white fuzzy stuff on rock?

MegsB · 07/03/2007, 07:50 PM

i have had my reef up for 2 months now, so far so good, had a little bit of brown algea that killed itself off in the beggining, a little hair algea (some came on a rock i bought at LFS, that was well established rock from a customers tank, that had got let go a little before they took it down) that i picked off/fish/shrimp ate, but now i have some white fuzzy looking algea on my rocks, i thought it was just sand and tried to shake it off and blow it off with my turkey baster, but its actually on the rock, what is it?

also a few of the rocks are going yellowy?

all my water params are good, 81* temp, 1.024 salinity, nitrate/nitrite/ammonia 0 or very close to it, ph 8.0. i run my actinincs 7-7, halides 7-3, moonlights all the time (times vary minimally, as i do it manually, cant work my timer)

bertoni · 07/03/2007, 08:08 PM

That's going to be hard to determine without a photo, and even with a photo, that might not be possible. Possibilities include sponges and tunicates.

MegsB · 07/03/2007, 08:15 PM

its on most of the rock in my tank from the bottom to about halfway up, very very short hairy looking white stuff, i dont think i could get a photo of it, it just looks like sand on the rocks unless you look very carefully and see it is short string like threads. my yellow tang is picking it off and eating it, so some sort of algea or plant like things?

its not sponges, but what are tunacits?

bertoni · 07/03/2007, 08:29 PM

Tunicates are a type of animal:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rs/index.php

From your description, it might be an alga, but I haven't heard of many white algae.

MegsB · 07/03/2007, 08:38 PM

they look similar to Figure 7 of that article, well at least some of them do (the ones that are a bit larger) the smaller ones just look like fuzzy strings.

IF it is what they are...

are they bad? they are all over, if that is what all the fuzzy strings will turn into theres gonna be a lot of them! can i get rid of them? my yellow tang is picking at them, is it eating them? or?

bertoni · 07/03/2007, 09:19 PM

They're likely not going to hurt anything at all, and might go away on their own. If you think they're ugly, you might have some work to get rid of them. The tang might well be consuming them, or could be going for specks of an alga or small crustaceans.

Grins · 07/03/2007, 11:56 PM

Maybe a pineapple sponge? Look up Scypha sponge and see if it looks like that. If so they are harmless.

07/03/2007, 07:50 PM	#1
MegsB Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: BC Posts: 230	white fuzzy stuff on rock? i have had my reef up for 2 months now, so far so good, had a little bit of brown algea that killed itself off in the beggining, a little hair algea (some came on a rock i bought at LFS, that was well established rock from a customers tank, that had got let go a little before they took it down) that i picked off/fish/shrimp ate, but now i have some white fuzzy looking algea on my rocks, i thought it was just sand and tried to shake it off and blow it off with my turkey baster, but its actually on the rock, what is it? also a few of the rocks are going yellowy? all my water params are good, 81* temp, 1.024 salinity, nitrate/nitrite/ammonia 0 or very close to it, ph 8.0. i run my actinincs 7-7, halides 7-3, moonlights all the time (times vary minimally, as i do it manually, cant work my timer)

07/03/2007, 08:08 PM	#2
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	That's going to be hard to determine without a photo, and even with a photo, that might not be possible. Possibilities include sponges and tunicates. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

07/03/2007, 08:29 PM	#4
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	Tunicates are a type of animal: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rs/index.php From your description, it might be an alga, but I haven't heard of many white algae. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

07/03/2007, 09:19 PM	#6
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	They're likely not going to hurt anything at all, and might go away on their own. If you think they're ugly, you might have some work to get rid of them. The tang might well be consuming them, or could be going for specks of an alga or small crustaceans. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

07/03/2007, 11:56 PM	#7
Grins Registered Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 735	Maybe a pineapple sponge? Look up Scypha sponge and see if it looks like that. If so they are harmless. __________________ R.A.S.O.C. : Reef Aquarium Society of Charlotte Current Tank Info: 55g mixed reef

07/03/2007, 08:15 PM	#3
MegsB Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: BC Posts: 230	its on most of the rock in my tank from the bottom to about halfway up, very very short hairy looking white stuff, i dont think i could get a photo of it, it just looks like sand on the rocks unless you look very carefully and see it is short string like threads. my yellow tang is picking it off and eating it, so some sort of algea or plant like things? its not sponges, but what are tunacits?

07/03/2007, 08:38 PM	#5
MegsB Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: BC Posts: 230	they look similar to Figure 7 of that article, well at least some of them do (the ones that are a bit larger) the smaller ones just look like fuzzy strings. IF it is what they are... are they bad? they are all over, if that is what all the fuzzy strings will turn into theres gonna be a lot of them! can i get rid of them? my yellow tang is picking at them, is it eating them? or?