Encrusting sponge

[GPCRalph]

Hi,

I bought a christmas tree coral peice the other day and it had a few different peices of sponge on it. I think it is sponge. There are three peices; one is purple, orange, and yellow. My question is: How do I care for these sponges? Is light an issue with them? etc.

 

Ralph

[flaunt]

IME, the encrusting sponges are much easier to keep around than non-encrusting. i have some that do well in both light and dark but they strongly prefer the dark as exhibited by their higher growth rates. be careful around them if you ever brush the rock off as their skins are very fragile and will tear easily. i've torn sponges several times on accident. the exception would be if you notice algae buildup on them, then you should definitely brush it off because they'll almost certainly die as the growth takes them over. so here's what i'd recommend:

 

1. if possible, put the sponge growth in a somewhat dark area of the tank and an area with subdued water flow

2. if you have any, feed them DT's phytoplankton

 

oh and a question... when you got this rock did the LFS person take the piece completely out of water? if your LFS is like mine they probably do that unless u specifically ask them not to: whenever i buy something with obvious sponge growth i ask them to put the bag down into the tank so the sponge doesn't get exposed to air. if air gets in the canals of the sponge it often times can't evacuate it will wither away and die in time.

 

i've got some orange and pink encrusting sponges that have been doing very well for almost a year now, so you shouldn't have trouble with them i think. your purple one would be interesting to see pictures of!

[GPCRalph]

Hi,

My lfs did take it out of the water, is there any way I can tell if the air exposure affected the sponges? I'm gald I spoke to you because he told me that light shouldn't affect it too much since I use power compacts and that to place it in an area of heavy water flow. I do use DT's phytoplankton so hopefully that will help. Thank for your advise. I will try to reposition the peice tonight. I will try to get a pic of this peice and the tank as a whole very soon.

 

Thanks again,

Ralph

[chufa]

I have several encrusted sponges. they have done good since 2 months ago when I got the rock. The rock was taken out of the water, and it did not kill the sponges.

 

A warning about encrusted sponges: be careful when placing agrgressive corals on top of rocks that contain these sponges. The sponges can release toxins in to the water as a defense from the coral, potentially damaging corals in your tank.

[printerdown01]

The sponges should be fine, they have probably been removed from the water several times before they reached your hands... Considering that they are growing on a rock with coral, I don't think light will be an issue. The primary issue with light and sponges, is that light will cause algae growth, which will cover and "choke out" (block it from being able to absorb nutrients) the sponge. You can usually use a 1ml pipette (or turkey baster in a larger tank) to "cause a storm" and blow the algae off the top of the sponge. -It will remain happy and healthy. It will probably do just fine w/o feeding, but you will most likely find that if you add phyto you will bet much better growth (I say most likely because some sponges utilize bacterial plankton -in this case, just stir-up your sand bed in a SMALL cricle, you will essentially kick up tons of bacteria into your water column).

[flaunt]

i don't know how you can tell just from looking at it if there might be air trapped inside (unless it's a huge air bubble which would be obvious)... printerdown is right though, the things have most definitely been exposed to air before getting to the LFS, but IMO it doesn't make sense to further expose them to air and take another risk.