Help id'ing and controlling these please guys

Combat wombat · Feb 14, 2015

A couple of these got into my tank via a frag and didn't really bother me. Now they are taking over my tank and I need to get rid!
The guy i got the frags from said they are some kind of squirt? And that an angel might sort them out?

Any help would be great!

Thanks

eace:

deerhunter06 · Feb 14, 2015

hmm that's strange almost looks like eggs of something, also similar to bubble algae. in other words I have no idea never seen it.

sherita · Feb 14, 2015

They almost look like tunicates, but there are none that I know of that grow that fast. Wowza.

jcdeng · Feb 14, 2015

what did the seller mean by squirt? Never heard of such a thing. To me if they are spreading that fast then it might be algae of some form. Even aiptasia doesn't spread that fast and so close.

sherita · Feb 14, 2015

Squirt=sea squirt. Similar to tunicates

Tahoe61 · Feb 14, 2015

I am thinking Tunicates as well, to survive they need a decent amount of particulate suspended matter, food otherwise. Is it possible you're over feeding the system?

brandon429 · Feb 14, 2015

i see incurrent
excurrent siphons

tunicate

amazing

thats easier said than done from the perspective of someones tank not being overtaken , saying that they look fascinating. not like a tangled mess of algae, a benthic dominance war is featured here.

whether or not those have photosynthetic inclusions remain to be seen, never underestimate relationships on the reef but these are opportunistic, filter feeding hitchhikers.

tunicate invasion or unidentified spongiform invasion is rare in reef threads thats why I said this is amazing. its really neat and it thrives off suspended particulate feed (and possibly light) but with those active water pumping mechanisms its a heterotrophic feeder

so, in my opinion we have to remove it directly, if you would, take out a test rock of it, pour some peroxide across it, wait 1 mins, rinse off and put back exactly as is do not scrub. there is a strong chance you could have a fix like this. out of a thousand tanks documented online with intricate peroxide dosings, this is the first ever seen for invasive tunicates.

the macro on those things is rare and amazing, snap lots of pics. really I hope you get it balanced but that animal is worth cultivating in another tank, biotopers would trade gold for something that resilient. obligate hitchhikers can wane over time but the larger the reef the more consistent the water table typically, that could be months or years.

there is some fish that will graze pretty much anything in reefing, we should search for that. pro a chaetodon sp

brandon429 · Feb 14, 2015

the reason peroxide is so worth trying on this is because all your coral is tolerant to it, applied specifically in a controlled manner. if the target happens to respond you have cure gold in the making

you would drain the tank down and expose the target areas and spot apply it. those corals can be out of water 20 mins easy and we'd consider something like a 2-5 min drain and treat, but only after a test rock. im feasting on those pics contemplating what an after shot would look like. peroxide is a common metabolic byproduct of photosynthesizing organisms on the reef so tunicates that may be strictly heterotrophic might not have the complement to deal with some peroxide. we know from countless other threads how to apply it in your tank without harm, if the test work. if a single test rock taken out, treated and rinsed doesnt have mass dieoff in 5 days Id strictly consider animal grazing as your best option.

I wouldnt do a tank takedown, you are unlikely to get this out of any part of the system that would be reused for the new tank, including fish slime coat layers. There are macro, ultra high res pics online that show standard reef fish with invasive dinos stuck right to the side of their slime coats, taken from an expensive pro model dslr cam

its from the chem forum at rc, dinoflagellates thread. the whole point of his post was how in the world did dinoflagellates get from the infected reef into the new, I sterilized all the rocks?

to me, its simply not worth the money to start over, lets test the clearly obvious cheap options first and hope for a lucky run. if peroxide works on a test rock, it w fix your tank for .75

but its a surgery for sure to get at that intertwined growth. we did equal surgeries in the various perox threads online.

Combat wombat · Feb 16, 2015

Thanks for all the input everyone!

I dont (at least didn't) think over feeding was an issue. I only have 9 fish and feed 2 cubes a day. But having said that I do remember that the guy who said they were sea squirts saying something about having an excess of particulate matter.
They didn't seem to spread much at all at first. Then when I got home after being away for a couple of weeks there was a noticeable difference and now they seem to be covering everywhere that isn't alive.

Thanks for your advice Brandon.
I will be home on Friday and have a few days to test your theory. Ill take lots of photos and document as best as I can but the quality of the photos will only be as good as my phone allows i'm afraid.

Finnaddict · Feb 16, 2015

I would try some heavy kalk mix applied over them to try and kill it. Then you can kill that aptasia at the same time too.

brandon429 · Feb 16, 2015

yes Id agree kalk paste, pasted kent magnesium and even alcohol could be easy spot targets. I dont think you have an excess of food, they'll capture any food avail and having good suspended feed balance is good for corals. these guys were just an unlucky hitchhiker in no way connected to poor tank anything. in someones little biotope tank theyd be a star lol they look neat were it not for acting bad regarding dominance of vital space!

Triggreef · Feb 16, 2015

And this is why I still click on ID hitchhiker threads! That is actually cooler looking than most of the corals in the area IMO! That aptasia is the bigger problem IMO. Cool thread!

Combat wombat · Feb 16, 2015

I have berghia in the tank and the aips are on the way out.

They did look ok when only in a small area and didn't mind them. Now I'm on op. Get rid of the green things!

Mike J. · Feb 16, 2015

They are a type of Clavelina sp.

brandon429 · Feb 16, 2015

it would be fascinating to find its natural predation match. i bet its some fancy skirted nudibranch. i would have preferred these interesting filter feeders as an overtake army vs the terrible red mushrooms that decimated a large part of my coral. I think these rascals can be topically burned with something simple that wont harm the rest of the reef, some of their inclusions that form the body structure would easily be decimated by simple things like a weak acid, a little dilute lemon juice or even peroxide which tends to run mildly acidic as a drained spot treat perhaps.