problem is the rock is so small I'm worried I'd smash the coral trying to break off the part of the rock it's on. Is it likely that it would be able to survive in the tank as-is?

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, while your light may not be powerful, your tank is also not very deep. Porites are pretty fragile corals, so chances are if it's lasted 2-4+ weeks it's just fine in the system. Also fret not, porites have very very little flesh with wich to nuke a tank, even one as small as yours.

 

[Donya]

Thanks Ski, I guess I'll keep my fingers crossed. I really was shocked to see that it was alive after having been in there with no special treatment. I'm glad they arn't a big tank nuker risk...that'll let me sleep better lol.