Any ideas what this is?

[JPK]

This stuff started growing in my frag tank. There was some on a frag plug and then spread to the egg crate. I have removed all infected frag plugs/plates and took the egg crate out a couple of times, where I sprayed with pure hydrogen peroxide, scrubbed and rinsed until it seemed to be gone. However it appears to be immune to death and returns.

Any idea of what it is?

Thanks

 

[Holy_makerel]

Looks like clove polyps

 

[knowen87]

It is hard to tell with the lighting in the picture. I would agree that it kind of looks like cloves too. My opinion is that if it is that resilient I wouldn't want it in my main tank. If it is still only on the egg crate, just take it out and hope that it isn't somewhere else.

 

[JPK]

It is hard to tell with the lighting in the picture. I would agree that it kind of looks like cloves too. My opinion is that if it is that resilient I wouldn't want it in my main tank. If it is still only on the egg crate, just take it out and hope that it isn't somewhere else.

I agree it does look like clove polys. I have replaced the egg crate once. It came back. It is very fine and brown, looks almost like algae unless you look closely.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

If they are clove polyps, which the general consensus is that they are, you need to remove everything in the tank with clove polyps on them or they'll be everywhere in no time. Some folks actually like the blue ones on isolated rocks and such but I do believe they can spawn which would cause them to go everywhere in the tank and be so much harder to remove.

 

[Tank2379]

Are they Blue?

 

[knowen87]

I would take anything that has them on it out of the tank and leave it out. Throw away that egg crate and any frag plugs that dont have coral on them. If you can't remove something out like a rock then cover the area in epoxy. Good luck.

 

[JPK]

Are they Blue?

No they are brownish

If they are clove polyps, which the general consensus is that they are, you need to remove everything in the tank with clove polyps on them or they'll be everywhere in no time. Some folks actually like the blue ones on isolated rocks and such but I do believe they can spawn which would cause them to go everywhere in the tank and be so much harder to remove.

Good idea. I just removed the egg crate again. Soaking it in a tap water/vinegar solution.

There was some on the edges of few large frag plates (with encrusted sps colonies). I took the plates out and smothered the offending polyps with kalk past. Hopefully that melted them.

 

[JPK]

I would take anything that has them on it out of the tank and leave it out. Throw away that egg crate and any frag plugs that dont have coral on them. If you can't remove something out like a rock then cover the area in epoxy. Good luck.

You probably are right. I’ll just trash that egg crate and get some more.

 

[knowen87]

Yes. That is something that I wished I had learned early. I let too many pests take hold on accident. Many times I would worry more about a $20 coral than all the time I would spend fighting the pests that can come in. I still remember looking at aptasia and red bubble algae thinking :what is this cool new creature only to spend time and money fighting it later.

 

[dew9000]

It looks like some version of Sympodium to me. Too small to be clove polyps.

 

[JPK]

It looks like some version of Sympodium to me. Too small to be clove polyps.

Yes it is very small and fine. When you take it out of the water it lays down on whatever it's on and you can't make out any polyp shape. It scrubs off very easily with a soft brush, seems to melt.

Hopefully the latest eradication works, however it is pretty resilient.

I appreciate all the ideas and help on the matter.

Jason

 

[Cnidoblast]

Looks like some sort of encurusting gorgonian - could always keep a frag after you nuked the rest from your main system - the eggcrate could be soaked in freshwater mixed with bleach to remove gorgs (soak them overnight in a sealed bucket)