Help ID Please!

[The Saltwater Kid]

This orange growth is growing on a piece of live rock in my friends tank. We don't know what it is but it is quite pretty, very vivid/bright orange in color. It actually has spread onto a piece of rubble rock and my friend has offered me the piece so i can have some of this in my tank as well but as pretty as it is I would like an ID first before I introduce this into my tank just to make sure it isn't something invasive and nasty.

 

[The Saltwater Kid]

anybody???

 

[The Saltwater Kid]

Hello, anybody have any guesses here?

 

[sulp]

Can you get any better pictures or give a more vivid description? That would help with ID'ing it.

 

[blface]

It looks like a sponge to me.

 

[The Saltwater Kid]

it's got a dark orange/red center with a bright orange border...very pretty. do you think this would be ok to add to my tank?

 

[thecichlidpleco]

Closeup please

 

[LeslieH]

A close up would definitely help. It's either a sponge or a colonical tunicate and right now I'd go with tunicate. Both are filter feeders that take particulates out of the water.

 

[The Saltwater Kid]

Here is a closeup...

 

[SIZZLA KALONJI]

TUNICATE

 

[The Saltwater Kid]

good or bad? will this take over my tank?

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Tunicates: filter feeders.

 

[The Saltwater Kid]

yeah, i know they are filter feeders but will it spread all over my tank choking out/killing corals?

 

[Hormigaquatica]

probably a filter feeding tunicate. not likely to overgrow anyone or to become invasive. I would keep it in the tank just for something a little different.