Orange things in holes/tunnels on hammer stem

MyOtherCarIsAFishtank · May 23, 2019

This is the stem of a hammer I have in pre-quarantine. Just picked it up. Wondering about the orange spots. They're holes leading into the stem. They have no surface presence, but if I push into them with a frag tool, they are soft and there's a hole/tunnel underneath them. I'm worried they are something that will spread and drill into other LPS/SPS in my actual quarantine.

Crabs McJones · May 23, 2019

Do they move around or do they stay in the same spot? Could they be flatworms that are munching on your coral perhaps?

MnFish1 · May 23, 2019

I dont know - I agree with @Crabs McJones my guess is harmless - but what is 'pre-quarantine'?

MyOtherCarIsAFishtank · May 23, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
Do they move around or do they stay in the same spot? Could they be flatworms that are munching on your coral perhaps?

I don't see anything that moves. It's just the orange spot covering a hole/tunnel. They had no response to a CoralRx dip, and no visible change in the pre-quarantine, which is just regular salt water.

P-Dub · May 23, 2019

Coral boring sponge. Not a good thing. Kill them before placing in the DT.

MyOtherCarIsAFishtank · May 23, 2019

MnFish1 said:
I dont know - I agree with @Crabs McJones my guess is harmless - but what is 'pre-quarantine'?

I run a quarantine system, but sometimes I get in a big order. Right now there are several hundred dollars of nice LPS in there (yellow hammers, gold hammers, splatter yellow, blue/teal hammer, pink wall hammer, etc.). If I see something that looks like it's a threat, it doesn't even go into quarantine unless I'm not worried about what else is in there.

MnFish1 · May 23, 2019

P-Dub said:
Coral boring sponge. Not a good thing. Kill them before placing in the DT.

Where is the 'boring'. On the images of those I have seen there are obvious large holes the same size of the sponge. - PS - How would you 'kill them'

MnFish1 · May 23, 2019

MyOtherCarIsAFishtank said:
I run a quarantine system, but sometimes I get in a big order. Right now there are several hundred dollars of nice LPS in there (yellow hammers, gold hammers, splatter yellow, blue/teal hammer, pink wall hammer, etc.). If I see something that looks like it's a threat, it doesn't even go into quarantine unless I'm not worried about what else is in there.

curious - are you able to send the 'bad thing' back? Which company do you use. BTW - its a good idea

MyOtherCarIsAFishtank · May 23, 2019

MnFish1 said:
Where is the 'boring'. On the images of those I have seen there are obvious large holes the same size of the sponge. - PS - How would you 'kill them'

The orange things are covering/filling holes, so you can't see the holes in the pictures. Either the orange things made the tunnels or something else did and they are coincidentally all growing there/filling them. Something definitely bored into this hammer stem.

MyOtherCarIsAFishtank · May 23, 2019

MnFish1 said:
curious - are you able to send the 'bad thing' back? Which company do you use. BTW - its a good idea

This hammer came from AquaSD.

P-Dub · May 23, 2019

MnFish1 said:
Where is the 'boring'. On the images of those I have seen there are obvious large holes the same size of the sponge. - PS - How would you 'kill them'

From the OP- "Wondering about the orange spots. They're holes leading into the stem. "
How to kill them is more difficult than identification. Scrub, and then soak with diluted hydrogen peroxide making sure not to submerge the head of the coral. Rinse in DT water and observe in QT to make sure you got it all. Repeat as needed.

MnFish1 · May 23, 2019

MyOtherCarIsAFishtank said:
The orange things are covering/filling holes, so you can't see the holes in the pictures. Either the orange things made the tunnels or something else did and they are coincidentally all growing there/filling them. Something definitely bored into this hammer stem.

Yes I know what you mean (I see the orange blobs) - the thing I was trying to say is that the boring sponges I have seen are deep inside the hole - not lining the outside of a small hole (i.e the hole is as big as the sponge) - perhaps I'm not looking correctly at the pictures. PS do you see any similar 'holes' that aren't covered by the orange blobs?

MnFish1 · May 23, 2019

P-Dub said:
From the OP- "Wondering about the orange spots. They're holes leading into the stem. "
How to kill them is more difficult than identification. Scrub, and then soak with diluted hydrogen peroxide making sure not to submerge the head of the coral. Rinse in DT water and observe in QT to make sure you got it all. Repeat as needed.

I dont disagree - im just saying I googled images of boring sponges - and none of them look like the pictures. No more no less.

MnFish1 · May 23, 2019

BTW - you are much better at looking at these things than I am - I would have never noticed them (given the size of the plug and frag in the pic).

P-Dub · May 23, 2019

It is an orange coral boring sponge, based solely on the photos and the description. Believe it or not. Seen it, dealt with it. Eradicate it before placing in your DT. It can be done. A little diligence, time, and patience and you are good to go.

P-Dub · May 23, 2019

MnFish1 said:
I dont disagree - im just saying I googled images of boring sponges - and none of them look like the pictures. No more no less.

They are just starting out. Give them time and they will look like the google photos, eventually.

MnFish1 · May 23, 2019

P-Dub said:
They are just starting out. Give them time and they will look like the google photos, eventually.

Im curious - how do you know - and im not asking to criticize - if I saw spots that small on a hammer coral would have ignored them - completely. I have not seen examples of them boring into lps this way. I guess - since I couldn't be sure they were eradicated - I would put this from pre-quarantine - back to the shipper. How contagious are they?

P-Dub · May 23, 2019

MnFish1 said:
Im curious - how do you know - and im not asking to criticize - if I saw spots that small on a hammer coral would have ignored them - completely. I have not seen examples of them boring into lps this way. I guess - since I couldn't be sure they were eradicated - I would put this from pre-quarantine - back to the shipper. How contagious are they?

"It is an orange coral boring sponge, based solely on the photos and the description. Believe it or not. Seen it, dealt with it." Possibly not, but if I had $100 to bet I wouldn't hesitate. I'm not a betting man.
Sponges proliferate and reproduce either sexually or asexually. Given the right conditions and they just grow and reproduce as any sponge would. Take our good pineapple sponges for example.
There is always a chance that they are not what I believe they are. Now that comes to a point, is the OP a betting man or not? Why roll the dice if you don't have to. As reefers, we already get enough thrown at us from our blindside.