Green Thumb

[Bughead]

Really! It's a green, plastic looking thingy the size and shape of the top joint of a thumb (other side of the thumb nail). It's firm but slightly pliable, not solid. It gives me the impression that if I squeezed hard enough it would pop.

It's on the top of a rock that came out of my reef tank that had turf algae. I think this rock also had some smaller than pea size bubble algae, which leads me to believe it may be a huge mutant bubble algae. The thing is growing. At first I thought it was one of those plastic plugs used to propagate corals, but the thing is growing. And it's not hard.

Sorry I don't have a pic yet. I should be getting my digital camera for Christmas. Anyway, does anyone know what this green thumb thingy is?

[hcp28]

That sounds like, Valormia... no that's not how it's spelled. It's the type of algae those emerald crabs eat. I'm sure I could look it up around here but I'm really lazy with finals and all so I won't. However, I think that is what it is, just try not to pop it or spores will go all over your aquarium and you'll have all kinds of little green thumbs popping up. HTH

Henry

[reefer504]

here is one that I pulled out of my tank last week.Like henry said don't pop it in your tank take it out then do what ever you want with it.Tha one in the pic you can bounce on the ground like a ball

[Bughead]

Yes! That's it! The dumb thing is as big as an emerald crab. For the little crab it would be like us trying to eat a whole cow. So anyway, I'll take the whole rock out of the tank before I try to detach the thing. It looks sort of neat in a kind of alien way but maybe I'd better get rid of it. Thanks for the ID.

[kevinpo]

Yes it's Valonia sp. here's a picture of a monster I took from my tank. I had put it in the freezer then took it out after it was frozen solid and thawed it out. All the green was on the inside and fell to the bottom. You can see it piled near the bottom. It turned fairly clear after I let it settle.

I have 3 different types in my tanks. The singular ball type, the small cluster colonial type, and the long tube type. They are seldom seen in my main tank as the tangs make short work of them.

Regards,
Kevin

[Bughead]

Neat looking little life form. Like I said, it came out of the reef tank where there is the little cluster kind. I'll be careful removing it just in case my tangs would allow an infestation.

[Bone]

lol Thats a good sized one. My pavona over grew a pea sized valonia.