timbudtwo Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 I have in my tank what I am guessing are sponge type tunicates. I do not think they are attractive and i do not know of a sure-fire way to rid my 20 gal of them. I heard that purple nudibranch eat sponges, but i also know that if they die they can easily pollute the tank, and that they also die at the drop of a hat. Is there a way that I can get rid of these other than by hand? Link to comment
Yves Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 expose them to air...they are good for your tank though.-Yves Link to comment
timbudtwo Posted November 1, 2003 Author Share Posted November 1, 2003 Thats it? So i could put a lees airstone on em for a couple seconds and they would croak? Link to comment
tinyreef Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 airstone on em for a couple seconds and they would croak? maybe but i'd doubt it actually. many sponges cannot expel air but then again many sponges can survive exposure, even long-term exposure. those pineapple or sycon sponges should be able to handle exposure (guessing from your description), they're tough hombres, which is usually pretty good. like yves notes, they are very beneficial to your system tho. they're basically tiny 'sponge' filters that you never have to clean and use no electricity. they are a sign of a balanced and diverse system imo. if it's just an aesthetic thing, then you may just want to pluck off the visible ones because i guarantee there's at least 3x as many unseen (e.g. behind/underneath the rock, in the filtration system, etc.). hth Link to comment
timbudtwo Posted November 1, 2003 Author Share Posted November 1, 2003 Yeah, i still think they are ugly! Link to comment
caja Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 Yes, but why do you want to kill them? Harmless. Link to comment
timbudtwo Posted November 1, 2003 Author Share Posted November 1, 2003 Well, i cant really move them and put them somewhere else can I? Link to comment
caja Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 I dunno about the dying at the drop of a hat and polluting the tank thing. I've had tunicates growing in my tank for 10 months now and they are fine. Just wondering if you can post a pic of these guys so we can see exactly what you're talking about. Link to comment
timbudtwo Posted November 1, 2003 Author Share Posted November 1, 2003 Im saying that the nudibranch die at a drop of a hat, not the tunicates Link to comment
caja Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 Gotcha, missed that, and yes you are correct. Link to comment
Fant Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 True tunicates offer an interesting aspect to your tank. Despite their less then attractive appearance they still represent a component of the ecosystem you are trying to reproduce. Besides.. biologically they are the closest thing in relation to you. Link to comment
timbudtwo Posted November 1, 2003 Author Share Posted November 1, 2003 Well, I am a creationist, so to me they are far from related. I dont think my sister is a sponge. Calcium and Potassium are close in structure, but as we know one has explosive effects on contact with water, while the other does not. But I do not wish to argue. If there was a way to cinfine them in one area like a refugium and not have them go into the main tank, then i would like them. But, to each his own. Some may wish to have them visable, while I do not. I guess i should not say I want them erradicated, I just don't want them in the abundance that they are in. Link to comment
Yves Posted November 2, 2003 Share Posted November 2, 2003 Sponges and Tunicates will sometimes survive exposure to air... they had to to get to our tanks =) they are made up of tiny passages where food is collected if air gets into these passages they will starve, but while breaking down they will cause your ammonia to rise I say just leave 'em and cover them with some mushrooms or zoo's, I have a pretty large lattice sponge that lives under a group of ricordea...while they (ricordea) are feeding I get a glimpse of that cool neon yellow sponge. Link to comment
JohnnyMTB Posted November 2, 2003 Share Posted November 2, 2003 I agree with Yves, just get something you like to cover them, GSP would be a good choice, along with any of the corallimorphs. Link to comment
kennerd Posted November 2, 2003 Share Posted November 2, 2003 A better description would shed a little light on this. If they are yellow, and you have a number of them, they are most likley sponges. If they are shaped like little pinapples, as ,mentioned before, there's proabably little chance of eradicating them. They really are excellent in the tank, and an indication of good water quality if they just appeared, or well-cared-for live rock, if they came in on it. By this I mean that the rock was wither carefully cured or came from a well-established system. The fact that you are looking for recommendations on adding an animal that, in many, many opinions, should not be collected from the wild to eradicate something that is a healthy hitchhiker is something I frown upon. Cover them up with rocks and frags, and when they grow up between zoos, shroooms, etc. it will look fantastic. If they are actually tunicates, there's a very god chance they'll be dead soon anyway, as they has just as poor a survival rate as the nudi. Link to comment
kennerd Posted November 2, 2003 Share Posted November 2, 2003 FYI: Yves, tunicates, or sea squirts, are actually filter feeding organisms that have one of the most simple sets of actual organs for digestion to live on, and take in, filter and expel water actively. OPposed to sponges which are mainly passive filter feeders. Link to comment
timbudtwo Posted November 2, 2003 Author Share Posted November 2, 2003 ill get you a couple marco shots when my parents awaken from their slumber Link to comment
timbudtwo Posted November 2, 2003 Author Share Posted November 2, 2003 and Hmm... they seem like the same photo(different angle when I took em)... but thay are not Link to comment
kennerd Posted November 2, 2003 Share Posted November 2, 2003 They don't look that big. How long have they been in there, how many do you have & are they basically on the undersides of rocks? How about a full-tank shot for chits & giggles. Link to comment
caja Posted November 2, 2003 Share Posted November 2, 2003 I agree, lets see how many are in there and where they are located. Link to comment
timbudtwo Posted November 2, 2003 Author Share Posted November 2, 2003 They are basically under the sides of the rock. My tank has been set up for aobut a year now, and they started coming in about 3 months ago give or take. Link to comment
caja Posted November 2, 2003 Share Posted November 2, 2003 Okay, so on the undersides of the rock, where there isn't much light. How many do you think are in there right now? Do they seem to be multipling? Link to comment
timbudtwo Posted November 3, 2003 Author Share Posted November 3, 2003 i dont see any in the light, but i cant turn the rocks over because I have corals on them. They're only about 20 which can be seen. But awhile ago there were many more, i just find them unnattractive. Here is the whole tank shot w/ lights on and no flash: Also, any idea what this is? Its been since i first started seeing the tunicates, i dont think its directly related. It seems to get eaten then grows back, but dosent get much larger than this. I havent seen any others of these either. Link to comment
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