Possibly photosynthetic sponge ID, Question about Growth and care

[ArtsyAxolotl]

A friend of mine gave me a piece of a sponge in his reef tank. He said it's photosynthetic, as he doesn't feed it anything and it grows like crazy. It came with the webby looking edges and was more of a blue color than maroon, but that might be the color of my lights.

It seems to be doing ok, there's a nub starting to form on the sponge's right side in the photo that I'm 98% sure wasn't there when I got it, but it also looks... lumpier when I got it.

So my questions are

1) What kind of sponge is this?
2) Is it truly photosynthetic? Should I be feeding it even if it is photosynthetic?
3) Is the webby edges dying tissue or growing tissue? Should I remove it?
4) Is the lumpy part of the middle something to worry about or is that how sponges look?

I just had a small bloom of cyano so I think that's where the coppery color came from on the webbing. It definitely never touched air. I was very careful not to let it be out of the water.

Any tips you can give me about this guy would be awesome!

 

[GoingPostal]

Looks like the red plating sponge liveaquaria and a few other places sell. I picked one up a few weeks ago but haven't found much info about them.

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

Oh! Yea, it does look like that! Maybe that's what it is then, and my friend's lights made it look more bluish? How's yours doing? Do you feed it at all or does it just kinda do its thing?

Any ideas what the frayed part on the edges is? I just caught my emerald crab picking that stuff off and I want to know if it's dying tissue or if my emerald is just being a jerk. Or both lol

 

[juniorrocketdad]

I'm no spong expert but I thought they all were nps?

 

[SeaCucumberFan]

i'm no spong expert but i thought they all were nps?

+1

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

Are they? I'm no sponge expert either That red plating sponge GoingPostal linked says photosynthetic as well though. I wonder if my friend's sponge was eating whatever leftover coral smoothie didn't get eaten by his corals. I know my gorgonians love CS. I'll try target feeding it that and see if it looks any different.

 

[GoingPostal]

I've had mine about a month and it looks exactly the same as when I bought it. No frayed edges and sort of shiny. What little I could find on it said high light, high flow and feeding can't hurt.

 

[GoingPostal]

My frag for comparison

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

What a pretty piece of sponge :O I'm wondering if the webbing on mine is the sponge dying back in spots, then. Mine is also shiny but if yours doesn't have webbing then maybe mine got damaged somehow. I'll definitely try feeding it some and see what happens. I already has pretty good flow and high light, so hopefully I'm good there.


Side note, does anyone know of a good website to buy sponges? I really like them (almost as much as I like gorgs!) but it's hard to find more than the bright red tree corals. Mostly because searching "aquarium sponge for sale" on google brings up filter sponges, haha. There was a blue colored sponge (haliclona I think it was called?) that looks really cool that I'd love to try, if I could find it in stock somewhere. ((Obviously since I don't know what this sponge is doing, I won't go crazy and buy a bunch of sponge now, but I always like to plan ahead and research.))

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

If there's anyone around who knows more about sponges than I do I'd appreciate any advice, especially on the health of the specific piece I have up there. For now I'm gonna experiment with foods and see if it likes anything.

 

[dendrite]

try KP aquatics for sponges , online sellers out of Florida.The descriptions are pretty good with which are photosynthetic and which not

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

Well I guess I don't have to worry about the webby stuff, as my emerald crab ate it all. Left the rest of the sponge alone, so I can only assume it was dying tissue and not a growing portion.

I checked out KP Aquatics, looks really cool! Might pick up something from them next time I have some cash to spare! Thanks!

 

[olemiss reb]

It's a Collospongia sp. They're photosynthetic. The webbing looks like new growth but it's normally white. Lumpy part is just how it's growing. I have a blue species all throughout my 90. It can be a pita but it is easy to peel off the rocks when growth gets out of control. I have the red in my 75. The red is growing at a much slower pace. Not sure why but the water in the 90 is much dirtier...

I've exposed it to air numerous times and never had any issues.

Blue--

Red---

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

Welllll its not new growth anymore lol. My emerald crab is a jerk and ate the webby stuff off it :/ How come mine is so... red? It was more of a bluish purple color in my friend's tank but now its really maroon colored.


Actually come to think of it, a lot of the stuff I bought for my tank that had tints of blue and green are very peachy colored now. hmm...


You've got some lovely sponge in there! I hope mine lives long enough to grow out as much as yours is :O

 

[GoingPostal]

Ooooh now I want the blue kind too! Kp aquatics is great, just got an order of gorgs and other goodies from them.

Maybe the webbing was growth that had died off-hence why it looked weird and the crab cleaned it up? Color difference is probably just lighting.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Emerald crabs are the devil :hammer: They do not belong in a reef tank, they'll eat your corals and your fish too. :uzi:

As far as the sponge goes, they're filter feeders and some are NPS others are not. I personally can't tell the difference in them. I've got tons of different sponges growing in my DT and in my sump. All kinds of colors too. I love the stuff

 

[SeaCucumberFan]

Emerald crabs are the devil :hammer: They do not belong in a reef tank, they'll eat your corals and your fish too. :uzi:

Not for me I have tons of them over 2 inches long

 

[Ron Reefman]

I'm no spong expert but I thought they all were nps?

+1

Emerald crabs are the devil :hammer: They do not belong in a reef tank, they'll eat your corals and your fish too. :uzi:

As far as the sponge goes, they're filter feeders and some are NPS others are not. I personally can't tell the difference in them. I've got tons of different sponges growing in my DT and in my sump. All kinds of colors too. I love the stuff

First, some sponges do use photosynthetic zooxanthellae and some don't. I don't know the percentages.

Second, the food that sponges utilize is way smaller than anything we feed our tanks. They are filter feeders and the tiny 'pores' they use to intake food is extremely small, even coral food is too big. This is why most sponges die in our tanks.

Third, just as a side note, most sponges die if lifted out of the water for even a second. Not all, but most. Those tiny intake opening get air trapped in them almost instantly and they can't expel the air once back in the water. Due to the air, they now can't eat and as some cells die off they contaminate the cells around them and over a week or a month they end up dying completely. However, here in SW Florida we have found 2 sponges that wash up on the beach during a storm. And even after extended amounts of time (hours) out of the water, they have survived in aquariums. They appear to be photosynthetic and are probably a shallow tidal sponge that has evolved to be able to tolerate exposure to air.

Finally, I have several emerald crabs in my tank. They are scavengers and mostly herbivorous. They go after nori in a clip almost as fast as my tangs do. I've never seen one take on a live fish... they are just too small. However, they are unlikely to do well in a reef tank unless you feed them. They will do much better in a refugium or planted tank.

 

[johnike]

Not for me I have tons of them over 2 inches long

Pics, please!!

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

I definitely learned the hard way that Emeralds will eat anything if they're not well fed. I never thought he'd go after the sponge or one of my Gorgs. I just gotta remember to feed him. He loves his algae wafers and that usually settles him right down. Otherwise he doesn't bug my corals besides climbing on them sometimes.

I've been spritzing the sponge with coral smoothie during feedings and nothing is really changing. Which I guess is good since its not dying The nubby on the right side is definitely getting bigger so I'm just gonna try to leave it alone.