Spores on zoas

[Chirag96]

2 of my zoas have got these spores and I am not sure what they are. I haven't seen it before. Any ideas? Is it dangerous? Does it need treatment?

 

[shakacuz]

seems to be sponges. filter feeder, but can overgrow your corals depending the type.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

If the zoas the sponges are closest to look unhappy, it may be wise to remove them; but if the zoas are totally fine with them there, then the sponges are most likely harmless and fine to leave.

Most sponges are harmless even if they're growing around the base of zoas, but some of them will kill the zoas off with chemicals and/or grow over the top of them and smother the zoas. In either of these cases, you'd want to remove the sponge.

 

[Chirag96]

If the zoas the sponges are closest to look unhappy, it may be wise to remove them; but if the zoas are totally fine with them there, then the sponges are most likely harmless and fine to leave.

Most sponges are harmless even if they're growing around the base of zoas, but some of them will kill the zoas off with chemicals and/or grow over the top of them and smother the zoas. In either of these cases, you'd want to remove the sponge.

Thanks. Just physically removing them will solve this issue right?

 

[shakacuz]

Thanks. Just physically removing them will solve this issue right?

yes, but try to get all of it otherwise it can and will grow back.

 

[Chirag96]

yes, but try to get all of it otherwise it can and will grow back.

Thank you. Is there any fish or CUC that will eat this stuff?

 

[archercorals]

Sponge

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Thank you. Is there any fish or CUC that will eat this stuff?

Maybe, maybe not:

Just to put this out there - the problem with using biological controls (i.e. something that eats it) with sponges is that there are a ton of different sponges, some of which look indistinguishable from others. Some of these sponges are inedible or extremely undesirable foods to some species (either because of chemical defenses* or just because of taste preferences) while being highly desirable to other species. So, even if you pull in a known sponge-eating species of fish/starfish/whatever, there's no guarantee it will eat the sponge you want it to eat. Also, many of these sponge-eating species eat other things (like coral) that you might not want them eating.

Long story short, manual removal is probably your best option for sponges until more study has been on both specific sponges and specific sponge-eaters, but you can try it if you want.

*Just as a note on the chemical defenses of sponges, many sponges produce chemicals to avoid being eaten. Some of these chemicals are more generalized, some of them are specifically anti-fish, some are specifically anti-echinoderm (starfish, urchin, etc.), etc. So, again, some things might eat one sponge but not another, and because of the whole indistinguishable thing mentioned above, the sponges that are and are not being eaten may look pretty much identical (some may be distinguished/ID'ed under microscopic investigation, others may need to be DNA tested to be distinguished/ID'ed).

Just my two cents here.

Manual removal is typically the best from what I've seen:

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
The best way I've heard to control sponge growth at this point is to use a steel straw to scrape and siphon out the sponge you want to remove. Sometimes you can create bad conditions for them and kill them off that way, but that's typically much harder and not always effective.

Some other sponge removal methods:

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
Generally speaking, the easiest way to remove sponges is to scrape them off (the best recommendation I've seen for this is to scrape it off and suction it out).

Other suggestions include exposing the sponge to air (obviously not a guaranteed solution, and definitely not viable for this situation); hydrogen peroxide dipping the sponge (again, not viable here); injecting the sponge with hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, boiling water, or air; microbubbles in the display; and a few more. Predation is not usually a good solution for this issue, and I explain why below: