blobs? tunicates? oh my!

[rDr4g0n]

first up are some blobby thingies taht have been showing up in my sump and overflow. this is a side view of the intake skimmer box of my overflow.



the blobs are kinda hard to make out, but theyre basically oval shaped blobs with a little feather duster looking top.

next up are what i suspect are tunicates, but am not sure. these have been popping up in 4 or 5 places in my tank. the ones pictured are about a quarter to a half inch. they distinctly have 2 "tubes" that exit the body. you can even look into the tubes and see a sort of star pattern of teeth looking thingies.



the easily visible one is purple. there is another almost identical, but more flesh colored. it is the one that is circled towards the top of the pic.

[Dentoid]

It does look like a tunicate, but I don't think tunicates have teeth! Does it close it's siphonal-like opening when you touch it?

[BoomerD]

In the top picture, the little blob thingies are "q-tp sponges" or "pineapple sponges", AKA Syconoid sponges, they are filter feeders and are great for nutrient export...their numbers may rise and fall, depending on the nutrient load in your water. (the white feathery things with the white tips) AKA ball anemones, they CAN pack a decent sting, but are considered to be very desirable, and nice diversity in your tank...
Where is your live rock from? That may help with ID'ing the last critter...Pacific ocean? or Atlantic ocean?
I suspect the others are also a variety of sponge, although which one I don't know.
BTW, nice crop of corynactis (or is it pseudocorynactis?) you have in that last pic...

[rDr4g0n]

the rock is from tampabaysaltwater.com from teh gulf of mexico. it came submerged in water (which i understand is rare for LR) which is why i have so much diversity (including gorilla crabs and a mantis shrimp. i got all the crabs, but not the shrimp yet).

when you touch them, they do contract, but not too much. theyre kinda large for teh type of organism they appear to be. they are kinda leathery to the touch.

the ones you identified as pineapple sponges only reside in my sump and my overflow intake, so they must really like the current. since theyre inside of there, there isnt a problem with them stinging anything.

as for the coral in the second pic, it was identified as a cup coral of some sort. here is a better pic of that group of them


and a group of very young ones


in fact i made a whole thread with pics of the incredible diversity i got from this particular LR. if you wanna take a look its here
An explosion of live rock! (tons of pics, be careful!)

most of the life in those pics has survived too. i still havent gotten all teh life identified to my satisfaction either lol

[rDr4g0n]

yeah those are definalty sycanoid sponges... from SpongeIDFAQ2

"these critters are very common and commonly misidentified or "unknown" incidentals that develops in marine aquaria with live rock. They are Syconoid sponges of the genus Sycon. Filter-feeders... harmless, and even desirable. They can reach plague proportions if the tank is neglected or has other nutrient control issues."

[BoomerD]

Ah, cup coral...gotcha...could only see the tentacles.

[Boomer]

Those other things, second pic, are 100% Tunicates. Matter of fact they are Polycarpa sp. Ascidian tunicates

[DaBird]

nice...

[rDr4g0n]

yeah definatly polycarpa

Polycarpa scuba - Marine Life Encyclopedia