What’s growing on my sand tiger conch’s shell?

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

I closed a tank down over the weekend and moved what I was keeping into a tank in my bedroom. I noticed my sand tiger conch had 2 bright patches on its shell and grabbed my camera to get a closer look. I can’t tell if they are hard or soft, but appear to look like either LPS tissue (if it’s soft) or possibly a montipora (if it’s hard). Any idea on what could be growing on this conch’s home?

 

[stewy14]

so, that is either a sponge, a monti or a bounce shroom

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

so, that is either a sponge, a monti or a bounce shroom

So, no species of mushroom has been in that tank in well over a year. All the mushrooms were in my bedroom tank. Also, none of them have ever been red, or any shade of red. The closest would be the purple on my lava lamp disco, but there’s no bouncing on any of them happening. The only one I do have that has any bouncing going on, is a gold yuma.

Sponge could make sense, but I’ve never had anything like that appear in the entire 2.5 years that tank was running. All the sponges were pineapple ones or a few others that were whiteish in color, never red.

Monti is what a local reefing club member suggested, which would be pretty neat. I’ve just never added a monti to that system. And to be honest, pretty much every SPS I ever put into that tank died within a few months.

Really curious to see what they grow into.

 

[stewy14]

so

So, no species of mushroom has been in that tank in well over a year. All the mushrooms were in my bedroom tank. Also, none of them have ever been red, or any shade of red. The closest would be the purple on my lava lamp disco, but there’s no bouncing on any of them happening. The only one I do have that has any bouncing going on, is a gold yuma.

Sponge could make sense, but I’ve never had anything like that appear in the entire 2.5 years that tank was running. All the sponges were pineapple ones or a few others that were whiteish in color, never red.

Monti is what a local reefing club member suggested, which would be pretty neat. I’ve just never added a monti to that system. And to be honest, pretty much every SPS I ever put into that tank died within a few months.

Really curious to see what they grow into.

the mushroom is called a bounce, its a species, like a yuma, its just one thing that came up when I google lensed the closeup

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Bounce Mushrooms are rare and highly sought after. One sold for $10,000. Be careful adding more light or flow, even though they are Photosynthesis. I would think that Orange Red Color would fitch a high price.

 

[stewy14]

Bounce Mushrooms are rare and highly sought after. One sold for $10,000. Be careful adding more light or flow, even though they are Photosynthesis. I would think that Orange Red Color would fitch a high price.

its a monti...

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

Watching this thread- promise us you’ll post more pics here as it grows!!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

That looks to me like the beginning of some nice, ornamental red macroalgae.

I can tell you it's not a sponge (there are no visible holes anywhere on it despite having a good magnification in the pic). It also seems to be encrusting on the shell rather than just laying flat on it, so I would assume it's not a softie like a mushroom.

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

That looks to me like the beginning of some nice, ornamental red macroalgae.

I can tell you it's not a sponge (there are no visible holes anywhere on it despite having a good magnification in the pic). It also seems to be encrusting on the shell rather than just laying flat on it, so I would assume it's not a softie like a mushroom.

It definitely is a red macro algae of some sort. Someone in a Facebook group confirmed it and even provided video of the same thing they have growing in their system. I also noticed one of my trochus snails munching on it last night.

It’s currently growing in 3 different patches on that conch’s shell. I’m hoping one will grow large enough that I can scrape it off with a scalpel and grow it intentionally somewhere in the tank.

 

[stewy14]

It definitely is a red macro algae of some sort. Someone in a Facebook group confirmed it and even provided video of the same thing they have growing in their system. I also noticed one of my trochus snails munching on it last night.

It’s currently growing in 3 different patches on that conch’s shell. I’m hoping one will grow large enough that I can scrape it off with a scalpel and grow it intentionally somewhere in the tank.

looks like this:

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

looks like this:

It sure does!

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

That is so cool! Unfortunately it probably won’t grow very big. My Trochus snail has been with me for 2 months and the macro it grows on its shell hasn’t grown much at all—I think it gets scraped by the rock work. Although, a conch is a different story from a snail! I hope you get a cool walking algae out of this.