Weird stringy mass on rock

[silly_blenny]

I was doing some maintenance when I noticed this weird stringy mass for the first time on my rock work. It had been hidden by a large discosoma, and I noticed this when I removed the coral (didn’t like where it ended up). Any idea what it could be? The tank has been eatablished for over 2.5 years, and the only recent addition were a couple of pitho crabs.

 

[Dan_P]

I was doing some maintenance when I noticed this weird stringy mass for the first time on my rock work. It had been hidden by a large discosoma, and I noticed this when I removed the coral (didn’t like where it ended up). Any idea what it could be? The tank has been eatablished for over 2.5 years, and the only recent addition were a couple of pitho crabs.

Looks like a sponge

 

[EnterName]

Jepp, sponge. Most likely harmless filter feeder.

There are a few sponges that grow aggressively and can even grow over corals but if that one was below a coral it might prefer cryptic areas without much light and won't cause issues. I would just leave it

Scraping it off would potentially cause it to spread and regrow. See page 5, post #82 for more details on sponges' regenerative abilities: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/microscopy-thread.1138845/post-14426492

 

[silly_blenny]

Jepp, sponge. Most likely harmless filter feeder.

There are a few sponges that grow aggressively and can even grow over corals but if that one was below a coral it might prefer cryptic areas without much light and won't cause issues. I would just leave it

Scraping it off would potentially cause it to spread and regrow. See page 5, post #82 for more details on sponges' regenerative abilities: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/microscopy-thread.1138845/post-14426492

Thanks! That's super helpful, and I'm really stoked that there's a microscopy thread that I didn't know about before.

 

[EnterName]

Jepp, sponge. Most likely harmless filter feeder.

There are a few sponges that grow aggressively and can even grow over corals but if that one was below a coral it might prefer cryptic areas without much light and won't cause issues. I would just leave it

Scraping it off would potentially cause it to spread and regrow. See page 5, post #82 for more details on sponges' regenerative abilities: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/microscopy-thread.1138845/post-14426492

Thanks! That's super helpful, and I'm really stoked that there's a microscopy thread that I didn't know about before.

I try to keep updating old posts but also deliver new content from time to time. I've upgraded my gear so the quality hopefully improves even more with the next updates
You are welcome to share images there as well, if you find something of interest.