Mystery Goo found inside "rock"

MPS · May 30, 2018

I've had a colony of zoas on a piece of "rock" for a few months. It was the healthiest thing in my tank until it suddenly had a major meltdown. about 60% of the polyps died over the course of a few weeks. I tried water changes, coral dips, freshwater dips and nothing stopped the plague. All of the other zoas, softies and LPS in the tank were fine.
Fast forward to last night when I decided to frag the remaining polyps. I broke the "rock" and discovered that it was mostly hollow with some nasty yellow goo inside. Could this good be rotting organics from an old coral that caused the colony to die? If so, I'm assuming that these frags need to come out of the DT and be tossed before they cause an ammonia spike? Any experience with this? I'd love to know what this and if it's harmful.

Zeal · May 30, 2018

I hope youre wearing a mask.. just incase

Kamden Uelton · May 30, 2018

Probably a type of sponge or bacteria.

Victoria M · May 30, 2018

What the heck! That is weird and I have never seen anything like it in all my reading.

evolved · May 30, 2018

That is nothing more than a sponge.

Retro Reefer · May 30, 2018

Don’t have a clue but thanks for sharing and glad your wearing gloves.

RR

blanc88 · May 30, 2018

Is it viscous or sponge like ? To me it look like a sponge which isn't uncommon. I have various sponges in my 14month old tank

Livinlocal · May 30, 2018

Looks like a sponge, and that would be a typical place for one to grow. They like the undersides of rocks, and inside of rocks

Victoria M · May 30, 2018

I have never had a sponge look like that.

MPS · May 31, 2018

blanc88 said:
Is it viscous or sponge like ? To me it look like a sponge which isn't uncommon. I have various sponges in my 14month old tank

It’s mostly viscous. I scooped most of it out with a small scoop. Thanks for taking the time to reply

Victoria M · May 31, 2018

very interesting.

Livinlocal · May 31, 2018

Hmmm then maybe it’s not a sponge ?

MPS · Jun 5, 2018

Mystery solved. The owner of my LFS cane back from a dive and took a peek at my photos. “They’re sponges. The goo is just the slime that they create to live in”.
Too bad I killed them. I’m sure they were filtering my water.
#themoreyouknow.