What is this WHITE ROOTY THING?

[hjp109]

Hi Reefers,

Can anyone help me ID what is this white root like stuff growing on my rock. Currently, it's situated in one spot (mainly on one rock), but I see small little spots of these things growing on two other rocks close to it. Not sure if it's something of concern or not. It's growing around my cloves only, but has no effect on the cloves. See the attached pics.

 

[wienerdog]

WOW...have no idea. I am sure someone here will though. Is it anywhere else in your system?

 

[dnov99]

Looks like some type of sponge. Its harmless and beneficial, but it may choke out those cloves eventually.

 

[hjp109]

it is only on the rocks that are in direct contact with this rock as it is spreading. I did take some off the rock and it feels soft and spongy... it tends to hold the shape out of water, as well. Maybe it's a sponge... is it a good sponge or bad sponge? Should I try to pry it off the rock or leave it alone?

 

[mnat]

It is a sponge, and I agree with darren it can choke out some corals. Sponges are mostly beneficial for water quality and what not but again I would not let them get to close to the corals. Where some run into problems with the sponges is when they are exposed to air they begin to die rapidly and can become toxic. Some have reported issues with tank crashes coming from moving large amounts of sponge.

The good news is, to get rid of it you can literally just pull it off or use tweezers to get into it. You can then just leave it out in the air for a bit and then get the rest of it off.

 

[hjp109]

Thanks reefers... I already started taking it little by little. Hopefully, it won't spread like crazy. Is ther anyway to prevent this or does anyone know what causes this to grow?

 

[The_Codfather]

Thanks reefers... I already started taking it little by little. Hopefully, it won't spread like crazy. Is ther anyway to prevent this or does anyone know what causes this to grow?

Having a reef tank will causes this to grow.. all jokes aside... Sponges will just pop up out of nowhere.. a spore could have come on a frag, LR or anything that you have put in there

 

[shipwrecked]

Yep I agree Im sure if anyone that has a tank has these,but may just not see them,due in part they are growing under or behind rocks.You can manually pull it off as ya go or I had at one time small angels like flames,coral beauty's etc and they feed on sponges.Not that I would run out and get an angel just for this purpose cause from what I found its hit or miss if they are reef safe.Kinda kewl though on the diversity of a reef eh?

 

[qwik]

Nice addition to a fuge

 

[Jcurry@wesketch]

You can remove large pieces with a razor blade. Then propagate it and sell it to people who keep Angels.

 

[hjp109]

You can remove large pieces with a razor blade. Then propagate it and sell it to people who keep Angels.

Hahaha.. there is a new way to make some money.

On a serious note.. I did remove alot of it yesterday, not all.. as I didn't want to spike anything in my tank... I'm going to start taking off a little by little every week. I did remove it around the cloves and the cloves look much much happier today. At first I thought the cloves were growing and this was just their initial stage, but now I know it's a sponge... thanks to the experts on there.