Can anyone ID this?

Mgoc · Nov 14, 2013

Hi everyone, I'm not sure this is the right place to post for ID's but I dont know if there is a specific ID forum here.

I found this "thing" in my sump a couple of months ago but since it didn't seem to hurt anything I did not do anything about it. It has grown to be about 1/2 of an inch and it seems to have an opening on the side. I have no idea what it could be or if it's even alive. It looks kinda fuzzy, almost like a fiberglass ball but it keeps growing. I thought maybe it is some sort of calcium deposit but it probably isn't.

Can anybody ID it?

ritter6788 · Nov 14, 2013

Pineapple sponge.

reef heaven · Nov 14, 2013

Agreed

Mgoc · Nov 15, 2013

Thanks for the quick reply!!! Should I be worried? Or should I just let it be?

cbrennan4 · Nov 15, 2013

From my experience they aren't bad to have in your tank. Here's a few pictures I took of one with my microscope at work(you can see why they call it a pineapple sponge).

ritter6788 · Nov 15, 2013

cbrennan4 said:
From my experience they aren't bad to have in your tank. Here's a few pictures I took of one with my microscope at work(you can see why they call it a pineapple sponge).

Great pics!

Dalmatia · Nov 16, 2013

cbrennan4 said:
From my experience they aren't bad to have in your tank. Here's a few pictures I took of one with my microscope at work(you can see why they call it a pineapple sponge).

That's crazy!!! Have you ever tried to look at ich through a microscope?

Mgoc · Nov 18, 2013

Awesome pictures

And I agree with Dalmatia, it would be really interesting to get to actually see Ich.

Mgoc · Nov 18, 2013

Does anybody know how big they get? I'm just curious

ReeferBob · Nov 18, 2013

Biggest I have seen is about an inch.

AppleJack · Nov 19, 2013

Those are amazing pictures!
And yes I have only seen them get about an inch, but will come in a variety of changes.

Dalmatia · Nov 20, 2013

You could be the ich doctor, charge people for water samples to see if their ick is Alvie or dead! Id be your first customer, you'd prob be able to make a business out of it

Dalmatia · Nov 20, 2013

Mgoc said:
Does anybody know how big they get? I'm just curious

I see them everywhere so, I guess no. Their good for filtering you water (free little canister filter with no nitrates!)

cbrennan4 · Nov 22, 2013

Haha If you guys liked the sponge pics here's a few more of things I pulled out of the work aquarium

Here's a flatworm

Cyclopoid Copepod

Aptasia

Berghai Nudibranch egg cluster

Few day old Berghai nudibranch

Here's the scope I'm using

I need to search the tank and see if I can find anything else cool to get pics of

GoTakeANap · Nov 22, 2013

the pics are amazing!

Dalmatia · Nov 24, 2013

Is your microscope not big enough to see "ich" and water?

NanaReefer · Nov 25, 2013

I could look at pic's like this ALL day

Thank you for sharing!!!

dodgerblew · Nov 25, 2013

The nudi egg strand pic is very cool! Even magnified, I still dislike aiptasia.

cbrennan4 · Nov 25, 2013

Dalmatia said:
Is your microscope not big enough to see "ich" and water?

The highest magnification I can go to with the microscope is 230x and I think that would be enough to see ich. Don't know where I could find a sample if ich though.