Sponges - what can I do chemically to wipe them all out

[josephxsxn]

Have you read anything about lanthanum chloride? Not sure if that might help your situation.

I have many sponges in my tank and use Lanthium chloride for Phosphate control. If there is an effect it does not appear to reduce them at the levels used for Phosphate.

Good luck OP, very interesting topic .

 

[Reefer1978]

I have many sponges in my tank and use Lanthium chloride for Phosphate control. If there is an effect it does not appear to reduce them at the levels used for Phosphate.

Good luck OP, very interesting topic .

Yep I can't seem to find anything concrete on using Lanthium chloride and effect on sponges. Most likely what's happening, Lanthium chloride is wiping out flatworms, and increased toxicity kills sponges. I'll keep reading tho.

 

[DxMarinefish]

Interesting thread. Following not because I have a sponge issue, but just in case I do in the future.

 

[Shmollica]

Yeah I swear I read about people using it as a medication too but I’ve had no luck finding a source sorry :/

 

[ScottR]

Many nudibranchs in the chromodoris sp eat sponges and different types. These nudis can be bought online and maybe at LFS. Not sure how available they are now however. Depending on what type of sponge is being dealt with, this is a long shot. However, they only eat sponges and will do no harm to the tank. Some wrasses may bother them but these are typically larger from other ones that I kept and wrasses have left them alone. I have never heard of a chemical solution to sponge control.

 

[Reefer1978]

I am experimenting with peroxide on a single one just to see what effect it would have. Few drops of peroxide dropped right onto the sponge and left in a cup for a few minutes yesterday. Don't see any effect. Will try today 50/50 bath for 10 minutes and will post updated pics in a few days. of course this will not be an effective full tank treatment, but until I find something more interesting to try I will keep on experimenting.

 

[ScottR]

I am experimenting with peroxide on a single one just to see what effect it would have. Few drops of peroxide dropped right onto the sponge and left in a cup for a few minutes yesterday. Don't see any effect. Will try today 50/50 bath for 10 minutes and will post updated pics in a few days. of course this will not be an effective full tank treatment, but until I find something more interesting to try I will keep on experimenting.

I’m assuming these discosomas aren’t your money mushrooms

 

[Reefer1978]

I’m assuming these discosomas aren’t your money mushrooms

Wait you don't see huge $$$ on them? No, these are just rando shrooms I have in the tank. I don't want to go experimenting on the prised ones.

 

[ScottR]

Wait you don't see huge $$$ on them? No, these are just rando shrooms I have in the tank. I don't want to go experimenting on the prised ones.

Just checking... I saw something about $30k shrooms and saw the Superman ones. Was worried I was missing out

 

[Reefer1978]

Just checking... I saw something about $30k shrooms and saw the Superman ones. Was worried I was missing out

My Avatar shroom would be one the expensive ones, Ragnarok Bounce, they are about $1500 each. Had a dozen, down to 1. Then there's OGs, beserkers, circuses to name a few. I have a few pictures in my build thread.

 

[Shirak]

I am experimenting with peroxide on a single one just to see what effect it would have. Few drops of peroxide dropped right onto the sponge and left in a cup for a few minutes yesterday. Don't see any effect. Will try today 50/50 bath for 10 minutes and will post updated pics in a few days. of course this will not be an effective full tank treatment, but until I find something more interesting to try I will keep on experimenting.

I have a pipe organ frag that is getting swallowed by some encrusting sponge.. I tried a 50% peroxide dip for a couple minutes while agitating and squirting forcefully with a baster and the sponge is still growing ;/

 

[Shirak]

I wonder if it's possible to choke them with a calcium carbonate slurry or something you could paint over the sponge..

 

[TerraFerma]

I have loads of sponges and they do clean the water up a little more than I would like for my shrooms (but I'm mostly SPS). I compensate by feeding phytoplankton HEAVY and the occasional Reef Roids.

Were I to want to rid of all the sponges I would take the rock out and nuke/scrub it, or start over with new dry rock. They grow on frag plugs, powerheads and inside the skimmer as well so I'd also nuke that. I've had a few Pomacanthus angels - they love dining on sponge but they never eradicate it.

Could probably sell your sponge rock for decent money. Good luck!

 

[Righteous]

What about something like a sand storm? Get the tank super cloudy by stirring up sediment on a regular basis. It may choke them by clogging their pores.

 

[elysics]

What about something like a sand storm? Get the tank super cloudy by stirring up sediment on a regular basis. It may choke them by clogging their pores.

That could work, but it wouldn't be a one time thing, it'd have to be done regularly

Otherwise just the top layer will die off and the core will regrow

 

[Reefer1978]

24-hour results so far:
* 50/50 Peroxide 10 minute bath - no impact
* Peroxide injection - no tissue at the point of needle entry (1/8" circle), living tissue further away.

Trying 10 minute bayer dip next.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

@Randy Holmes-Farley I know you are a big fan of sponges, and so am I, and in one of my systems I dose silicates to promote their growth per your recommendation from a few years ago. But unfortunately this is not one of those threads. In my other system, I want to fully, 100%, eliminate all sponge growth. Is there any way for me to accomplish that with 100% success, while keeping the treatment 100% Reef Safe?

I've not seen way to selectively kill pest sponges.

What type of sponge are we talking about? Killing photosynthetic ones may be different than filter feeder only types.

Stripping all silicate may help, but not all sponges use silicate.

 

[Reefer1978]

I've not seen way to selectively kill pest sponges.

What type of sponge are we talking about? Killing photosynthetic ones may be different than filter feeder only types.

Stripping all silicate may help, but not all sponges use silicate.

@Randy Holmes-Farley posting pics of the sponge in question. I believe this sponge goes beyond photosynthesis & filter feeding. It's either predatory, or, toxic. But there's some kind of a relationship with a host. Ive been loosing mushrooms for the last 6 months without any explanation in one of my systems. Spoken to many industry experts including local experts that looked at the system in person, multiple ICP tests were done, we suspected water. etc and we are all stumped. Here's my symptoms:

1. Mushroom is doing great - either 6 months old or years
2. Mushroom starts to wither away until it dies
3. Sponge is left over where the foot used to be
4. Sponge dies few weeks to a month later

In one case, this mushroom was my 4" mother bounce, which actually split. Split was of a circular shape, and in the middle of that circle where the split started - Sponge. It could be a wild coincidence, but I noticed many of these coincidences.

In the pictures you will notice the mushrooms in the middle next to the sponge are much smaller than the outskirts. This rock had a single mushroom in the middle what was huge and was making babies. Now the mushrooms next to the sponge are withering away.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Very interesting and unusual.

If it is a silicate-containing sponge, you might deter growth by excessive use of silicate export and minimizing inputs. GFO or aluminum oxide (or maybe soluble iron) might be hard to manage not lowering phosphate too much, but dosing phosphate will help. A more biological export might be by growing a benign but fast growing silicate-requiring sponge elsewhere in the system. I think there are some blue sponges that grow fast and become pests, but might work well in a refugium or something for this purpose.

One could possibly determine if the pest is silicate containing by removing some sponge, bleach away the organic matter, leaving solid structures (spicules). If those dissolve in acid, they are not silica but are calcium carbonate. if they do not dissolve in acid, they likely are silica.

 

[Shirak]

How bad is the plague? Looks like only one spot on that rock? Have you tried scraping off and covering the area with epoxy or cyanoacrylate?