ID and ideas would be appreciated

[Ro Bow]

I neglected my aquarium for 3 weeks now other than feeding and topping off water and basic things and finally have the time and energy to get back to the schedule on cleaning and maintenance, and noticed a few changes - my main concern is a orange or yellow sponge (I'm color blind so i can't ID it ) that is growing IN my powerhead. My powerhead was designed poorly and has lots of areas for algae to get caught and now a sponge too. I'm just worried if i try removing with a toothpick it'll spread around the tank and nuke it. I added a picture below but I'd like some advice on removal without breaking my equipment. Current plan is to take the power head out and put it in a 5g bucket and just clean it out and then rinse it. Could someone ID the sponge for me? Its only growing at the powerhead probably because of high aeration levels. Tank is 1.5 ish years old. Thanks

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

The photo is very blue saturated, so it's hard to make out anything really.


I would say that regardless of the type of sponge, you don't want it interfering with the powerhead, so go ahead and remove the equipment from the tank and do a good cleaning... Proper maintenance on pumps should include disassembly and thorough cleaning periodically anyway.

 

[i cant think]

I neglected my aquarium for 3 weeks now other than feeding and topping off water and basic things and finally have the time and energy to get back to the schedule on cleaning and maintenance, and noticed a few changes - my main concern is a orange or yellow sponge (I'm color blind so i can't ID it ) that is growing IN my powerhead. My powerhead was designed poorly and has lots of areas for algae to get caught and now a sponge too. I'm just worried if i try removing with a toothpick it'll spread around the tank and nuke it. I added a picture below but I'd like some advice on removal without breaking my equipment. Current plan is to take the power head out and put it in a 5g bucket and just clean it out and then rinse it. Could someone ID the sponge for me? Its only growing at the powerhead probably because of high aeration levels. Tank is 1.5 ish years old. Thanks

Do you have a not so blue saturated photo?

 

[Ro Bow]

Thank you for the replies. I'll take it out today and clean it. Is it ok to clean it in a bucket with normal tap freshwater, or should use rodí water? Thanks

 

[Ro Bow]

Thank you for the replies. I'll take it out today and clean it. Is it ok to clean it in a bucket with normal tap freshwater, or should use rodí water? Thanks

The mesh on the powerhead was put there by me after a nudibranch got shredded in it's large holes. Allows algae growth though. The back has some weird holes too that were there originally which is weird. The powerhead is a reef wave 45

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Cleaning in tap water is perfectly fine.

 

[Ro Bow]

Cleaning in tap water is perfectly fine.

Ok thank you

 

[WheatToast]

Looks like red cyanobacteria, not a sponge:
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/cont...slime-how-to-prevent-and-remove-cyanobacteria
https://www.liveaquaria.com/article/2/?aid=2