Anyone know what this is growing on my dead frag?

frizzayyyyreef

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This wasn’t there months ago lol idk why I didn’t throw this out but what the heck is this looks like a work and 2 big white things at the bottom appeared??

EECC5AFE-1423-4B97-9BE2-F3AE57B51C3C.jpeg
 
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frizzayyyyreef

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No need to throw out live rock unless you need the space :p

One of my biggest pieces of LR was a candy cane I killed
I actually kept it bc I heard sometimes dead coral can come back it was a Duncan and died bc of a lr crash idk but obviously it’s not coming back but I do see a feeding string come out or something a long white string but anyways what the heck is this
 

vetteguy53081

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This is poriferan sponge. Although not bad can be evasive. Just keep an eye on it and if gets to crazy growth, you will have to make a decision to discard. This sponge is not welcomed in my tanks.
 

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This wasn’t there months ago lol idk why I didn’t throw this out but what the heck is this looks like a work and 2 big white things at the bottom appeared??

EECC5AFE-1423-4B97-9BE2-F3AE57B51C3C.jpeg
The white thing that you said looks like a worm is probably a Vermetid worm but it could also be a small feather duster. If you see any slimy web looking stuff coming out of it, I’d pitch the frag. They spread and just get obnoxious.
 

damsels are not mean

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Ate sponges bad
Usually no. The bad ones tend to grow like a weed or choke out specific kinds of coral. Considering the fact that this skeleton has been here a while it's probably not either one of those. Also the fact that they "appeared" suggests they were elsewhere in the tank and spread, in which case it doesn't matter as you can't remove them easily anyways.

I should say if you want to be really safe remove it but I wouldn't. Most people have sponges like this in their tanks or in the sump and tubing somewhere. They are pretty common hitchhikers on LR and coral frags. The invasive ones usually have specific appearances. There are ones that grow like small trees and spread like weeds. There are blue photosynthetic ones that are also weedy and hard to trim. And there are ones that grow and choke out zoanthids. Sponges in our tanks are not as well understood as corals and algaes, much to my dismay.

This is poriferan sponge. Although not bad can be evasive. Just keep an eye on it and if gets to crazy growth, you will have to make a decision to discard. This sponge is not welcomed in my tanks.
All sponges are poriferan. Porifera/poriferan is just a scientific name for the phylum. It's like saying "rotiferan rotifers"
 

vetteguy53081

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Usually no. The bad ones tend to grow like a weed or choke out specific kinds of coral. Considering the fact that this skeleton has been here a while it's probably not either one of those. Also the fact that they "appeared" suggests they were elsewhere in the tank and spread, in which case it doesn't matter as you can't remove them easily anyways.

I should say if you want to be really safe remove it but I wouldn't. Most people have sponges like this in their tanks or in the sump and tubing somewhere. They are pretty common hitchhikers on LR and coral frags. The invasive ones usually have specific appearances. There are ones that grow like small trees and spread like weeds. There are blue photosynthetic ones that are also weedy and hard to trim. And there are ones that grow and choke out zoanthids. Sponges in our tanks are not as well understood as corals and algaes, much to my dismay.


All sponges are poriferan. Porifera/poriferan is just a scientific name for the phylum. It's like saying "rotiferan rotifers"
We have been through this - all sponges are NOT poriferan. AND . . . there are bad sponges especially yellow and black which are toxic. Many sponges are known for toxicity and will compete with coral for essential trace elements and minerals and being that they favor dark areas can grow under the coral and over take them.
Generally the stringy ones are poriferan and they can smother a coral in no time as well as grow over coral, choking out the lower areas of densely branching colonies, smothering polyps and rocks, and generally getting stuck in equipment where they don’t belong.
There is finger sponge, tube sponge, ball sponge , halliclona and cycon. None of these are poriferan. I carried various species at my pet store and the biggest thing was Non-exposure to air and toxicity. Be factual if youre going to give advice. Ive been doing this more than 3 1/2 decades and Have seen Many Many variety both in hobby and diving in the wild
 
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damsels are not mean

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There is finger sponge, tube sponge, ball sponge , halliclona and cycon. None of these are poriferan. I carried various species at my pet store and the biggest thing was Non-exposure to air and toxicity. Be factual if youre going to give advice. Ive been doing this more than 31/2 decades and Have seen Many Many variety both in hobby and diving in the wild
I cannot find anything about "non-poriferan sponges". The words poriferan and sponge are synonyms. I looked up all the types of sponges you listed (finger, tube, ball) and every species that comes up in a google search is also under the phylum porifera, as all sponges are. There are probably dozens or hundreds of sponge species labelled "tube, ball, finger" but unless there are some very obscure ones I am completely unaware of, they are all porifera. Haliclona and Sycon are both genera with dozens of species each, but all of these are porifera.
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vetteguy53081

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You are going with phylum. Most have actual names, classifications and behavior
The one discussed is called spaghetti or lace sponge to be exact
 
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