White sponge (killing zoas)

[EricR]

Check if it has the little tuft/ring around the hole. It looks like it does in the photo, which would mean pineapple sponge. If not, it's not a pineapple.

No tuft like top of pineapple ... perfectly smooth ... like a porous egg with a clean hole drilled down the middle.
*can't get a good pic 'cause it's in the back corner of my tank with no access around the glass ... guess I need a submersible GoPro or something

 

[Tired]

Ah, so that's not a pineapple sponge. Might still be harmless, many are, but best removed if it starts growing particularly fast.

 

[EricR]

Ok,,, so -- this sponge is getting bigger and starting to wreak havoc ,,, someone needs to extract it.
*any way I can transplant it without killing it? (I assume not)

Bad flashlight pic from this morning before lights on:

 

[Tired]

If you pull it off in approximately one piece and put it somewhere else, it may reattach and/or continue to grow in the new spot. Sponges, unlike tunicates, don't really have any organs to worry about squishing. They can regrow from small pieces, so a big chunk should grow just fine if put in conditions it likes.

 

[EricR]

If you pull it off in approximately one piece and put it somewhere else, it may reattach and/or continue to grow in the new spot. Sponges, unlike tunicates, don't really have any organs to worry about squishing. They can regrow from small pieces, so a big chunk should grow just fine if put in conditions it likes.

Your suggestion would be to just "shove" it somewhere, right?
...meaning, not like I can super glue it underneath an overhang,,, correct?

 

[Tired]

I'm not sure what it would think of the superglue, honestly. They're quite porous, so I'm not sure if the glue would seep into the sponge and damage it. That would be less likely with gel superglue, but I'd guess still possible.

My suggestion would be to try to wedge it somewhere, and it should attach of its own accord. You could use some temporary wedging objects under your overhang, then remove those objects once it's hopefully attached.

 

[EricR]

It was indeed a pineapple sponge -- my bad.
*couldn't see it clearly where it was at in the tank

Extracted it with dental tool but ripped it in half.

Here's the top half (laying sideways):

 

[Tired]

That's a very fat pineapple sponge. I wonder if it's a slightly different species?

Stick it somewhere, it might grow. You probably have more anyway- they're pretty common.

 

[EricR]

That's a very fat pineapple sponge. I wonder if it's a slightly different species?

Stick it somewhere, it might grow. You probably have more anyway- they're pretty common.

Thanks for all of your input ,,, much appreciated.
Based on reading (pros/cons) I'll probably not bother trying to put it back in the tank.
*but it was interesting to figure out that 3/4 of my kids didn't know sponges were actual living, oceanic creatures,,, and they all even watched Sponge Bob ... that part was a surprising eye-opener for me

 

[TinyReef522]

Having the same issue with my 90g tank right now. Had this crap come on a darth maul zoa frag I bought less than a year ago. I first noticed it on the zoas, then it spread from the plug to the rock the plug was glued on, to now it’s growing almost everywhere. I asked every LFS, even the one I got the zoas from and they said it’s no biggie just a regular sponge.

well let me tell you whatever it is, it grows at an incredible rate and definitely damages zoas from what I can see. Who knows what else it could has been hurting with toxins etc.




that was when first picked up the plug off the rock and scraped some of it off. Made the huge mistake of not getting 100% rid of it.

Now this is the same rock, same zoas, about 6 months down the road


I think today I am going to remove that entire rock and completely clean it off again. As for the darth mauls not really sure what I’m going to do, they’re almost as good as gone at this point.

I have a small amount of this on one of my rocks and I am considering just pulling the whole rock. Did you end up beating it?

 

[Rawsreef]

I have a small amount of this on one of my rocks and I am considering just pulling the whole rock. Did you end up beating it?

I would definitely say you should pull the rock and get it cleaned before it gets out of control.

I did get rid of most the nuisance sponge but I wouldn't call it a win.

I ended up losing the frag when I scrubbed the sponges off. Probably scrubbed them too hard. I ended up having to take the rock out and scrub the crap out of it and rinse before placing back in tank. I haven't seen any more of it since honestly