White fungus/sponge please help!!!

[Daydream Corals]

Hi reefers,

I have had this white sponge looking thing growing in a shaded area of my tank now it's spreading and kinda looks like a sponge but maybe it could be a fungus how should it be dealt with.

 

[Devan Petersen]

I had something similar to this. i was feeding some veggi rounds to my angel and tang and any un-eaten ones turned into some white fungus looking stuff. it is hard to tell from the pic. but looks similar.

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Fast growing sponge and keep an eye that it doesn't grow over your corals ...

 

[Crabs McJones]

Sponge, harmless filter feeder. However, if it starts messing with your corals it can be scraped away

 

[Daydream Corals]

ok. That's what I thought. Thank you.

 

[Big G]

Get a siphon hose going and place it near the sponge/fungus. Gently brush it off with a soft, old, clean toothbrush - work slowly. So use the smallest diameter hose that will pass the debris.


Edit: ok. After seeing Salty's video on sponges I promise to leave alone all sponges - unless they are bothering my corals. Lesson learned.

 

[mcarroll]

@TLCorals I've never heard of it hurting anything – like with most things, it's a beneficial in the tank.

So leave it alone.

It's been growing in the shaded spaces of my rock for almost ten years – so if it's gonna hurt anything, it's redefining slow-motion in the process.

You may have 99 problems, but this isn't one of them.

 

[Reef Stu]

Seeing as though the sponges are growing in the dark, under rocks. I would not worry about them growing on any coral. They also use silica to grow which is good because they compete with diatoms. The sponges filter your water too.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

The funnny thing about trying to remove sponges.

 

[Big G]

The funnny thing about trying to remove sponges.

Salty, that is so cool. Thanks. Yet another "teachable moment" on R2R! Awesome.

See my edit on previous post.

 

[Crabs McJones]

The funnny thing about trying to remove sponges.

Salty, that is so cool. Thanks. Yet another "teachable moment" on R2R! Awesome.

That's because Salty is the man!

 

[Reef Stu]

That’s awesome

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Salty, that is so cool. Thanks. Yet another "teachable moment" on R2R! Awesome.

That's because Salty is the man!

Lol. That’s cuz salty is a dork.

And loves micro fauna.

 

[Big G]

Lol. That’s cuz salty is a dork.

And loves micro fauna.

You are not alone my friend. Dork-ness is in by the way

 

[Reef Stu]

I guess I’m a dork too. I just bought this a few hours ago.

 

[mcarroll]

I've heard that similar is possible with anemones and mushroom corals – but I've never seen evidence of either one.

Way cool!

 

[Philler]

I just found this thread while trying to look up a spider web looking sponge in my tank and I think it's the same. Thanks for the great info everyone!!

Pic 1 is 2 months after pic 2. Since then I've moved their location and it grows pretty quickly. But it seems to stay in the dark areas mostly

 

[jtdesigner]

@TLCorals I've never heard of it hurting anything – like with most things, it's a beneficial in the tank.

So leave it alone.

It's been growing in the shaded spaces of my rock for almost ten years – so if it's gonna hurt anything, it's redefining slow-motion in the process.

You may have 99 problems, but this isn't one of them.

I have this as well and it did choke out my corals

 

[trigon 350]

I have this as well and it did choke out my corals

Yes its also choking my corals, how did you get rid of it?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Yes its also choking my corals, how did you get rid of it?

Some removal suggestions that may help:

The best way I've heard to control sponge growth at this point is to use a steel straw to scrape and siphon out the sponge you want to remove. Sometimes you can create bad conditions for them and kill them off that way, but that's typically much harder and not always effective.

Some other sponge removal methods:

Other suggestions include exposing the sponge to air (obviously not a guaranteed solution, and definitely not viable for this situation); hydrogen peroxide dipping the sponge (again, not viable here); injecting the sponge with hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, boiling water, or air; microbubbles in the display; and a few more. Predation is not usually a good solution for this issue

Basically, if the sponges have enough food and enough trace elements (which for most sponges includes silicates) to meet their needs, then you’ll see their populations booming.

If you can figure out what’s allowing them to thrive in your tank, then you can deal with that root cause and get rid of them.

Some people may suggest scrubbing with a soft toothbrush to try and avoid irritating the zoas.

Also, with regards to zoas and palys:

Yeah, if you do scrub it off in a bowl of tank water, since it's growing on palys, you may want to run carbon in the bowl to absorb any toxins.