Creeping grey slime

[Kiboshed]

No idea what this is. Just started growing out of a crevice in my live rock a few days ago. Doesn't move. Not like any kind of algae I have seen. Has those weird tendrils streaming out, but the don't move. Almost like a grey plaque. A smaller patch of it is also starting to creep out of a crevice on a rock below it as well.

Any idea what it is and if I should care?

Bateria colony of some kind maybe? Sponge?

 

[WheatToast]

Yup! Looks like a sponge! These are harmless filter-feeders that are part of a healthy tank ecosystem. You might need to remove it in the rare event it takes over coral, but I generally leave sponges alone without ill-effects.

 

[DE FISH]

Sponge! Hopefully it isn’t invasive unlike mine which grows in warp speed and covers rock and coral :/ sigh

 

[Kiboshed]

Yup! Looks like a sponge! These are harmless filter-feeders that are part of a healthy tank ecosystem. You might need to remove it in the rare event it takes over coral, but I generally leave sponges alone without ill effect.

Have no corals yet and it's in a totally benign part of the tank so I will leave it be.

Actually kind of excited. Tank has only been up for a month and my Diatoms are already receding, all the life is thriving, and now sponges! Awesome!

 

[Kiboshed]

Sponge! Hopefully it isn’t invasive unlike mine which grows in warp speed and covers rock and coral :/ sigh

Seems to be growing pretty slow. Kind of halted where it is now the last couple days.

 

[DE FISH]

Seems to be growing pretty slow. Kind of halted where it is now the last couple days.

Glad you aren’t in my boat mine is relentless

 

[Kiboshed]

Sponge situation has escalated lol. From what I have read there is nothing really to be done about it besides manual removal and just letting it work itself out on its own. Know they are harmless besides annoying coral.

These are just... Not pretty sponges lol things are starting little clusters all over the tank now.

There is even a stalk on my largest astrea snail now! Lol she bares it with pride, but it just looks ugly to me and is cropping up everywhere.

There is also one other spot I see it starting to creep out of the rock, but couldn't get a good shot of it. Sorry about it being under the blues. It's grey/white.

 

[DE FISH]

Sponge situation has escalated lol. From what I have read there is nothing really to be done about it besides manual removal and just letting it work itself out on its own. Know they are harmless besides annoying coral.

These are just... Not pretty sponges lol things are starting little clusters all over the tank now.

There is even a stalk on my largest astrea snail now! Lol she bares it with pride, but it just looks ugly to me and is cropping up everywhere.

There is also one other spot I see it starting to creep out of the rock, but couldn't get a good shot of it. Sorry about it being under the blues. It's grey/white.

Welcome aboard looking like the same sponge as mine reminds me of a spider web smothering everything ?

 

[Kiboshed]

Welcome aboard looking like the same sponge as mine reminds me of a spider web smothering everything ?

Yes exactly! Sometimes grows a few spouts out of it.

 

[DE FISH]

This is the thread I posted it came in on my last coral order will never put a coral in the dt without a long qt ever again

My thread

I have read sponges hate being exposed to air so you could try exposing your rockwork to air for a few minutes this is not possible with me as their all glued together with corals mounted so I’d have to remove the corals and hope my scape doesn’t break when removing

 

[Kiboshed]

Yeah at this point not an option for me either. Just removed all of my rock, cleansed it of vermetids, then apoxied it together when I put it back in. Would literally have to bust it into pieces to do that.

But my problem isn't as bad as yours yet either.

 

[DE FISH]

Yeah at this point not an option for me either. Just removed all of my rock, cleansed it of vermetids, then apoxied it together when I put it back in. Would literally have to bust it into pieces to do that.

But my problem isn't as bad as yours yet either.

I remove what I can with my wc and it’s grows back it’s like when scraping it off it just makes it worse the only plus of this stuff is it seems to keep my po4 very low other than that its unsightly, invasive and grows on my corals been considering making a new scape from scratch and cycling in rubber totes and starting afresh because of it

 

[Kiboshed]

I remove what I can with my wc and it’s grows back it’s like when scraping it off it just makes it worse the only plus of this stuff is it seems to keep my po4 very low other than that its unsightly, invasive and grows on my corals been considering making a new scape from scratch and cycling in rubber totes and starting afresh because of it

I mean I agree my water parameters are great, but now I am freaked out my tank is going to end up like yours.

From my research it seems it hates bright light and needs silicates. Might need to switch my distilled water source or find something that eats it.

Let me know if you have any luck on your end.

 

[DE FISH]

I mean I agree my water parameters are great, but now I am freaked out my tank is going to end up like yours.

From my research it seems it hates bright light and needs silicates. Might need to switch my distilled water source or find something that eats it.

Let me know if you have any luck on your end.

In my tank The sponge grows right up the rocks in direct light onto the coral plugs if you have no corals there is a type of cowrie that eats sponge but it will also eat coral

trying to convince my mrs to let me set up a small holding tank that’s currently in storage to transfer the corals to so I can get the rock work out and try elimate every last bit of sponge that I can. I believe the sponge has actually become part of my nutrient export which has caused the invasion to happen :/ I’ll keep you posted