Common trait of nuisance sponges?

[wds21921]

Is this a common trait for nuisance sponges to try and camoflouge themselves by picking colors (and possibly nutrients) from a nearby host?

I've got a few that mimic the color of my bright purple mushrooms exactly. Just wondering if this is common with other colors as well, say greens and browns especially?

 

[bloopbloop]

Yes. YEs. YES!

I've had red and yellow and pink and green, purple and oranggge n blueee they can make a rainbow, make a rainbow for j0000.

Okay, so I've had yellowy green (killed my green zoas), purple (killed coralline), white (had nothing but rock to suck on), and black (killed my black algae, oh noes ~monotone voice~).

The ones that killed the green zoas were hydroids. I suspect they may all be.

 

[kaptken]

Idon't know if sponges morph to the colors of nearby corals, seems a little odd. but i too have a variety of colors of little 1/4 or a bit larger type sponges that normally grow in the shade on the bottom side of rock. They are part of the CRYPTIC organisms that are beneficial and help filter debris out of the water. good stuff and fun to look at with a magnifying glass.

I get yellow, lavender, white, blue, orange, and black. they just show up in cracks from time to time.

 

[bloopbloop]

Ken, would they be cycanoid (sp.) sponges?

These are naughty 'sponges'. Not sponges at all I suspect. At least one variety I had wasn't. Was quite tubular. Hydroid, I think.

Two others I've seen in my tank were one lump sponge with a feeding hole protruding or retracting at any given time and off white in color. The other was cellular looking and clear or white. Both have leached from whatever is near 'til I scrape them off (hopefully, successfully).

 

[kaptken]

sounds like something different from sponges. whats a cycanoid? a paranoid cycic?

 

[bloopbloop]

Pllllbbbt!

***WARNING: post contains L33T scientific terminology***

Cycanoid sponges are little teardrop shaped sponges with little frilly things at their mouths. They have balance a poorly balanced tank (in a nutshell), or so I read a few years back. Somethin' like that. Or somethin' else. <----Comment thrown in to deter responsibility brought about by poor information source reporting or translation.

I am NOT a paranoid psychic! They REALLY are after me!

 

[kaptken]

I never heard o fsponges with little hairy things, like whiskers on their mouth.
OH NO!!!! Dont look now, they are changing colors!!! right behind your back...

 

[bloopbloop]

http://bio.fsu.edu/~bsc2011l/graphics/Kingdom_Animalia/1_Phylum_Porifera/1_SyconoidWholemount.jpg

They're're REAL!

 

[bloopbloop]

OMG my URL doesn't work. GRRR! LOL


http://bio.fsu.edu/~bsc2011l/graphics/Kingdom_Animalia/1_Phylum_Porifera/1_SyconoidWholemount.jpg

Paste that, see if it works! I am sniffling!

 

[kaptken]

hey bloop, try again, the link doesnt work. maybe you are doing somethin wrong on posting links?

 

[kaptken]

Oh, that worked,, interesting. but i dont think ive ever seen one. or a hydroid. you must be lucky or something...

 

[bloopbloop]

What sponges are you talking about? The pic I posted is not a good representation of what I have. Ones I have are whiter and smooth.