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FAQs on Sponge Identification 8
Related Articles:
Sponges in Marine Aquariums Related
FAQs: Sponge ID 1,
Sponge ID 2, Sponge ID 3,
Sponge ID 4, Sponge ID 5,
Sponge ID 6,Sponge ID 7,
Sponge ID 9, Sponge ID 10,
Sponge ID 11, & Sponges 1, Sponges
2, Sponges 3,
Sponge Selection, Sponge
Compatibility, Sponge Systems,
Sponge Feeding, Sponge Disease,
Sponge Reproduction, | 
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Re: Purple coral alga... overcome with... sponges! 3/17/08
Thanks for the quick reply. I'm attaching some pictures of the alga
I was
asking about. You say more info will help. Tank is a 24 gal
nanocube w/3
peppermint shrimp, 6 hermit crabs, 1 clown fish.
<Looks very nice... I do think you have sponges here... Read on WWM
re... Bob Fenner, who wonders what might be a connection twixt your
family name and that of the Avocado, Persica americana...> | 
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Sponge IDs... 03/15/2008
Good day! Can you help me identify
these sponges? i found them on intertidal zone, in a seagrass community.
Thank you.
<Mmm, nope! I suggest you try finding, looking through a
reference work or two that deals with Poriferans in the geographical
area these were extracted. Bob Fenner> |  .JPG)
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Polyps of some sort in my sump? (sponge ID) 3/14/08
Crew -
At
some point I hope to have a refugium in my sump. For now there is no
light, just a rock beside a bag of activated charcoal where my refugium
may be one day. However, I have a new development in the past couple of
weeks, and while I like to see new life, I have no idea what's going on
here. Suddenly these little critters are all over my sump. Would you
please identify and tell me if they are a positive or negative life form
to have in the sump?
<They are harmless Syconoid sponges.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/spgidf6.htm>
I don't know if I should
clean them out or rejoice that they exist.
<It's your call. There's
no need to clean them out if they're not bothering you.>
Pics are
attached. Thanks for any help, as always.
Regards
<De nada,
Sara M.> Re: Polyps of some
sort in my sump?
Wonderful! Thanks for the ID. Looks like my
nutrient levels have risen to support these. I'll check to see if my
skimmer pump filter is clogged since I have noticed reduced skimmate the
past week - just before these little guys arrived.
<Well, in many
ways, they are little filters themselves. ;-) They usually come in boom
and bust cycles. People seem to get them in droves all of a sudden, but
then they don't last.>
Joel
<Best,
Sara M.> | 
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ID and removal of yellow cave-dwelling balls 02/19/2008
Hello,
<<G'morning. Andrew today>>
We bought an existing marine reef
aquarium, 45 gallon long, without knowing what we were getting into.
Fortunately, with great help from the wet web media forum [and Bob's
seminal book], it has been a thrilling roller-coaster ride of discovery
and success. Maybe too much so.
<<Sounds like a wonderful journey
your embarking on>>
Starting out with pretty much all the wrong
equipment [and a nitrate reading of 100 ppm], it is nice to say that at
the end of two months everything and everybody seems extremely healthy
[purple mushroom corals are at 5" diameter, one Domino damsel is
possibly over 4" in length, chemistry great, lots of exciting stories,
etc].
<<Great news>>
Everything is healthy . and growing. So much
so that we now may have a problem with an unidentified yellow ball
something [sponge?] that likes to grow in caves or reduced light areas
[and propagate]. Original there were3 attached under one rock in a cave
like setting. That cave now has six and there are at least 4 other
locations with these yellow fellows.
<<Yes, these are sponges,
harmless filter feeders and will come and go, depending on nutrient
levels. More info can be found here
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/sponges.htm >>
The problem is one of the
original yellow balls has gotten so big that it is threatening to
dislodge some rock from a crack it 'grew into'. The question is safe
removal.
If you know what these are, can you provide advice on the
proper way to harvest them. If the one can be saved, great. If not, can
it be removed without harm to the other occupants of the habitat?
<<Removing it is not a problem and it will not effect the others near
by. Safely remove with a scalpel blade or other sharp bladed instrument
and attach to a rock with some fishing line>>
Knowing the great level
of support all of you provide it is easy to imagine how busy you must
be. I apologize for adding to the work load with this question. Hope it
is not an 'easy' simple thing that could have [should have] been figured
out. Please be assured that what you do does make a difference. Dana C.
Andrews, B.S.
<<Your questions are most welcome, so, no apology is
needed. Thanks. A Nixon>> | 
Zee spongee!
|
20gal Nano Reef/Sponge ID 11/21/2008
Good day Scott V/WWM Crew,
<Hello Adriel, Mich here.>
Thanks
for all your help!!!
<On behalf of Bob and the crew, you are
welcome.>
I have a couple more questions. I've enclosed a picture
of a sponge (I don't know what kind it is) just purchased recently.
<Very few sponges can be positively identified without examining the
internal skeletal structures. Sponges like yours are typically quite
challenging to keep alive.>
The sponge is the only livestock
(apart from a purple tang from my 150gal FO).
<Oh, I'm hoping
you don't plan on keeping the Purple Tang in the 20 gallon for
anything other than temporary quarantine.>
I was wondering if the
sponge would be better off in a separate 25 gal that houses only
Tubastrea?
<The problem with sponges is, they can die and take
out the other inhabitants of the tank with them.>
Is any light
required at all?
<Not typically.>
Would placing it in a well
lit sump/refugium (150w MH 5200k) of a FOWLR be a better option?
<Better be placed in the dark in a high nutrient environment, again,
sponges are often very difficult to keep sustained in the home
aquarium.>
Thanks for any help that you can offer,
<Hope this
is helpful.>
Adriel
<Mich> |
Bluish gray fuzzy ,cotton candy, web looking, is it fungus, bacteria
or sponge? 2/8/08
Hello crew member's of WWM
<Bridget>
I am kind of new to having a reef tank less than a year and really
need your expertise!
Could you please help me?
<Yes, and will>
My husband's buddy has this stuff in "groups" on his live rock all
over his tank. originally they thought it was copepod eggs or
something, so he gave my husband a couple rocks with it on it as we
are planning on getting a scooter blenny or a mandarin goby in the
next few months and thought the extra copepods would be good for
them since our tank that is less then a year old . Well as soon as
he brought it home, I thought it looked suspicious and starting
searching the inter-web for it. I couldn't find it anywhere which
leads me to wonder what did he just stick in our tank?
<A sponge>
The suspicious "stuff" is kind of bluish gray, looks kind of like a
cotton candy or a web of some sort, may even be slimy, has little
white dots which look to be eggs, almost like it is a cocoon. and if
you look close it has translucent "slimy looking" holes that almost
look like volcanoes where something emerged from it,
<These are
"osculae"... "little mouths"... excurrent pores/openings...>
This
"stuff" is kind of weird and worries me that it is in our tank I
want him to take it out but he wont until I prove to him it might
harm our other corals.
<I would leave in>
I put a pic on a
different web site asking what this was
The people that responded
said a blue sponge
<This is so>
But I still am not to sure of
this. I know there are over 9000 different species of sponges and I
have looked at hundreds and hundreds of pictures off the web
and
none are similar enough to say yeah that is it.
<Are adaptive,
polymorphous species... taking various forms depending on "current
conditions"... of light, current, foods...>
So I was wondering do
you think it might be a sponge as well? If so what kind it might be?
is it good or bad?
<Please read here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/sponges.htm>
I have read that sponges die
as soon as they hit the air
<Mmm, not all>
and we have exposed
them to air as we thought they might be copepod cocoons (are there
even copepod cocoons or do they just lay their eggs in the
substrate?)
<Are not Copepods, cocoons... don't lay eggs thus...>
and they are still alive and doing well.
I have attached a few
pictures
Thank you in advanced for your time and input
It is
much appreciated
Sincerely
Bridget
<Bob Fenner, who urges
you to focus your curious mind, keep investigating, sharing...>
Re: Bluish gray fuzzy ,cotton candy, web looking, is it fungus,
bacteria or sponge? 2/9/08
ahhhhh Thank you Bob
Now I can
sleep at night not having night mares that something is going to
take over our tank.. lol
Your time and wisdom is much appreciated
Sincerely
Bridget
<Heeeee! Wish I had more of the first and
any of the last. Cheers! BobF> |
Nice photo, specimen, sys. RMF |
Strange Growths On Live Rock, sponge ID -01/30/08
Hello Again
Crew!
I'll jump right to my question. I've been attempting to
gain some insight into what it is that's taken up residence in my
live rock.
<sponge>
I have likely have three (that I can see
anyway) of these strange growths in the impressions in the live
rock. I have sent along a picture as well for you to have a look at.
The best way to describe these are as follows: 1) They look like
cocoons for lack of a better way to describe it. I'd say like a dust
ball as a different way to describe it also. 2) While it's somewhat
grey, it does distinctly have a pale greenish hue to the structure.
3) It has three or more holes in it that looks as though something
has burrowed in, or burrowed out of it. 4) All are approximately the
size of a pinky finger tip and smaller.
<Sponge, maybe syconoid
sponges.>
I have never seen anything coming or going from these
structures, nor have I ever witnessed any tentacles coming from it
either day or night. The rock didn't come with these on them (at
least not in the locations where they are at present). So they have
developed in
the time I have had the rock. Could it be the
birthplace of some form of worm? Or of some other critter? My
searching for answers has met with little result to this point so
I'm hoping all that knowledge over there may have encountered this
at some point along the way!
<Indeed, many, many times... these
little sponges are almost ubiquitous among diverse, well maintained
reef tanks-- and even among many that are not.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/spongefaq3.htm>
Many thanks in
advance. You're all doing wonderful work.
<Gracias>
Kevin
<Best,
Sara M.> |  
Oh yeah. RMF.
|
ID Please: Cirrhilabrus exquisitus and Syconoid Sponges – 1/28/08
<Hi there!>
Can someone please tell me what these are in the
attached photos from my reef tank? They look like some sort of egg
sacs, and if they are sacs of some creature that I don't want in my
tank, then I would just as soon remove them now. If they are
something I would like, then obviously I would keep them.
<No
worries with these, you can keep them. They’re harmless, filter
feeding sponges in the genus Sycon, also called Syconoid sponges.
For more information/photos, please see the FAQ's at this link (and
related links above):
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/spgidf7.htm >
For your info, I have:
1 Naso Tang
1 Foxface Tang
4
clownfish
2 black clowns
1 Snowflake eel
1 Fu Manchu lion
1 yellow angel
1 electric flame scallop <Very difficult to keep.>
numerous snails
two tiny hermits that stowed away with the snails
some chromis that disappeared (lion food?)
2 Wrasse (type
unknown, will attach pic also).
<Looks like the Fairy Wrasse
Cirrhilabrus exquisitus, commonly called the Exquisite Wrasse.
Considering all those colors, I'd say that it’s a very apt name! By
the way, color can vary depending on place of origin, whether it’s
male or female, etc. Here’s a photo of one for comparison (and
lookee there, it’s Bob’s photo!).
http://wetwebfotos.com/media/medium/1/600_Cirrhilabrus_exquisitusAQ.tif.jpg
More information on this genus:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/fishes/wrasses/cirrhilabrus/index.htm
>
Thank you.
<You’re very welcome! Take care. – Lynn> | .jpg) .jpg) 
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