Weird sponge

[Eldritch_blast]

I’ve had a sponge growing beneath of of my rocks that is not like the others I’ve got, which are mostly all just a standard blue sponge. At least I hope it’s a sponge. Have assumed it was and kind of let it do its thing over the past year or so since it started.

It’s got these weird tubes and I’ve not seen these before has anyone had these guys sprout up in their tanks at all? It stays in the shadows but is definitely spreading.

Can anyone confirm for me this isn’t something to be concerned with?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Yeah, that's a beautiful little sponge, and it doesn't seem to be bothering your corals there at all (so you can tell it's not chemically harmful) - given that that's ~1 year's worth of growth, it doesn't seem to be invasively fast spreading either.

So, yeah, it looks like a keeper of a sponge to me.

 

[Eldritch_blast]

Yeah, that's a beautiful little sponge, and it doesn't seem to be bothering your corals there at all (so you can tell it's not chemically harmful) - given that that's ~1 year's worth of growth, it doesn't seem to be invasively fast spreading either.

So, yeah, it looks like a keeper of a sponge to me.

Thanks for the insight, that’s what I was hoping to hear!

 

[Weaverjay101]

I'm jealous. All of my cryptic sponges are drab in color. Growth of these types of sponges is normally seen as a sign of a healthy tank with a diverse bacterial population. Since these types stay to the shadows you don't need to worry about them growing over corals like some other types

 

[VinnyBoy]

I agree it doesn’t seem to be harming nor is it growing too fast. Plus, sponges are great filters for a tank! The fact it’s thriving is a good sign of a healthy tank.

 

[Eldritch_blast]

I'm jealous. All of my cryptic sponges are drab in color.

I feel lucky to have it, must have came in on some coral this was a full dry rock aquascape

I wonder if our salt mixes can have any spores that survive or however something like this would propagate I honestly don’t know much about sponges other than good guys usually that you want to keep wet!

I want all the diversities there is to offer, provided they’re not evil risky little buggers!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I wonder if our salt mixes can have any spores that survive or however something like this would propagate I honestly don’t know much about sponges other than good guys usually that you want to keep wet!

It depends somewhat on the sponge, but some sponges can regenerate from singular cells, so they could pretty much come in unnoticed on anything wet - rocks, shells, corals, algae, etc.