Surprise, free soft corals

[Paul B]

As I was looking at my algae trough tonight I noticed a bunch of hair algae in there which is what I want, but I also noticed about 2 dozen polyps.
They are soft, I thought they would be hard because they look like little 3/8" buttons but I touched them and they are soft. They are at the beginning of the trough where they get the most turbulence but the lease amount of light.
I don't yet know what they are but when I get time I will have to turn off the skimmer to stop the water flow so I can see them better and take some pictures. I have never seen these before but it seems that I get this a lot, things popping up from no where.
I can't tell if they are tropical or something from local NY waters.

 

[Paul B]

Here are some of the little suckers in my algae trough

 

[Imbarrie]

Anemone?

 

[kidninja]

cant really tell but looks like red bubble algae?

 

[Paul B]

No, not an anemone and definately not bubble algae. They are soft and slimy.
I will have to remove one and get a better look

 

[Euroreefer]

Mushrooms maybe? Striped ones?:knockedou

 

[rookie07]

Have they moved at all? Or are they fixed in place? Hard to tell from pic, kinda looked like mushrooms to me as well.
Have you added any large corals or rocks recently?

 

[Paul B]

I don't think the move and I didn't add any rock or corals recently, but I do dump in all sorts of stuff from the Long Island Sound.
Could be Loch Ness Monster eggs

 

[Paul B]

OK I was Wr....Wro.....Wrong. I hate to say it and many people on other forums and KidNinja told me but they are not corals but an invasive form of algae.
So invasive that they may take over my tank. I will soon find out.
I finally removed some to take a better look. Not a really good find, but it is what it is.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Ouch, I was going to say Tribbles... I was way off.

 

[Paul B]

Tribbles would be fun.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Tribbles were an invasive species too and I think we know how that ended.

 

[cowfish]

Tribbles saved the day from those dastardly Romulans.

 

[tomtoothdoc]

come to think of it, don't recall any reef tank/fish tank on star trek. hmmmm.....foreshadowing the lack of our hobby in the future????

 

[Paul B]

Tribbles were an invasive species too and I think we know how that ended.

Yes, the 60 minutes were up, the show ended and so did the tribbles.

come to think of it, don't recall any reef tank/fish tank on star trek. hmmmm.....foreshadowing the lack of our hobby in the future????

Not true, Capt Piccard has a Lionfish in a bubble tank

 

[tomtoothdoc]

Not true, Capt Piccard has a Lionfish in a bubble tank

did not see that episode. did not see much of the next generation.

 

[Paul B]

It's in just about all the shots in his "ready Room"
They had the guy in a magazine once who takes care of the tank.