Yellow sponge on zoa

[intyme]

I have a yellow sponge growing out of one of my zoas, I just noticed it last night, it covered up three quarters of all of the polyps. This morning I woke up and all the Zoas are back out. Should I attempt to remove the sponge? It's on a rock that I cannot remove from the tank. I may be able to remove the frag plug, I'm just not sure if the sponge is coming out of the rock or the plug.http://<a href="http://s207.photobucket.com/user/intyme425/media/AEFE9C7F-11C2-4598-A727-08A5954C70CA_10.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb191/intyme425/AEFE9C7F-11C2-4598-A727-08A5954C70CA_10.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo AEFE9C7F-11C2-4598-A727-08A5954C70CA_10.jpg"/></a>

 

[intyme]

No one?

 

[cloak]

I would just use some tweezers or perhaps a small screw driver and see if I could chip away at the sponge from week to week. (right before a water change) GL.

 

[intyme]

That won't cause the spores to fly everywhere? Should I keep my siphon hose right next to it?

 

[tmz]

It may feed them or as appears to be the case in your photo overwhelm them.
Some sponges can also release toxins. Some zoanthidae seem to have a symbiotic relationship with them. If it's yellow it's likely sulfur sponge,cliona celata.

The good news is the sponge is an indicator of good water quality and helps filter inorganic materials producing more exportable and bioavailable organic nutrients. The bad news is it's a boring sponge and can overwhelm corals and mollusks. It also bores into the aragonite making eradication difficult.

I'd take the piece out of the tank if possible,with care including gloves and eye protection ,tweeze out as much as you can; scape it with a pick or the edge of a very small screwdriver dipping it in a cup of tank water along the way. Mine turns the rinse water blue, when stressed from the scarping or brushing probably from a release of sulfides or something more troubling.

A peroxide bath following the manual removal may also help.

 

[midieval10]

If you can take the piece out, scrub it with a toothbrush and rinse it well. I have this white sponge that keeps growing over things and that's what I do.

 

[kichimark]

It may feed them or as appears to be the case in your photo overwhelm them.
Some sponges can also release toxins. Some zoanthidae seem to have a symbiotic relationship with them. If it's yellow it's likely sulfur sponge,cliona celata.

The good news is the sponge is an indicator of good water quality and helps filter inorganic materials producing more exportable and bioavailable organic nutrients. The bad news is it's a boring sponge and can overwhelm corals and mollusks. It also bores into the aragonite making eradication difficult.

I'd take the piece out of the tank if possible,with care including gloves and eye protection ,tweeze out as much as you can; scape it with a pick or the edge of a very small screwdriver dipping it in a cup of tank water along the way. Mine turns the rinse water blue, when stressed from the scarping or brushing probably from a release of sulfides or something more troubling.

A peroxide bath following the manual removal may also help.

Excellent post. I have the same sponge which grows in a certain patch of zoas. It does not grow fast for me and I just took out the largest chunk and placed it under a very large leather coral on some hardened epoxy. I sort of like the color so I kept it. .

 

[tmz]

Thanks, I like the color too. There's abit more info on sulfur sponge in this brief thread from another forum which may be of interest:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2545986&highlight=sulfur+sponge