ID this orange fuzz?

[csig]

I have this orange fuzz growing on my live rock in one section of my 125g tank (but nowhere else). The area in the photos is towards the top of a live rock "mountain," with decent flow all around it. It's not up against the back or in a dead zone. (In fact, the tank is set up as a peninsula and this peak is at the viewable end with flow all around it.) I have two Tunze streams (6000 and 6060) firing down the sides, providing lots of turbulent flow.

Is this a form of algae? Sponge? I can't find any pictures online that match it. It's hard to tell from the photos, but it forms webbed areas, sometimes with small pockets. It's not "hairy" at all (like hair algae).

My params are all great. Nitrates <5. Phosphates 0. Alk 10. Ca 450. pH 8.2. SG 1.024. Mag 1250. I have plenty of nice coralline growth. No cyano. sps and lps are doing great.

This orange fuzz has been growing slowly over the last two months. It crept up onto an sps I had just above it and killed the bottom of the coral. When I noticed it, I scrubbed and flushed that area. The rest of that sps is doing great now (in a different spot).

I've put a nudibranch on it (thinking it might be a sponge). No luck. Lettuce slug doesn't look at it. Emerald crabs are uninterested. I'd appreciate any ideas concerning what this is and how to get rid of it.

Thanks.
Curt

 

[Gobie]

It's a sponge, a coral beauty may pick at it. I would just let it grow I have it in my tank.

 

[crzy4reefs]

i have it in my tank it hasn't gotten out of control, not sure how to get rid of it. since you scrubbed and flushed the area, (dumb question) did you do it in or out side of the tank

 

[csig]

The coral it grew onto was not attached to the rock, so I took that out and scrubbed it with a toothbrush in a separate tub. However, I also scrubbed the area of live rock in the picture. I was a bit worried about this, because it wasn't clear to me if I was going to multiply my problem by spreading it throughout the tank. Turns out it didn't -- or at least hasn't yet. However, it did come back in the same area and it has been spreading slowly.

Given that it spreads slowly and causes tissue recession in my sps, I'd like to find a way of keeping it in check.

thanks for ID'ing it as a sponge.

Curt

 

[csig]

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