What's wrong with my coral?

[SomeReefGuy]

Hey guys,

Looks like a got something on my coral, have no clue what this is. Thanks (it's on my toadstool).

 

[blaxsun]

Looks like eggs of some type. Can you scrape them off?

 

[SomeReefGuy]

Looks like eggs of some type. Can you scrape them off?

I tried, I don't think it came off. What kind of eggs?

 

[JGT]

Kinda hard to tell what’s the toadstool and what’s the unidentified thing.

 

[SomeReefGuy]

Kinda hard to tell what’s the toadstool and what’s the unidentified thing.

The toadstool is closed, that's why it looks odd. The other thing I'm not sure about and asking for help is that black thing that looks like a blob

 

[youcallmenny1]

Is it a sponge?

 

[JGT]

Might be easier to ID with it in the water.

 

[Timfish]

I'd guess sponge also. Like @JGT suggested, it might be easier to identify if it's in water and the toadstool is open.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Best submersed for photo but not eggs, Sponge as suggested, or even valonia which is a form of minute bubble algae

 

[SomeReefGuy]

Might be easier to ID with it in the water.

Thanks, it was very hard to ID in water even I had to take a closer look.

 

[SomeReefGuy]

I'd guess sponge also. Like @JGT suggested, it might be easier to identify if it's in water and the toadstool is open.

Thanks, is this harmful? It's a bit difficult to ID in the water because it's not clear. But the toadstool opens and it looks identical when it's out.

 

[SomeReefGuy]

Best submersed for photo but not eggs, Sponge as suggested, or even valonia which is a form of minute bubble algae

Am I screwed? Most sources seem like sponges spread and not good

 

[vetteguy53081]

Am I screwed? Most sources seem like sponges spread and not good

Generally they don’t spread quickly, yet can become invasive.
Exposing sponge to air will stop most. Using a syringe, you can inject air or vinegar into the sponge and it’s done

 

[Timfish]

Thanks, is this harmful? It's a bit difficult to ID in the water because it's not clear. But the toadstool opens and it looks identical when it's out.

There is a black cyanobacterio sponge that can be a problem because it will overgrow corals. I've only seen it once in over 3 decades of reef keeping though. "Chicken liver" sponge is is beneficial and will appear black when growing in light and may appear grey when in transition zones. The differences bewteen them is the the chicken liver will appear puffy while the cyanobacterio sponge conforms to the coral it's growing over.

There are a large variety os sponges that will thrive in reef system and many of them are critical for the long term health of reef systems as they remove labile Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) about 1000X time faster than the bacterioplankton which might be removed by skimming. These sponges will also remove the hydrophilic portion of DOC that skimmers can't remove. Don't expect air to work for killing it. The sponges that thrive in reef systems will tolerate not only hours out of water but days as well when shipped on maricultured live rock. Vinegar or H2O2 may kill most of a small sponge colony but keep in mind sponges only need a few cells to survive to regrow. A picture under water when everything is open will help identify what's on it. The picture in the OP shows what could be a sponge or maybe two different kinds as the 2 whitish blobs on the left side could be sponges also and the black could just be a piece of rock if it didn't scrape off or if it looks identical as a sponge should inflate some.

Here's some links on sponges and DOC and microbial stuff if you might find informative:


Element cycling on tropical coral reefs.
This is Jasper de Geoij's ground breaking research on reef sponges. (The introduction is in Dutch but the content is in English.)

https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/files/14555035/13completethesis.pdf

Sponge symbionts and the marine P cycle

Sponge symbionts and the marine P cycle

Marine sponges are ubiquitous colonizers of shallow, clear-water environments in the oceans (1, 2). Sponges have emerged as significant mediators of biogeochemical fluxes in coastal zones by virtue of respiring organic matter and facilitating both the consumption and release of nutrients (3, 4)...

www.pnas.org

Phosphorus sequestration in the form of polyphosphate by microbial symbionts in marine sponges

Phosphorus sequestration in the form of polyphosphate by microbial symbionts in marine sponges

Coral reefs are highly productive ecosystems that raise a conundrum called “Darwin’s paradox”: How can high production flourish in low-nutrient conditions? We show here that in three abundant Caribbean sponges, the granules that have been commonly observed in sponge tissue for decades are...

www.pnas.org

Differential recycling of coral and algal dissolved organic matter via the sponge loop.
Sponges treat DOC from algae differently than DOC from corals

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besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Surviving in a Marine Desert The Sponge Loop Retains Resources Within Coral Reefs
Dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen are quickly processed by sponges and released back into the reef food web in hours as carbon and nitrogen rich detritus.

(PDF) 2013 deGoeij Science Sponge loop

PDF | On Jun 23, 2015, Jasper M de Goeij and others published 2013 deGoeij Science Sponge loop | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

www.researchgate.net

Natural Diet of Coral-Excavating Sponges Consists Mainly of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC)

Natural Diet of Coral-Excavating Sponges Consists Mainly of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) - PMC

Coral-excavating sponges are the most important bioeroders on Caribbean reefs and increase in abundance throughout the region. This increase is commonly attributed to a concomitant increase in food availability due to eutrophication and pollution. ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The Role of Marine Sponges in Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles of COral Reefs and Nearshore Environments.

The role of marine sponges in carbon and nitrogen cycles of coral reef and nearshore environments - ProQuest

Explore millions of resources from scholarly journals, books, newspapers, videos and more, on the ProQuest Platform.

search.proquest.com

BActeria and Sponges

"Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" This video compliments Rohwer's book of the same title, both deal with the conflicting roles of the different types of DOC in reef ecosystems. While there is overlap bewteen his book and the video both have information not covered by the other and together give a broader view of the complex relationships found in reef ecosystems

Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes

Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont

Maintenance of Coral Reef Health (refferences at the end)

Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching

Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"