White cloudy tough growth all over rocks

Question
QUESTION: Hi,  

We inherited a 35 gallon salt water tank with many fish and live rocks.  We have successfully kept all the fish alive and change our own water ever 3-4 weeks.  We have the following fish:
2 large clown fish (pair)
1 med blue/yellow tang
1 med angel lemon peel
1 royal gramma
1 red hawk fish
1 bi-color blennie
1 clown gobie
1 small yellow box fish
20 small blue leg crabs

We have live rock with great caves for these guys!  The rock came with a white cloudy web-like subtance that does not easily come off and has grown all over the rocks.  It also has a sort of round white cloudy egg sack looking stuff as well.  It doesn't wipe off at all and when we went to pick it off it seems tough.  We can't seem to figure it out - it doesn't hurt the fish and they are not eating it either.  It looks bad and we can't figure it out.

Any suggestions or help you can offer would be appreciated!

Thank you so much!

Salt Water Tank in AZ!

ANSWER: Hello lauren,

I would love a picture... any chance you can upload one?  If notmaybe you can join my new forum at www.thelittleocean.com and upload one there.  (that one is easier to upload pics directly from your pc)

I am not sure, but will give yo umy first guy level hunch,  and maybe you can look them up and see if these are the same as what you got...

Im thinking mini tube worms...  ( a cluster of tube worms )

the tubes are hard, but not real hard.  you should be able to pull them off with your hands...

There are other types of worms that also build tubes but those are much smaller tubes and usually are just straight 'barb' like protursions...



anyways, i lood forward to seeing a picture..

bTW, i just met a dozne reefers from AZ this weekend.  Tehre is a coral and reefing expo/event here in So Cal, and there are folks from all over the country, and the world actually...  

(IMAC West)

Anyways, met afew folks and we went and had dinner and talked 'shop'

but, if you would like, i can give them your email address and they can contact you when they get bac k home and introduce you to some local clubs and or help you directly..



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the quick reply.  After writing I decided to be brave and try to remove the white film that is growing all over my rocks - I took a clean tooth brush and started to scrape off the white film growth - it seems to be a white algea of some sort and actually the bi-color blennie was eager to eat as it floated in the water.  The white egg sac looking things are sparce and they are spongy to touch - not worm tubes or fairy dusters - so, when you poke at it they seem to retract a bit.  I was brave and pulled one off a rock - it was a sponge material - so I am thinking that it's some kind of sponge growth?  It doesn't seem to be harming anything - so I'll leave it alone.  As for the white algea a nice brushing at water change will do the trick too.  Unless you can name a fish that exclusively eats white algea?

This is all a learning experience for us and we are truly enjoying it!  If ever someone asks you where to get great fish and customer service in Phoenix we go to Fins and Friends - good people, nice owners and truly great fish.  That's where we go and never had any issues -

Thanks again!

Lauren

Answer
Hello Lauren,

Yes, that spongy material is probably sponge.  They usually look soft and may have larger pores here and there that might pulse or expel water... The sponge will die on contat with air... But, I would want to keep as much of it around as possible. It is a sign that things are good... Since they are filter feeders, they would e the first to detect bad water conditions...

And yes, i have heard of FF actually.  We just had a Fish/ Reef conference/frags sale...  And many folks were from AZ.

you might want to try catching me on www.thelittleocean.com

We can share some AZ friends and reef contacts...