What in the blazes is this?

[William]

What are these things?

They ust recently appeared in my tank, and they do move around. One day they'll be in one place, the next they'll be someplace totally different.


I have atleast 4 of these things in my tank, if not more... so I'm curious as to what they are.

 

[jackdp]

Looks like a Sycon sp. urn sponge or a small tunicate. Either way it is a harmless filter feeder. They grow all over LR, corals and even inside skimmers and plumbing.

 

[GrndHog]

I have those to, I always wondered what they were. Good thing about them is they clean where the others cant, like behind powerheads

 

[flamron]

If the front half of it appears to be a shell, it may be a stomatella snail. they are a shell-less snail.

 

[William]

Its nothing snail like.

Its spongy-ish.



And where did these things come from? The rock was unbareably barren when I got the tank.. it barely had any algae on it [ I'm just hoping the purple is Coraline, since regular algae is usually brown or green.. ]

 

[jackdp]

How long have you had the rock? You'll be amazed at what can come out of your LR even after a month or more. Lots of critters can hide deep in the rock.

 

[William]

The rock came with the tank, which I picked up used.


and had little to no life on it.

 

[MantisFreak]

Likely a Scypha sponge. It looks like it has tiny hairs (cilia) growing at the top of the opening. They are harmless filter feeders and their numbers will increase and decrease depending on how many nutrients are in the water.

http://www.habitas.org.uk/marinelife/species.asp?item=C350