Sponge Id?

[elysics]

So heres something a bit more unusual for you guys

Got it from a local reefer where several were growing on the liverock in a softie tank. It fluoresces yellow/orange depending on the light and has slightly grown onto the fragplug. Cannot see any vents typical for a sponge though. About half an inch in size

 

[fishguy242]

hi,pretty neat,cool colors

 

[elysics]

Noone got any ideas? At first i thought it was something related to the sea orange, but now i am not even sure it is even a sponge anymore, it is rather smooth all around, feels leathery, is relatively dense like a soft coral or very firm sponge, and as i mentioned has no apparent openings. It is sessile though, definitely has grown tissue connections to the plug.

Are there soft corals like this? Something else entirely?

 

[SHNICI]

Noone got any ideas? At first i thought it was something related to the sea orange, but now i am not even sure it is even a sponge anymore, it is rather smooth all around, feels leathery, is relatively dense like a soft coral or very firm sponge, and as i mentioned has no apparent openings. It is sessile though, definitely has grown tissue connections to the plug.

Are there soft corals like this? Something else entirely?

it look really beautiful to me. It can be some sort of sponge, some are encrusted (most aren't), some have encrusted polyps looking like zoanthids (non photosynthetic) leaving with the sponge in symbiosis like Clowns and Anemone. For example the "spider sponge".
If I'm will leave it on the spot I found it, or move it on similar (to light and water flow) place in the tank, and will observe it. And BTW I'm not going to disturb it (touching it too much), until I figure it out what animal it is, because if a sponge it can produce some toxins in the water if get damaged.

Can you let us know for how long it grow up and is fast or slow growing (if you do have seen it before) ?

 

[elysics]

Can you let us know for how long it grow up and is fast or slow growing (if you do have seen it before) ?

Have had it about 3 weeks now, can't say for sure if it has changed in size yet, removed the rubber band holding it just a few days ago, it's still a bit deformed from that. The guy i got it from ahd them for a few months if i remember correctly.

Heres a pic from his tank:




Just noticed that the bigger black stripes weren't there yet, maybe just ebcause of the light, hopefully not a bad sign.

 

[SHNICI]

Have had it about 3 weeks now, can't say for sure if it has changed in size yet, removed the rubber band holding it just a few days ago, it's still a bit deformed from that. The guy i got it from ahd them for a few months if i remember correctly.

Heres a pic from his tank:




Just noticed that the bigger black stripes weren't there yet, maybe just ebcause of the light, hopefully not a bad sign.

can be because of the rubber band, don't know, is it attached completely to the coral plug? And be a bit aware to take it out of the water, because the Sponges tend to die when trap air in the osculum or in the pore cells. Which again can be a bit dangerous.
Will suggest you to put it under lower light and observe it daily, that can be some algae or something else, but on the same water current, as it is. if you see is shrinking it self, probably isn't happy and will move it under more brighter light to see how it's "feeling". You know all unknown in the hobby is try and getting experience, the other is to read and look for help how to do the processes properly.

 

[elysics]

can be because of the rubber band, don't know, is it attached completely to the coral plug? And be a bit aware to take it out of the water, because the Sponges tend to die when trap air in the osculum or in the pore cells. Which again can be a bit dangerous.
Will suggest you to put it under lower light and observe it daily, that can be some algae or something else, but on the same water current, as it is. if you see is shrinking it self, probably isn't happy and will move it under more brighter light to see how it's "feeling". You know all unknown in the hobby is try and getting experience, the other is to read and look for help how to do the processes properly.

No, ive probed it with a silicone tube. The black coloration is in the tissue. I'll try to shade it a bit more, in the tank it came from it was under a overhang getting some light and high flow.

Yes, its grown onto the plug now and is attached.
Hard to see on the pic maybe but in the lower left is a newly grown protrusion that grows onto the rock, there are several of these:

Looks overall bigger to me too, but that could just be wishful thinking or compression from the rubber bands.

And yeah, this isn't the first sponge i got, if it is a sponge, just the first i'm confused by.

 

[SHNICI]

wish you good luck with that one, I do love them, and trying to get much as possible, but to know about all I have in my system, to avoid dangerous or invasive. I got spider sponge for a year but after I had to move home, and changes in the water and the nutrients.., it almost die. now I left only with few 1/2inch peaces, in hope it will regrow, the encrusting it polyps disappear, don't know do they can come back on them self.
Please keep us on touch how it's going, and if isn't sponge and is photosynthetic under lower light you will figure it out just in few days (if retract it self)

 

[elysics]

So, little update, these are still weirding me out.

Pretty much the day after my last post, the thing started to divide. and i don't mean dissolve, i mean divide, like in those time lapses of cell division with a clear break in the middle.

The two fragments didn't shrink in size at all either as far as i can tell.

And yesterday one of the two has started to divide again.

I don't know if this is a panic reaction like with anemones, could be, i had to fight hard at times to not let them suffocated by cyanos, though they seem to have survived being buried in the sand for a few days while i was away.

Still cannot see any sponge-typical openings, and the stringy tissue inbetween the division process looks kinda clear and soft, not at all like a sponge

 

[elysics]

Bad pics from a bad angle:

Edit:

Heres another one top down, comparing with the earlier pics it seems to have gotten bigger, or at least more spread out

 

[fishguy242]

hi,still thinking type of sponge ?? or alien formation @KJ @vetteguy53081 @samnaz ,can anybody id

 

[vetteguy53081]

pictures sort of dark to tell.
If in doubt- chuck it out. It’s basically sponge- not a nice piece of coral

 

[elysics]

I pictures sort of dark to tell.
If in doubt- chuck it out. It’s basically sponge- not a nice piece of coral

Chucking it out? Lol if it annoys a coral, i'd chuck out the coral

 

[vetteguy53081]

I had immediate meeting at work and was able to look on computer screen
It appears to be sponge- Amphimedon compressa version which is evasive. To stop it, inject with air or vinegar or expose to air out of the tank and pull/cut off

 

[elysics]

I had immediate meeting at work and was able to look on computer screen
It appears to be sponge- Amphimedon compressa version which is evasive. To stop it, inject with air or vinegar or expose to air out of the tank and pull/cut off

Uhhh, do you happen to have a link to where you got that name from? If i google that i see pictures of red, fingershaped sponges, mines is a very light baby blue with neon yellow and black speckles and ball shaped

 

[vetteguy53081]

Uhhh, do you happen to have a link to where you got that name from? If i google that i see pictures of red, fingershaped sponges, mines is a very light baby blue with neon yellow and black speckles and ball shaped

I don’t but look up sponge identification. Should point you there

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-07/rs/index.htm

 

[tripdad]

Looks like a colonial tunicate to me, not sponge. Just a guess.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks like a colonial tunicate to me, not sponge. Just a guess.

I thought same at first but with fuzziness of pics, couldn’t make out tubular holes

 

[elysics]

I thought same at first but with fuzziness of pics, couldn’t make out tubular holes

Yeah in person i do not see any holes at all either, which is what confuses me. I don't think i am able to take better pictures than the ones in the first post, it's small and i'd rather not expose it to air

 

[SHNICI]

Uhhh, do you happen to have a link to where you got that name from? If i google that i see pictures of red, fingershaped sponges, mines is a very light baby blue with neon yellow and black speckles and ball shaped

Blue with yellow fluorescence ? I was think it's white/yellow all the time with the dark-blackish strains inside it
Please take a shot with clear white only, Please I'd love to see it.
I don't member (I reread all again) you ever say it's hairy. Which bring me to the next point, and it is the @tripdad guess
Every day you can find corals or move the coral or the creature, but definitely I'm not going to kill it, if isn't too much invasive I'll keep it under control, only if it;s really bad will take action against.

Looks like a colonial tunicate to me, not sponge. Just a guess.

Can be tunicate yes, can't see it that way from the photos. But defo it look lovely.