Hairy pink bubblegum......?!?!?

[Rayzor]

I'll get around to posting a pic soon... But I'm wondering if anyone can ID this "stuff" in my tank.....
It's basically been with my tank from the start about a yr and a half ago......it's moved once to avoid an aptasia invasion....but can only best be described as hairy pink bubble gum......the hairs go away in the dark or when agitated. But the long pink hair perks right up and waves around in the light...ideas?

 

[KathyC]

Does it look like this?

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...nlLteiEd4yzr--rNDQ&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&itbs=1

..hoping that works, I can't get the link to stick...

 

[Rayzor]

Not at all....
If I'm not mistaken...whats in that pic is cyano....
My thing is a type of coral...I guess...saw it at the LFS once but forgot to ask.
Been at the image files all weekend and couldn't find it.
I mean it literally looks like pink bubble gum.....we used to call it ABC gum...(After Being Chewed)...spread over one of my rocks...the gum then sprouts hairy filaments/strings that wave around like a muppet's hair in the current. Quite mesmerizing.

 

[jaa1456]

Maybe a type of sponge.

 

[Killarsox]

Some kind of Xenia?

 

[duke62]

is it SPS ,lps,soft corals.can be anything without a pic or a coral type.other then that its like playing 20 questionsthe only thing i cant think of if it moved is a anemone

 

[howze01]

I'm going to go with jaa on this one. Certainly sounds like a sponge to me.

 

[albano]

...we used to call it ABC gum...(After Being Chewed)..

:scratchch Very strange...I was told it meant Already Been Chewed!



.

 

[rkaragozler]

when you said it moved from an aptasia outbreak, did you move it or did it move on it's own. if you moved it, then it might be a pink carnation. Pics would help a lot like albano said.

 

[Rayzor]

Will definitely post some pics tomorrow....
The stuff moves on its own...couldn't tell ya what family of coral it falls in. Most like a pink blob.... Thought it was permanently affix to a tonga branch until over a period of several weeks it very slowly left the branch and oozed over to a piece of LR.
I Should know better than to ask for ID before I post a pic.

 

[rkaragozler]

it's probably some sort of anemone then.

 

[ZANYMASTER]

Is it this?Cotton Candy Algae?

 

[KathyC]

Will definitely post some pics tomorrow....
The stuff moves on its own...couldn't tell ya what family of coral it falls in. Most like a pink blob.... Thought it was permanently affix to a tonga branch until over a period of several weeks it very slowly left the branch and oozed over to a piece of LR.
I Should know better than to ask for ID before I post a pic.

Yep A pic is worth a thousand words!

 

[Rayzor]

This is the best I could get...hope it gives u all a better idea....

 

[albano]

looks like star polyps, with aptasia on left side

 

[Rayzor]

Not star polyps.......
And the aptasia ID was not necessary.......
But thanks anyway......

 

[skene]

yup... star polyps... briarium.. just cause they aren't green... doesnt mean they arent star polyps. I have the metallic green one growing like weeds in my tank. it looks like a green afro.

 

[Rayzor]

Looks like we have a winner.....briarium was the key....
But the info I found on that species indicated most of the usual popular star polyps.....but then I found that they are part of family of coral called encrusting gorgonians...a google image search of that nomenclature revealed photos that most closely resembles the stuff in my tank.

Other names include: Octocorals, Caribbean Octocoral, Scleraxonia, Gorgonians and Brown Encrusting Soft Coral.

You did it once again MR.....