What is this?

[MatAndPatti]

Hopefully someone can help me ID the purple stuff I found growing on the skeleton of our green hammer. It seems kindof squishy, not solid like coarline algae... It's kindof of soft like a sponge, but it's purple (never seen a purple sponge)... And it doesn't appear to be cyano, either (it's a lighter purple than any cyano we've ever had, and it doesn't seem to come off by blowing on it with a turkey baster). So far, only noticed it on the skeleton of the hammer.

Any help appreciated! Mostly concerned it's something bad. Thanks!

 

[thegrun]

A closer better defined picture would help but it looks like a sponge. I would leave it alone unless it starts to overgrow your hammer.

 

[mcgyvr]

sponge

 

[billdogg]

^^^What he said^^^

Generally considered to be a sign of a healthy system.

 

[homer1475]

Looks like sponge to me also.

 

[MatAndPatti]

Sponge

Sponge

Thanks folks for all the sponge votes and reassurances that it's not something bad. Now that I've done some more image googling I can see that it's definitely what we've got.

2 things threw me off. First was that until now, the only sponges I had seen in our system were white. And second, it seemed (at least when I originally noticed it) that it was only growing on the skeleton of our green hammer. Now that we've looked around a bit more, I've found 2 additional small instances of it. So, no worries here!

Thanks Again & Happy Reefing!