please help identify (red) plant/algae/whatever this is...

[jasonryan13]

have had tank for about 5 years, a small piece of this came on a coral i had bought a couple of years ago and is now getting a little out of control, any idea of what it is..? thanks

sorry if no pic shows up im new to posting pics.

 

[drty811]

cant really tell what it is, can you geta closer pic. maybe pulling some of it out of the tank and then taking a pic of it.

 

[jasonryan13]

tried taking a piece out, i dont have the "best" digi camera, (sony cybershot t-100) , took a couple more pics tho from diff angles, hope this helps, thanks again

and for whatever reason i have hundreds of little sea stars that seem to thrive in the stuff, that little piece i pulled out must have had about 8 sea stars underneath.

 

[drty811]

looks like some sort of aglae or spunge. in the wild there are creatures that live off that stuff so its always in check. but in the aquarium thats not the case so you might have to physically remove it unless you find something to eat it.

 

[jasonryan13]

yeah i would lean more towards the spunge myself it feels like one, i have tried several times to remove it and if one little piece is attached anywhere to a rock it comes back pretty rapidly. was just wondering if someone knew that way i could maybe find something to eat it, i dont know...but thanks

 

[djconn]

Yeah, hard to tell what it is. I kind of like how it looks and if its not out of control or irritating your corals, I say leave it.

 

[jasonryan13]

yeah my corals dont seem to mind it at all, it just overcrowds some of them and i have to control it, but thanks for the input