I have little white hairs on my live rock

[skeleton_key8]

Ok firstly i want to apologize if this is in the wrong forum i had no idea where to put it so i took my best guess. anyways i have little white hairs coming off my live rock, they cover all the purple coralline algae, and most of my live rock. they are not on my sand or my walls of my tank. my tank has only be running for about a half a week and my live rock was only put in 2 days ago. I'm very new to this and i want to know, is it good or bad, and will it go away.
thank you for your help =)

[hillegom]

How long are these white hairs and how far apart?
Do several come out of one hole or are they solitary?

[Myka]

Foraminiferans aka forams? This is a huge group of Protista (not animal nor plant). The ones I am thinking of come in red, pink and white and are spiky and hard. Each color is a different specie I think. They are common and expected in reef aquaria.

Foraminiferans by Ronald L. Shimek (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-07/rs/) "There are similar white foraminiferan species found in aquaria. Their bodies look like small "spiky" versions of a stony coral, rather like nano-sized versions of bird's nest coral, Seriatopora hystrix. These foraminiferans have not been identified to species."

[skeleton_key8]

How long are these white hairs and how far apart?
Do several come out of one hole or are they solitary?

they are very close, and no sorry they are not coming out of holes, they are on my live rock. i only have one piece so far so i can easily see them all. they do move in my current though.

[Myka]

Move in the current? Hmmm, not forams. Is it the cilia of algae?

[hillegom]

How long are they?
Do they bob up and down? about 1-2 in long?
If so maybe Digitate hydroids About 1/4 way down http://www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm

[Myka]

Look like this?
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/Algae%20and%20Plt%20Pix/P1060127%20white%20hari%20rk.jpg

[skeleton_key8]

Look like this?
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/Algae%20and%20Plt%20Pix/P1060127%20white%20hari%20rk.jpg

ya alot like that use it hasn't covered my rock as much as in the picture

[Twinn]

Myka what is the algae you posted in that last picture?

[Myka]

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/MarAlgIDF33.htm

Scroll down until you see that picture, and read the info above the picture.

[Myka]

Myka what is the algae you posted in that last picture?

"Is likely an algae or mix of algal and Protists... not harmful... and will "go" of its own accord in time." -Bob Fenner

[skeleton_key8]

"Is likely an algae or mix of algal and Protists... not harmful... and will "go" of its own accord in time." -Bob Fenner

Thank you every one that is exactly what i was looking for. and im glad its something that i don't need to worry about =). thank you everyone again with all your help and a special thankz to Myka for figuring it out =)

[Myka]

You're welcome. :)