Little branchey thing?

[Anonymous]

These little branchey things are appearing in my newly set up aquarium. Just curious about that they are. The form weentsy little clusters together on or near the base of the live rock.

 

[John_Brandt]

Those look like the branched tentacles of a sea cucumber. Touch them gently (no pinching!), and if they retract they are almost certainly that.

 

[Anonymous]

Nope. I grazed it gently with a prod and it did not move. I counted 8 of these things in the aquarium - most of them are sprouting directly from the live rock, however a few (like the one in the pic) are in/on the substrate.

 

[Anonymous]

I have seen these before and have a bunch in my tank. I forget what they are called but the sprout from the pinkish stuff on the live rock . They arent harmful they look cool to me

 

[Anonymous]

Those look like foramniferans to me.

 

[John_Brandt]

I'm not sure I would agree that they are forams, yet. There are similar-looking branched, crusty and needle-sharp growths on the undersides and shaded areas of live rock that are indeed forams. These are usually red and rarely bigger than a fingernail.

This thing (and I've seen these before) is much larger than typical forams and will occur in the lighted areas. I seem to recall them not being calcareous. Hwarang, are the branches soft or hard?

 

[John_Brandt]

Retraction...I'm beginning to agree that it probably is a foram.

I still want to know if it's soft or hard though.

 

[Anonymous]

They are stiff, but not calcified (somewhat pliant).

 

[Anonymous]

Possibly one of the larger colonial bryozoans. I have a few small colonies in shady moderate flow areas of my tank that look similar.