Nuisance Sponge?

[atlfishes]

It doesn’t appear to be bothering anything, but is spreading on the underside of my rocks. What is it and does anything eat it? Thanks

 

[JGT]

It doesn’t appear to be bothering anything, but is spreading on the underside of my rocks. What is it and does anything eat it? Thanks

Sponge. Harmless.

 

[atlfishes]

Yes, what type of sponge? I’ve read a little where sponges take up trace elements etc that now won’t be available to corals.

 

[JGT]

Yes, what type of sponge? I’ve read a little where sponges take up trace elements etc that now won’t be available to corals.

Nothing of significance.

 

[vetteguy53081]

It’s poriferan sponge and can grow crazy,
Simply trim it or if it’s all over the place, expose to air and pull it off

 

[brandon429]

everyone has alternate takes in reefing for sure Im opposite here

not that this is bad, but there are sponge-wrecked posts and they got that way by alignment of variables.

Try and make it gone from one area of your rock, even though its not bad now

if you can't, then you know what variables are aligning. my own reef turns 15 in december and Im simply unwilling to chance anything. I had a acan frag for about 6 years, a prized one, even made it into a magazine shot photo but on its underside was a similar sponge that never, ever left this one frag.

but it would envelop the whole polyp and Id have to clear it back

even after rasping, and 35% peroxide spot-applied to the rasped areas, the sponge came back for years. solid

unbeatable

the rascal was given away free to someone with eighty warnings, who still wanted the frag. it was them or the trash.

one day in June I decided it just cannot stay, associated with it is the most virulent sponge if it took over my reef that's takedown material. I could not beat it with any form of care.

try and remove it, see how quick it comes back.

i give you a 99.% chance nothing is harmful, my live rocks have had normal sponge succession over the years. it was just that one though, it was too mean. too risky, my tank is too old to lose it/took total universal command --> booted gone

 

[Subsea]

@brandon429

Sponges are my friends. They are the third leg of my in tank biofiltration. I have Yellow Balls, Orange Elephant Ears and Red Trees.

 

[brandon429]

it was a boring white one none of that fine array!

 

[brandon429]

also

bounce mushrooms arent invasive I always found that ironic considering their cousins

wish that yellow one was a little frag at LFS I could try, not sure my feed diversity is enough to sustain it

 

[Subsea]

@atifish

also

bounce mushrooms arent invasive I always found that ironic considering their cousins

wish that yellow one was a little frag at LFS I could try, not sure my feed diversity is enough to sustain it

When I stir top of sand bed, Sea Apple feeds heavily as do LPS & Flower Anemone. For certain, sponges feed heavily on bacteria. Without a doubt, the feeding of live bivalves with healthy gut cavity bacteria populations.has contributed to success with sponge diversity.