Smelly Sarcophyton

[smartin]

I came home from work today and noticed my Sarc looked kind of funny the polups were just kind of limp. It was time for my weekly water change so I thought that may have soemthing to do with it. I also read somewhere that sometimes zoos putout some kind of chemical that bothered the Sarcophyton and since mine was down stream from my zoos I moved it away from them. So after I moved the Sarc I noticed my hand smelled funny. Not like something died but a very funny smell. Do sarcs have a funny smell to them or should I be worried. When I touched the sarc it retracted so it is still alive. It does look like it is splitting. Do they do that?

One last question, I noticed my sarc puts out sweeper tenticles, do these sting? I serached the net and could not find anything about sweeper tenticles on Sarcophyton.

 

[Anonymous]

1, stinky smell: Pretty much all soft coral have some smells. It is part of the natural defense or metabolism.

2, sweeper: It is a common co-inhabitant of the soft coral. Forget about the name, (look it up in AAOM), but it is harmless.

 

[smartin]

That is what I figured about the smell but it was just so potent that I could not imagine I could not have smelled it in the last 2 months. My hands stunk even after I washed thme with soap.

Sorry to sound stupid but what is AAOM.

BTW I love your signature. The first day I got my Xenia I thought the exact same thing. It looked like most of its polyps were giving me the bird and I just wondered at that point if it would do good in my do ok in my tank because it looked rather unhappy. :lol:

 

[smartin]

never mind the AAOM question. If I would just open my eyes I would have figured it out. Thanks I will do some searching.

SM

 

[smartin]

Sorry, another stupid question. What exactly should I be looking for on AAOM. I did a search on sweepers and found 2 articles and neither had the info I am looking for. I also looked through the magazine articles and did not see any topics that sounded like what you were talking about.

From what I understand from your previous post, the sweeper tenticles are actually a seperate creature that is using the Sarcophyton as a host. Is this correct, if so do you know the scientific name of the sweeper.

Thanks again

 

[tinyreef]

http://www.rshimek.com/ctenophores.htm

i usually find these "comb jellies" on sarcos. maybe you're talking about them as the "sweepers"?

 

[Anonymous]

comb jelly, that is. Thanx.

 

[smartin]

Wow, that is what it is. that would explain the white and red blob on my live rock with the "sweepers" as well. i just thought my sarc had fragged itself. thanks everyone

 

[Anonymous]

That is what I figured about the smell but it was just so potent that I could not imagine I could not have smelled it in the last 2 months. My hands stunk even after I washed thme with soap.
:lol:

rub your hands on a good piece of Stainless Steel- it'll take that smell right off.