Pipe Organ Coral

Pipe Organ Coral(Tubipora musica) colonies are massive and hemispherical to thick and encrusting. They consist of numerous red, hard, vertical tubes which look like organ pipes. A single polyp forms and occupies each tube. There is a system of canals inside horizontal plates that connect the polyps. Polyps are monomorphic and retractile and they have long bodies. They have a broad oral disc surrounded by eight tentacles with pinnules. The polyps are usually grey to green.

Its behavior is peaceful because it lacks sweeper tentacles, and is safe to place near other peaceful corals. It will require a moderate to high light level combined with a medium to strong water movement within the aquarium. It is fragile, however, so it should not be positioned in currents which could displace or damage it. For continued good health, it will also require the addition of calcium, iodine, strontium, and other trace elements to the water. Hair algae can over grow this coral and lead to its demise.

The symbiotic algae zooxanthellae hosted within its body provides the majority of its nutritional requirements through photosynthesis. It can also be fed additional food such as phyto and zooplankton or baby brine shrimp.