Anyone know what this is?

[brandonrtch]

This thing seems to be growing from the bottom of a frag plug that has been in my tank for several months. Not sure at all what it is. It's flexible. moves slightly in the current. Is it harmful? do I need to remove it? Get a CUC that will eat it?

 

[Jekyl]

Have some white light photos? Blues should be banned from the forum

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

This thing seems to be growing from the bottom of a frag plug that has been in my tank for several months. Not sure at all what it is. It's flexible. moves slightly in the current. Is it harmful? do I need to remove it? Get a CUC that will eat it?

Likely a harmless sponge

 

[Sleeping Giant]

possibly a sponge

 

[brandonrtch]

Have some white light photos? Blues should be banned from the forum

I'll have to try to take one tomorrow. The white light phase is over for today, and I hate to mess up my settings as I struggled to set them the first time. LOL

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I'll have to try to take one tomorrow. The white light phase is over for today, and I hate to mess up my settings as I struggled to set them the first time. LOL

Shine a flashlight on the coral and take a picture...

 

[Sleeping Giant]

I'll have to try to take one tomorrow. The white light phase is over for today, and I hate to mess up my settings as I struggled to set them the first time. LOL

you could just use a flashlight

 

[brandonrtch]

Shine a flashlight on the coral and take a picture...

Couldn't find a working flashlight. However, here is one with the flash on.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Couldn't find a working flashlight. However, here is one with the flash on.

Definitely a sponge, and it looks to be invasive but not harmful:

Yeah, that's definitely a sponge. Most sponges are completely harmless/beneficial, but some can be invasive and/or harmful to corals (thankfully, these are rare).

To tell if a sponge is chemically harmful: if a healthy, established coral starts closing up or looking to be in bad shape on the side closest to the sponge as the sponge grows closer to it, and nothing else has happened (lighting changes, parameter swings, pests, etc.) that could explain it, then the sponge is probably chemically harmful.

Chemically harmful sponges are very rare.

For invasive sponges: unless it shows signs of being chemically harmful or starts actively growing over and smothering a coral's flesh/polyps, it's harmless. These can grow over the skeletons of corals, around the base/stalks of corals, even up into the water column above corals (where they're over the coral but not growing on the flesh or polyps themselves), etc. without harming the coral at all - as long as the coral flesh and polyps can get food, light, and flow, the sponge is harmless.

Invasive sponges are moderately rare.

Invasive and chemically harmful sponges are incredibly rare.

You can let it go, trim it back as needed to make room for corals and such, or you can remove it altogether (I apologize, it's disorganized; I need to go through and clean this up):

For removal:
I've heard of some good removal success rates with the injection method (described below), but that may be risky with the sponge being on the zoas.

The best way I've heard to control sponge growth at this point is to use a steel straw to scrape and siphon out the sponge you want to remove. Sometimes you can create bad conditions for them and kill them off that way, but that's typically much harder and not always effective.

Some other sponge removal methods:

Other suggestions include exposing the sponge to air (obviously not a guaranteed solution, and definitely not viable for this situation); hydrogen peroxide dipping the sponge (again, not viable here); injecting the sponge with hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, boiling water, or air; microbubbles in the display; and a few more. Predation is not usually a good solution for this issue

Basically, if the sponges have enough food and enough trace elements (which for most sponges includes silicates) to meet their needs, then you’ll see their populations booming.

If you can figure out what’s allowing them to thrive in your tank, then you can deal with that root cause and get rid of them.

To add, some sponges have incredible regenerative capabilities, so multiple removals may be necessary, and doing what you can to minimize the odds of remaining sponge cells ending up back in your tank is recommended:

I would try the scraping with a steel straw/brushing with a toothbrush and siphoning out for that one in particular - if you can do this is a bowl of saltwater out of the tank (I don't recommend adding the water to the tank after) and rinse with clean saltwater (not from the bowl) afterwards, that would be even better.

I should clarify here - the scraping and siphoning method I refer to literally siphons through the straw as you scrape to try and prevent spreading (this is also why I recommend doing this in a bowl outside of the tank).

 

[brandonrtch]

Definitely a sponge, and it looks to be invasive but not harmful:

You can let it go, trim it back as needed to make room for corals and such, or you can remove it altogether (I apologize, it's disorganized; I need to go through and clean this up):

Thanks for all the advice. I am relatively new to this. I had a saltwater tank when in high school, but MAN things have changed so much since then. Appreciate the help.