follow up question for you

Question
QUESTION: I saw where you asked on here about your rice shaped slightly translucent things growing in your tank. Did you find out what they were? i have the same thing. i saw one answer to your question which was the sponge and I have those too but thats not what you described and its not what I am seeing in my tank either. You can email me directly at seth@sethfloydjr.com if you like. Thank you.

ANSWER: Hi Seth. I think you were trying to direct your question to another questioner and I guess that didn't work. I was the one who answered her question and the sponges were exactly what she had. If you are seeing something other than that in your tank you can give me a really good description and I can try to help you identify these creatures or you can e-mail me a picture at tankgirl527@hotmail.com
I would be glad to help!

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

QUESTION: oh ok. Sorry :)
well what im seeing is about a 1/4 inch long maybe smaller, white / translucent, tubular, hairy but not like a pineapple sponge,they dont move - they are attached to rocks, glass, light doesnt seem to make them shy or anything. One thing i did notice is that they are not only in my tank, but i also see them in my sump attached to various pieces of equipment. They obviously have to start out really small to make it past all the prefilters i have inplace before they make it to the actual body of water in the sump.
I cant seem to find a picture of any of them but later tonight or tomorrow ill try and snap a few and mail them to you. One other thing to note is that its not like I see hundreds of them. So far i only see at most 20 - 30 in the tank and sump together.
Any ideas?

Answer
Hi. Try getting me a picture and I will tell you what you have. In the meantime have you looked up the sea squirts or tunicates as possibly being what you are seeing? They are usually small and tubular however unlike the pineapple sponge they are more smooth and sometimes clear. Usually they grow in areas of good water flow so it would not be uncommon to see them inside your filter. Tunicates have both male and female organs and it only takes one to reproduce. The larva is capable of swimming and looks similar to a microscopic tadpole. They can get anywhere in your tank! If still not what you are seeing send me a picture even if it is not that good!