parasite choking a zoa stalk? ID please?

[cindyp]

hello all!

 

i have had no luck on my tank thread.

this thing is deep maroon in color and started

out thinner and a horse shoe around this particular

zoa stalk. now, a month or six weeks later, it's

grown into a giant donut around the zoa's neck.

 

the zoa still opens. but i'm thinking it is a parasite

and no good, and will cut it off? or try to? some suggest

just cutting the zoa off.

 

does anyone know what this is?

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Looks like some sort of sponge or tunicate. Does it react when you poke it? Any chance you could ease it off the zoa?

[cindyp]

Looks like some sort of sponge or tunicate. Does it react when you poke it? Any chance you could ease it off the zoa?

 

i have not touched it. but i plan to today or tomorrow

for the next tank cleaning. i was gonna KIIIIIIIL IT!

 

no?

 

i'm not a fan of sponges--but i only had the very invasive

encrusting kind--clear white jelly fingers. ugly.

[metrokat]

Chop off the polyp. It's a sponge.

[cindyp]

Chop off the polyp. It's a sponge.

 

thanks, kat. i've read much sponge love online as

filters, but i've only found them to be parastitic and invasive!

[jamescstein]

The back of my AIO is filled with pineapple sponges.. They can stay, as long as they stay back there.

[ajmckay]

Oh Snap! I have a few of those on a zoa rock I just got... They aren't near the polyps yet, but I was wondering what it was. Initially I was hoping it was a scutus or something but it didn't move. When I touch it it's smooth and rubbery feeling. The rock also has other more obvious sponges in it, but the side opposite the zoas.

[amphipod]

Probably just chance it grew in that location

[ajmckay]

I took a pic of mine... Strange that we're both seeing these strange sponges right next to zoas. Also as you can see I apparently lied in my initial response, it's right next to some zoas and it's obviously blocking their colonization. I'll probably try to remove the sponge soon before it gets any bigger.

 

Also I apparently got a few hitchers on this rock... A chunk of zoas from the middle disappeared the other day - found them a few rocks over, attached to a bivalve of some sort that apparently wasn't happy where it was.

 

[cindyp]

I took a pic of mine... Strange that we're both seeing these strange sponges right next to zoas. Also as you can see I apparently lied in my initial response, it's right next to some zoas and it's obviously blocking their colonization. I'll probably try to remove the sponge soon before it gets any bigger.

 

Also I apparently got a few hitchers on this rock... A chunk of zoas from the middle disappeared the other day - found them a few rocks over, attached to a bivalve of some sort that apparently wasn't happy where it was.

 

 

good foto. mine looks like that too, a bunch

of zoas on a rock. and i popped that donut sponge

right off when i did my cleaning. they are also splatted

flat on the rock too, and i'll be keeping an eye on that.

 

they are not black sponge, as someone had IDed on my

build thread. good luck! i didn't need a razor, i just eased it right

off as phoenix suggested above.