Pipe Organ Coral

Tubipora musica

Care Level	Easy to moderate
Lighting	Low to moderate
Water Flow	Moderate
Placement	Low to mid rock
Aggression	Peaceful
Coloration	Gray-green daisy polyps on a red skeleton

Overview

The Pipe Organ Coral (Tubipora musica) is unusual — a soft coral that builds a hard, bright-red tube skeleton arranged like the pipes of an organ, topped with a carpet of feathery, eight-tentacled polyps. The red “organ pipes” are only visible where tissue has receded; in a healthy colony you mostly see the soft gray-green polyps waving in the current.

Care & Placement

Give low-to-moderate light and moderate flow so the polyps extend and stay clean. Place low-to-mid on rock. It is reasonably hardy for a beginner-to-intermediate coral, though it can be a little sensitive to being moved or to poor water quality.

Feeding

Photosynthetic; benefits from occasional fine feeding (coral foods) but is not a heavy feeder. Good flow and light do most of the work.

Propagation

Frag by cutting a section of the skeleton with attached polyps and gluing it to a plug.

Cautions

Can be sensitive to relocation and poor water — keep parameters stable and give it time to settle. If large patches of red skeleton show, tissue is receding; check flow, water quality, and pests. Peaceful toward neighbors.