Greenish/grey flat tube?

[candide]

I searched through the past few pages but didn't see anyone posting a picture like this.

They are a green/grey/brown tube, about 3/4 to an inch long sticking out of the live rock. The very tip has very, very small eyelash like things. You can see one in the upper left, and then there are 2 in the bottom right of the rock facing different directions.

Any clue what it is? Also, I've read a lot of the camera faq's, but I'm having trouble getting coral/fish that aren't right up against the tanks glass to be sharp. I've adjusted the white, set it to 2.8, and played with the EV (+ or - multiples of .3, up to 1.5, and down to -.9 I think). I can also do a +/- for flash. Any suggestions?)

Finally, I have this orange sponge thing on several of the rocks. It wasn't what I was taking a picture of, so is quite blurry, but I think it should be id'able.

 

[Anonymous]

Bump.

 

[candide]

Woohoo! With a WWM gal bumping this I can only assume I stumped ya Makes me feel a little less needy at least hehe

My only real reason for concern is my wife is convinced there are a few more in the tank today than last week. I'm not so sure really, but could be. There are maybe, hrm, 10 of the flat tube thingies total? Maybe a dozen.

 

[Anonymous]

Even if I had good eyes which I don't the Orange Thingy is too fuzzy to make much out. It could be a sponge or it could even be a grouping of Foraminiferams. Without a better pic that's all I can come up with. As far as the Green Tube like thingies the picture is better but alas for me not much to go on. My guess at the moment would be Bivalves ( Mussels ) from your description and what I can see.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[HClH2OFish]

The flat things maybe some kind of mussell??? I saw a pic of some in a reef book and it looked sorta similar...was the 'eyelash' comment that sparked the memory...

As for the orange thingy, I was thinking a Kooshball.....

 

[Mihai]

For the camera you need to get your pictures sharp (easy to see from the posted pictures). There are several things that can help:
- small aperture (=large number, i.e. not 2.8, but rather 8 or 16).
- small exposure time (<1/60, ideally <1/120)
This will eliminate the movement (your hand movement and fish movement while the aperture is open).
- if you can't get both of the above go for a tripod and increase the time up to 1/20 or so.
- make sure your autofocus works well, or use manual focus if it doesn't (it might focus on the glass).
- most cameras have "macro" modes to be able to focus close. Make sure it's enabled...

Maybe one of those will help.
M.

 

[candide]

Here is a much clearer picture of the orange thing. This one is about, hrm, 3 inches across.

Only real change was to 8.2 for apeture. The speed seems to default to 1/60 and I've not figured out how to change that Still playing with it.

The green thing pictures were too dark, and the lights have been off for a while so I will try again on it tomorrow.

 

[John_Brandt]

The red stuff is sponge.

The green things are byssal structures left behind by bivalves that have either died, been killed or moved themselves. This is not the first time in this forum that a person has asked if these things are living creatures. You can scrape them off if you are motivated, otherwise they will just disintegrate slowly.

 

[candide]

Thanks for the response

I actually noticed this morning one of the green things is now droopy white, think it died off/disolved or whatever.

Sorry if the question was already asked, I went through about 6 or 7 pages in this forum before asking (hehe, and as such I didn't bother with a picture of the aptasia that I had. Which, btw, the lemon juice with a needle worked instantly, as sugested by someone on here.