Will polyps regenerate?

[fab71]

I'm just starting out so please be patient with what may seem silly questions. I just received my live rock from gulfview and it looks great but the polyps that were on it released a filmy threadlike secretion when i put them into my tank and now they seem dead. I was wondering if i did something wrong and if they will ever grow back. There are so many different species on the rock how can I Identify them for future care. I don't want my live rock to be extinct in a couple of weeks. The most noticable and easiest to identify out of the creatures are the worms, feather dusters and live barnacles. How long should I wait to order a clean up crew from swf.com and is 25lbs of live rock enough for my 29 gallon tank. Thanks in advance for replying.

 

[luke]

If the secretion was brown, then they released some or all their zooxanthellea. Which is the algea that lives in corals tissues. If it is not brown it could be a number of other things.
Assuming you put the rock in a tank with good SW and the right temp you did just fine. Wheather or not the polyps live is not really something you can do anything about I would give the tank time and see. Most likely some will live and many won't. That is just the nature of live rock. You will NOT end up with dead LR in a few weeks. Don't worry a lot of neat creatures will make it.
As for how much rock... 25lbs is a fine amount. But the question is does it look good?? If you like the look, you have enough If you think that the tank looks empty then you MAY need more. Remeber that every coral comes on a live rock so that will add more. As for filtration a few pounds could probably do it if you cycled it properly So 25lbs will be fine.
Luke

 

[fab71]

Thanks Luke. I hope they do make it. some of them are white like a skeleton. My skimmer has been working overtime since introducing the live rock. The most active things i see are the worms and 1 hermit crab. I would love to add more live rock but I don't want to pile them over the ones I have now. There's too much life on them already. I've been spending every spare minute in reading info on reef tanks and trying to identify the different creatures and algae that came on the rock. I don't want to run into any problems later. This hobby is amazing! I should have started this years ago.