Rescue Natural Piece Of Coral

[Kjmsmith]

Hi all,
I just came back from Myrtle Beach where we froze all week, albeit not as bad as here. During one of our walks on the beach during low tide our friends found a small piece (4") of what appeared to be an orange type of coral - maybe a fan coral? Anyway, when he showed it to me it still seemed "fresh" as if it was a broken piece that had just tumbled into shore. My friend wanted to keep it as it would dry out and make a nice piece of dead coral but I was somewhat curious if it might still be alive. With his permission, I cut a piece of it off and filled a bottle of sea water and put it in there. That was yesterday and now I'm home with a cut piece of what I think may be some type of coral. I will ask my friend to take a pic of the main piece and send it to me so I can upload it here tomorrow to see if we can identify it. In the meantime, I wouldn't mind some early feedback regardless of the type of coral it might or might not be, if trying to rescue a piece directly from the ocean is an okay idea or am I inviting trouble?
I will try to get back online tomorrow am with a pic of the main piece found and the small piece I cut to attempt to frag.
PS where did all this snow come from.....

 

[LIttle Reef Keeper]

We'd need a picture to tell you its needs. It sounds like a NPS gorgonian(sea fan). Just make sure you dip the frag.

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[Kjmsmith]

Here is a pic of the coral(?) in question. This is the main piece from which I cut off one of the "fingers to try fragging. This main piece has been out of the water for 48 hours but the piece I cut off (second pic) was preserved in sea water. I have since dipped it in Revive and have it quaratined until I decide what to do with it. The cut piece doesnt show well in the pic but it looks like it has polyp extension at the tips whereas in the pic of the main piece, the polyps looked like gel. Any input on what this is and what i could do with the frag is welcome.

 

[TORX]

That is a sponge. A whole other can of worms there.

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[Kjmsmith]

A sponge...of course!!! I should've been able to ID that...duh. With so many varieties and probably difficult to pinpoint exactly what species this is, I'm guessing this "can of worms" is one best left unopened for fear of it being invasive. Is this a fair assumption?

 

[TORX]

Not many people have success with sponges. Especially is they have been left out in the air for a while. The white is dead tissue already. I have only recently started with success of keeping a tree sponge in my horse tank. I feed Phyto and managed to find the flow it likes.

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[Kjmsmith]

Thanks Torx, I have enough issues already with my nitrates (that you've been helping me with too, thank you) and all my baby banggais. I dont need any more stress right now. I'll dispose of it.

 

[LIttle Reef Keeper]

Id say its pooched as you can see white and it was sitting out of water
You can try to spot feed it and hope for the best though