Help Identifying New Creatures

[Chris Kunz]

When I was doing a water change recently I happened to look in the back of my Biocube 32 (my first saltwater tank, it is currently 6m old) where the sump area is and found a lot of these creepy little white guys that look like the barnacles on half-life 2! Needless to say, they really creep me out and I am not sure where they came from/what caused them/if they are bad for the tank. I have spent a lot of time looking at pictures on google, but can’t seem to find some that look like these guys. Any information you guys can give me would be really appreciated. Thank you in advance!

 

[Jason mack]

Have you fed any copepods too your tank ?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Kind of a hard picture to see but they look like pineapple sponges. Very common to find in sumps and areas of high flow. They're a good filter feeders

 

[Chris Kunz]

No. I have only fed frozen mysis shrimp and frozen spirulina brine shrimp.

 

[jrwoltman]

Kind of a hard picture to see but they look like pineapple sponges. Very common to find in sumps and areas of high flow. They're a good filter feeders

+1 on pineapple sponges and on harmlessness of them.

 

[Chris Kunz]

Will they eventually move into the display part of the tank, as they seem to be reproducing quite rapidly? If so is there a way to slow them down?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Will they eventually move into the display part of the tank, as they seem to be reproducing quite rapidly? If so is there a way to slow them down?

I have a ton in my sump, but haven't seen any in my display tank. I think they prefer the dark areas as they always show up in the sump

 

[Chris Kunz]

Thanks! I can't believe how quickly you guys identified those! I guess I can continue my water changes without being to worried. It was just a bit of a shock to think there was nothing back there and to see it covered with little guys I didn't recognize.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Thanks! I can't believe how quickly you guys identified those! I guess I can continue my water changes without being to worried. It was just a bit of a shock to think there was nothing back there and to see it covered with little guys I didn't recognize.

I haven't been in the hobby long (2 years) but been through the new stages and went through similar identification questions. Virtually every new reefer does