Orange slime looking stuff? Algae? Tunicate?

drumist891 · Nov 10, 2015

Hey I'm fairly new to reefing, been doing this for the passed 10/11 months or so. I've noticed this orange looking stuff growing on live rock and it started off small but has spread and now see it growing on another area of my live rock by a coral I've place. Does anyone one have a clue what it is? And how to remove it? Is it bad? I'm afraid it'll overtake a coral and kill it. It kind of looks like tunicate.l because it has little opening like wholes "mouths", hard to tell in the pic.

Btw sorry for the bad pic took them with my phone.

cloak · Nov 10, 2015

If it's somewhat firm then it's probably just a sponge of some sort. If your worried about it spreading you could just smother it with some epoxy. It would be like putting a bunch of chewed up bubble gum over it. This will get hard, coralline algae will grow over it and eventually it will just look like plain old rock. GL.

drumist891 · Nov 10, 2015

I've touched it and it's not firm, more web like if I had to say. Not really sponge looking, and it grows faster than a sponge.

cloak · Nov 10, 2015

Have you tried removing any of it with a brush yet? What was the outcome? Also, when you say "web like," does it move around in the current or remain still?

drumist891 · Nov 11, 2015

Yea and it'll just grow back eventually.
Yea it has little tube like openings and they move with the current but staying open almost as if filter feeding

cloak · Nov 11, 2015

I understand it will grow back, but did it come off real easy or did you have to use some force to remove it?

I'm still going with a sponge of some sort, being that Tunicates would have more definition to them IMO.