Too many sponges

[scvc620]

Over the last 6 or 8 months these white "sponges" have just been multiplying. At one point I was told, all good, they are filter feeders, but golly I cannot believe how many there are now. Should I be concerned? Try to get rid of them. As you can tell by the pic, there are an awful lot of them. They really do take away from my corals.

 

[MnFish1]

Over the last 6 or 8 months these white "sponges" have just been multiplying. At one point I was told, all good, they are filter feeders, but golly I cannot believe how many there are now. Should I be concerned? Try to get rid of them. As you can tell by the pic, there are an awful lot of them. They really do take away from my corals.

your tank looks great. If you have sponges - you're doing something right! IMHO

 

[scvc620]

your tank looks great. If you have sponges - you're doing something right! IMHO

Thanks, I just wonder if I should try to remove some of them.

 

[MnFish1]

Thanks, I just wonder if I should try to remove some of them.

I would not mess with success. My guess is that there is some kind of 'thing' that eats them. I certainly wouldn't scrub rocks or try to manually remove them

 

[SillyReef]

I will take them! Never seen sponge grow out like that before….

 

[ZoWhat]

I had an outbreak of those a couple of years ago. Just keep manually removing them and they eventually go away

 

[Tired]

I used to have some of those, or something similar. Pull any out that start heading anywhere near your corals, they can crowd for space a bit. Once they get on a rock, it's hard to get them off, any cells left behind can regrow.

That said, they aren't technically harmful. They're just fast-growing. You can yank the bulk of them out if you don't like the look.

 

[WheatToast]

Over the last 6 or 8 months these white "sponges" have just been multiplying. At one point I was told, all good, they are filter feeders, but golly I cannot believe how many there are now. Should I be concerned? Try to get rid of them. As you can tell by the pic, there are an awful lot of them. They really do take away from my corals.

Wow! That is some crazy sponge growth! I would love to have some of that! You already mentioned when the sponges started appearing, but how long has your tank been running?

 

[Paul B]

The back of my tank and in the many caves are also filled with those "coral looking" sponges. I don't see them as a problem and are not photosynthetic so stay mostly in the dark where they will filter water. I would leave them alone

The rest of my tank is filled with really annoying encrusting photosynthetic sponges which are really annoying because they cover my corals and need constant trimming.

 

[scvc620]

I appreciate the input everyone. I just don't like the way they look, so will probably get a new blade and cut some of them out. Some are getting pretty long in places and it is kind of hard for the eye not to go straight to the "alien in the tank. LOL

 

[Chrisv.]

I appreciate the input everyone. I just don't like the way they look, so will probably get a new blade and cut some of them out. Some are getting pretty long in places and it is kind of hard for the eye not to go straight to the "alien in the tank. LOL

Chop away!