Need help ID'ing this growth!

[starfyre]

If anyone knows what this growth is please let me know. I
know the photo's aren't the greatest but I hope they help. Basically
it looks like fuzz or sort of like mold or cocoon like. It doesn't
move with current but it's also not solid as there are lots of
amphipod crawling around, under and threw it.

Hope someone's seen this before.

Dave

 

[mojoreef]

Hard to tell from the picture but it looks to be a sponge in early formation. Give it sometime it should begin to form a blow hole.


Mike

 

[starfyre]

Thanks for the quick reply. In it's earlier stages it seems to be a film over the rock, the growth in the picture is about 2" in diameter and had doubled in size in the past couple of months. I've also started seeing it in 2 other places on this rock and on another totally seperate rock. It's been suggested before that it's some sort of sponge but I've never seen a sponge like this.

 

[mojoreef]

they are hard to id when they are this young, so its a best guess until it develops a little more. Keep observing it and look for the formation of a syphon hole.
Another option is that it could be a patch of fungus caused by the death of some sponge inside the rock, in which case it will slowly disappear. How old is the tank??



Mike

 

[starfyre]

Greeting,

The tank is about 1 year old but I bought it from someone else (Fish and all) who had the tank running before I bought it. The white'ish film/growth started about 5 mths ago, on the left hand side of the tank, on one of the 3 rocks that I bought from display tanks in the lf store. About 3 mths ago I found 2 more patches starting on different sides of the first rock - the original patch had doubled in size to about 2-3 inches across. last month I found a patch on the 2nd rock that I bought (that's in the middle of my tank) and last night I found a patch starting on the 3rd rock that I bought (that's onthe right side of the tank.) I have found no occurances on any of the 'older' rock that originally came with the tank. I'll try and post better pic's tonight.

Dave

 

[mojoreef]

Yea the moneys on the sponge for sure


Mike

 

[starfyre]

Here are a couple of clearer pic's... hope they help. In the lower left there are 4 or 5 amphipods (grey) crawling around and in the bottom center are 2-3 feather dusters (red/purple).

 

[snobanker]

My money is on sponge as well

 

[starfyre]

Thanks for everyones help, guess I'll have to wait and see what it turns into.

 

[steve-s]

Actually that's all it will ever be, if it's what I think it is. It's a type of sponge that will primarily grow in unlit areas of the tank. Especially where rocks intersect. It will come and go based on the nutrient levels in the system.

http://livingreefimages.com/Page78.html

Cheers
Steve