What is growing off the sides of my Duncan?

[Marcellina]

I have this Duncan for about 3 weeks. The areas where there was no green tissue was just rocklike. After only a few days in my tank the rock area started to look fuzzy-ish I thought it might be algae. Well then the fuzzyness looked like it had peeks.

I looks like greyish green barnacle like. They dont move. What is it? Is it bad?

THe Duncan is doing great otherwise, it had 15 heads when I got it and it already has 4 baby heads. It opens up during the day and really loves to eat.

I hope this strange growth isnt something bad.

When I first noticed it:

Now:

 

[straightjiggy10]

Looks like some sort of sponge

 

[Marcellina]

a sponge would form little peaks like that? The little peaks have a little hole down the center. Thats why I said it looked barnacle like. I never see anything come out of them though.

 

[Euroreefer]

SPonge, I had a sponge like that, and it was very invasive, taking over corals..I hope thats not the type you have there, but it looks like a fast grower.

 

[Marcellina]

So it must have come on the Duncan? It didnt have it when I first got it. I even did a ReefDip prior to putting it in my tank.

I dont have that sponge anywhere else in my tank.

How do I get rid of it without damaging my coral?

 

[Josh]

You can scrape it off but I would just leave it. It is a filter feeder so its not going to harm the tank. Just make sure it isn't growing up onto any corals and you should be fine. It won't harm the duncan.

 

[SevTT]

So it must have come on the Duncan? It didnt have it when I first got it. I even did a ReefDip prior to putting it in my tank.

I dont have that sponge anywhere else in my tank.

How do I get rid of it without damaging my coral?

Actually, I'm guessing that that isn't a sponge, but a bunch of tunicates. They can be invasive too. Easiest way to get rid of them is to scrape them off with a razor or kalk 'em to death. Whether or not you do so is your choice; they can overgrow corals and kill them that way, but otherwise they're pretty innocuous.

 

[Marcellina]

I had no idea what to search for until you mentioned Tunicates SevTT.

Sure enough that is what I think it is. I found this

Diplosoma listerianum, ​

​

compound sea squirt, diplosoma tunicate​

http://www.salemsound.org/mis/D_listerianum.pdf

What do you think? I should remove them? I have read that they can filter bacteria but are they getting rid of the good bacteria in the tank?

Are they poisonous? toxic? I find conflicting information on this.

To remove it I can take the Duncan out of the water and scrape it off with a razor? SHould I scrub it with anything? WHat is kalk? How do I use that and will the kalk kill my duncan as well?

help! never did this b4 Im new at this!:bigeyes:

 

[daisy]

hi, Marcellina -

my advice to you is to go slowly and watch them. I would not pull the duncan out and scrape them off at this point - watch to see if they begin to encroach on the tissue of the duncan. most corals have a mucus layer that will repel many encrusting sponges or animals - if the duncan can defend itself, then it will. If it cannot, then you will notice it before it is too late if you look at the duncan every day to see whether the other animals are growing onto the flesh of the duncan.

After reefing for about 10 years, my rule of thumb is that ~most~ of what's in our tanks is good.

Kalk is a chemical product you can buy in powder form and make into a paste or dissolve in solution. In strong solution or paste form, it is often used to kill pests such as aptasia. In dilute form, it is used along with other chemicals to maintain levels of alkalinity/calcium. (google kalkwasser)

best of luck!

 

[Marcellina]

Thank you Daisy! I will keep watching it as I have been.

If it is bad do you think that it would it grown on top of the duncan tissue or will it make it recede?

My calc is 340 and my Alk is 9 dKH. Should I use the kalk you mentioned to raise my calcium levels? Or is there something tha would be better to raise it? I just did a water change less than a week ago.

 

[daisy]

"bad" is a funny term - it is all a matter of perspective. bad for the duncan = will cause tissue to recede or otherwise interrupt the tissue of the duncan. If you see that this is happening, then it is bad for the duncan, and you should take action if you prefer the duncan to the other life form. but if you don't mind that the duncan skeleton is home to this other thing as long as it does not harm the duncan, then leave it alone and watch.

in terms of raising your calcium level, are you dosing your tank with anything? In order to keep calcium, alkalinity and magnesium levels in the ranges that are appropriate for coral growth, we need to add these to the tank. if you are currently not dosing, then as your corals grow, they will use up what's in the water, stop growing, and then begin to die. B-Ionic makes two solutions that work together that you can purchase from many vendors. other companies sell a two-part powder form that you add to water and then add to your tank. this is critical for maintaining your corals. pls feel free to pm me for more!

Best of luck!

 

[Marcellina]

Ok I have been watching this growth and I think that it is making one of the duncan heads tissue recede. Its almost receded right up to the duncan tentacles.

Also I noticed that its on the LR where it is touching! This is a fast spreaded!. Why cant my zoas spread this fast?

I think I need to remove this asap b4 it overwhelms my tank.

Should I just scrape it off with a razor? Will that permanently remove it?

 

[Marcellina]

How to remove Tunicates growing on my Coral?

Hey all!

I had another thread to identify what was growing out of the sides of my duncan. Well the answer is tunicates.

I have been keeping an eye on them and was prepared to leave them alone even though they are not pleasant to look at. Well turns out that these are fast growers! They are starting to grow on the LR that the Coral is on. I dont want it to spread all over and it looks like if I dont remove it that is exactly what its going to do.

It also looks like its making the Duncan tissue recede and I need to take action.

My question is how to go about removing it?

I was told to just take a razor and scrap it off. Is that it? Do I have to do anything else like apply something on the part scraped so I kill off all the tunicate 'spores' or whatever makes it grow?

Please anyone with experience your advice is greatly appreciated.

You can see it growing on the rocks now too, notice the tissue has receded on a couple of heads:

Here it is with its tentacles closed and you can see the tunicates in between the heads. THis is going to be hard to remove in between right?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Threads merged. No need for 2. Lets keep it all centralized to optimize the assistance for you.

 

[Marcellina]

Ok thanks Brendan. Hope someone can give me more advice.