White growth GSP??

[Rob1208]

This just showed up today. I noticed the GSP was completely closed this morning, and upon further inspection, there is a weird fuzzy white growth on it. I did a water change yesterday and this was not there, so it must have happened overnight. Any thoughts on what this could be an how to treat it?

Apologies for the pictures. I'll try top get some better shots and a video later today.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

That's a sponge - if it's irritating and growing over corals like that (especially while popping up super fast), that's a sign that you don't want to keep that sponge. If you can pull it out of the tank and give it a thorough cleaning, that would be ideal:

The best way I've heard to control sponge growth at this point is to use a steel straw to scrape and siphon out the sponge you want to remove. Sometimes you can create bad conditions for them and kill them off that way, but that's typically much harder and not always effective.

I would try the scraping with a steel straw/brushing with a toothbrush and siphoning out for that one in particular - if you can do this is a bowl of saltwater out of the tank (I don't recommend adding the water to the tank after) and rinse with clean saltwater (not from the bowl) afterwards, that would be even better.

Other suggestions include exposing the sponge to air (obviously not a guaranteed solution, and definitely not viable for this situation); hydrogen peroxide dipping the sponge (again, not viable here); injecting the sponge with hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, boiling water, or air; microbubbles in the display; and a few more. Predation is not usually a good solution for this issue

Basically, if the sponges have enough food and enough trace elements (which for most sponges includes silicates) to meet their needs, then you’ll see their populations booming.

If you can figure out what’s allowing them to thrive in your tank, then you can deal with that root cause and get rid of them.

 

[Rob1208]

That's a sponge - if it's irritating and growing over corals like that (especially while popping up super fast), that's a sign that you don't want to keep that sponge. If you can pull it out of the tank and give it a thorough cleaning, that would be ideal:

Thanks! The GSP is on an island, so I can easily remove it from the tank. Is there a good way to "scrub" it off the GSP w/o harming the coral?

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Agree with @ISpeakForTheSeas, I had that exact sponge on my zoas, nemenzophyllia, leather, duncans, pretty much everywhere, though it didn't bother them, however it does grow fast, usually a sign of an imbalance or high silicates, just pull it off. Mine went away on its own after about 2 weeks.

(@ISpeakForTheSeas can verify my experience)

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Thanks! The GSP is on an island, so I can easily remove it from the tank. Is there a good way to "scrub" it off the GSP w/o harming the coral?

Soft toothbrush - some people might recommend using hydrogen peroxide or iodine too.

 

[Rob1208]

Thanks for the guidance. I'll pepper you all with more questions about sponges, silicates, etc. once I have this GSP fixed.

Thanks!