Can Anyone ID this?

[Miles]

This has me stumped. Just noticed this stuff at the base of one of the frags in my frag tank. Looks almost like sharp thin pieces of rice.
 They don't appear to be mobile, they just sit there in a clump. They aren't attached, I was able to easily pick them up with tweezers.

If it helps here is a list of tank inhabitants.
1x Blue Tang
3x Dalmatian Mollies
4x Bangaii Cardinals
5x Tomato Clown
1x Peppermint Shrimp

It is at the base of a frag plug that has a Tree Leather and some GSP.
Any Ideas?





10X Under Microscope

[Twizted1]

Got me on this one. Maybe someone else will know?
Have you put anything new in your tank recently?

[Miles]

I added the Bangaii's the other day, but this stuff may have been around before that.

[Twizted1]

It wouldn't have been from the cardinals.

[Miles]

Unless they ate something really funky right before I bought them :p

[Miles]

I figured it out if anyone is interested. Its dead coral tissue. Apparently when you frag a tree leather, when the wound heals it will create a hard spot which actually makes it really easy to glue it to a plug. I usually pop a tooth pick through the coral and then use a rubber band to hold the toothpick to the frag disc, but sometimes the toothpick will pull through the coral. This dead tissue developed around the tear.

The tissue inside of a leather coral is fibrous, and when the fibers dry out you get what is in the pics above. They will fall off the coral, and in this case form a little pile at the base. I figured this out because I checked on a piece today that  I fragged last week and the toothpick had pulled through it and the coral was covered in these rice like things around the wound.

The More You Know.... (≡≡≡☆)

[Twizted1]

Wow. That's very interesting. Thanks for sharing. It'll help others in the future.