Coral, algae or invert? What the heck is this?

[thought]

Noticed these small brown-pinkish patches all over my rock but only in area that get light. Never encountered this before... The move slightly if hit with strong water current but firmly attached to the rock, can’t siphon up. Tried to get good pics but these guys are really small.

Looking for an ID, anyone seen these before? Thanks for your insight!

 

[GeoSquid]

Someone else on here had something like what I see in your pics. A poster on that thread said it was very invasive and had to break their whole tank down. It had very very fast growth. I can't seem to find the thread though. Is it taking over?

 

[thought]

it’s definitely all over a few rocks but I have not introduced anything new to my tank for 2-3 months and it’s only popped up in the past week or 2... doesn’t seem to be growing much from day to day, or even since I first noticed it last week.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Eggs?

 

[thought]

Sleeping Giant, that’s an interesting idea, however I wonder what eggs do better in light rather than shadow?

here is a list of inhabitants:

Mated pair clownfish
Rainbow rose BTA
scarlet hermits
blue legged hermits
white/tan legged hermits
(no one could 100% ID them, they are great hermits and cleaners though)
a single turbo snail


The clownfish do lay eggs every month but these are definitely not clownfish eggs.

 

[GeoSquid]

If you can suck it out I would try. I know this is the stuff someone said they had a very bad time with. I tried to find the thread again but couldn't find it. It was only a couple weeks ago this was posted. I remember because had never seen anything like it before.

 

[longtimereefer]

Flat worms?

 

[thought]

UPDATE:

these small growths eventually melted away. I was able to siphon them out little by little at times. Overall they lasted maybe 3-4 months. They were not flatworms but seemed to be more animal than plant, however they did only appear in lighted areas, never in the shadows.

 

[thought]

Also I did not notice any shifts in my chemistry, and not sure what they may have been introduced by. Been kind of a strange mystery that thankfully resolved on its own and had no ill effects.