White fungus type stuff building on my live rock

[mohitbijanya]

Hi guys,
I am new to saltwater tank. Built a 25 Gallon tank 15 days ago and i have few live rocks in it. One of them is getting white fungus kind of stuff and i am worried about it. Can someone help me finding what is it actually and if i need to remove the rock or any other remedy. Thanks

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Hi guys,
I am new to saltwater tank. Built a 25 Gallon tank 15 days ago and i have few live rocks in it. One of them is getting white fungus kind of stuff and i am worried about it. Can someone help me finding what is it actually and if i need to remove the rock or any other remedy. Thanks

Looks like sponge growth to me - generally harmless/beneficial:

Yeah, that's definitely a sponge. Most sponges are completely harmless/beneficial, but some can be invasive and/or harmful to corals (thankfully, these are rare).

To tell if a sponge is chemically harmful: if a healthy, established coral starts closing up or looking to be in bad shape on the side closest to the sponge as the sponge grows closer to it, and nothing else has happened (lighting changes, parameter swings, pests, etc.) that could explain it, then the sponge is probably chemically harmful.

Chemically harmful sponges are very rare.

For invasive sponges: unless it shows signs of being chemically harmful or starts actively growing over and smothering a coral's flesh/polyps, it's harmless. These can grow over the skeletons of corals, around the base/stalks of corals, even up into the water column above corals (where they're over the coral but not growing on the flesh or polyps themselves), etc. without harming the coral at all - as long as the coral flesh and polyps can get food, light, and flow, the sponge is harmless.

Invasive sponges are moderately rare.

Invasive and chemically harmful sponges are incredibly rare.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

I agree that it's sponge. I have sponge like that growing in my tank and I've seen no negative affects. It'll eventually die off after a few months.

 

[mohitbijanya]

Thanks guys for the explanation,
I will monitor if my small coral that came with the rock stays close for next 2-3 days(which means the sponge is chemically harmful). Although the tube worms are behaving normally on the rock.