Bubbly Nest Thing On Live Rock

[bonniemarie]

Tonight, I just discovered some small, white slime-like, bubbly nest attached to my live rock. It's about 1/4" in diameter. Not sure if it's a nest or what. There's also one that has developed around the little brown flowery pollups on my rock. Any ideas?

I have one percola clown, a striped damsel, one small seahorse and a 6-lined wrasse. any suggestions would be appreciated. thx.

 

[want2findnemo]

Hi,

Xtalreef

HTH

 

[cmor1701d]

If you can't find on Xtalreef, please post a photo. Use the macro setting on your camera.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

A picture would help, but it sounds like either a sponge or a tunicate.

 

[bonniemarie]

Foamy Stuff On Live Rock

Thank you for the tip w/the macro lens. I couldn't get a good picture yesterday. Hopefully you can see them since this is my first time uploading here.

The first image is what looks like a nest. almost like ice growing.
The 2nd & 3rd image, the foamy stuff is growing around the polyps or coral (not sure) what their called. The 3rd image shows a clear like tube shooting off of the the foamy stuff pointing down to the left of center towards the other polyps.

It kind of does look like that Tunacate. any ideas?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Yup... tunicate. I have a couple little colonies in my tank. Kind of weird things, but are good to have unless they overrun your zoanthids. I've never had issues with them though.

 

[roka64]

1st pic is a sponge. The 3rd looks like possible cyano (if my eyes are seeing right).
I'm going to move this to the SW ID section.

 

[Fluff]

It could be tunicates but after staring at your images a while, I'm gonna say they all look like sponges to me. Sponges thrive in low light settings.

 

[bonniemarie]

Thanx everyone, for trying to decipher the stuff in my pix.

So it seems Tunicates are harmless (if that's what this is), right? Do they serve a purpose? Do they get colorful or bigger?
If it's a sponge, are they harmless and is that something that takes on a pretty look?

Cyanos?? If that's what this is, these are bad right? What is it and how do I rid my tank of this?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Tunicate or sponge... they both do the same thing, and from what I've seen they don't really change their look as they age. At least the kind you're showing don't.

They're both good things to have as they're natural filter feeders and are just another free member of your cleanup crew.

Cyano is cyanobacteria and is NOT a good thing to have. Do a search on it and you'll find plenty of info. It's normally a reddish slimy sheet that will have air bubbles trapped in it, but it can come in a variety of colors. But I'm not seeing it in the 3rd picture like roka did. (Which could just mean I finally need to go in and get bifocals, but that's a different thread!)

 

[CaptainAhab]

I assume those are micro-bubbles on the LR in the pictures? That combined w/ the red coraline might be what looks like cyano but to me it looks like micro-bubbles.

 

[bonniemarie]

That's right! Those are micro-bubbles. In fact, everything that's blurred is bubbles. That's what made taking the pix tricky.

There is absolutely no color on these sponge/tunicate things. Just white foamy and translucent type tubes in the 3rd pix. My rocks have that purple stuff growing on them which I was told was a "cool thing" by the guy in my LFS. He said to just let it grow on the windows and whereever, but I don't think I like that on the windows. it's growing on one of my little snails, is that ok?

No red stuff near the sponge growth. Only purple which has been there for months.

 

[roka64]

Yeah, sorry about that!

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

There is absolutely no color on these sponge/tunicate things. Just white foamy and translucent type tubes in the 3rd pix.

That's normal.

My rocks have that purple stuff growing on them which I was told was a "cool thing" by the guy in my LFS. He said to just let it grow on the windows and whereever, but I don't think I like that on the windows. it's growing on one of my little snails, is that ok?

Coralline will pretty much grow wherever you let it. If you don't clean/scrape your glass it will cover it. I let it cover my back glass because it causes all my hang-on-back equipment to "blend in" better. But eventually it gets thick and flakes off from time to time. If you like it on the glass, then it's OK to leave it. If you don't like it, you'll have to scrape it off.

And yeah... it'll cover your snails and it won't hurt them a bit. I had a snail for a while that not only had big "plates" of coralline growing on it, but also three different types of macro algae. Didn't seem to mind at all.