little white spongy looking things

[Cruzan277]

I have been seeing alott of white spongy things popping up everywhere in my tank. Does anyone know what they are?

 

[Jeff Southernwood]

I get the same thing. I've been told that they are small sponges.

 

[mridgep]

Could also be sea squirts

 

[tim000]

do they look like little cotton balls?

 

[wastedincome420]

I'm going to jump on this too.
Tonite I move a chunk of LR and found a bunch of lil' white things kinda look like lil' cotton balls. Anyone knnow wat they are??

 

[kipreefer]

A remember a post awhile back that talked about this. They were supposedly sponges of some sort. They aer usually associated with matureing reef aquariums(under a year old) that are going good. You have no need to worry they wont hurt anything.

 

[amber]

If they look like little white pineapples, they are indeed sponges and good thing to have. I must have a million of them. amber

 

[Cruzan277]

Yep they look like little sponges. First noticed them in my sump, now there on rocks behind pumps, in my overflow. If there not going to hurt anything, and its a sign of a maturing tank then I will relax. Thanks guys. Anybody else have a different explanation dont hesitate. My tank has been going great, dont want any little sponges to start eating everything.

 

[mridgep]

If there seems to be any symetery to it it is 95% not a sponge. The white pineapple things are seasquirts.
I also thought that tunicates were clear. I could be wrong about the tunicates only being clear, but I'm sure about the pineapple things. I think

The roundishness of the sponge would look somewhat like a cotton ball.
I think what you are seeing is a sponge.

[ December 06, 2001: Message edited by: mridgep ]</p>

 

[Roach]

I have seen little white things on the bottom of coral frags before and the guy at my LFS always takes them off saying that they are parasites of some kind. They are usually about a quarter inch in diameter, white and kinda of puffy looking. They almost look like chopped up squid except the cling to the rock.

 

[Anonymous]

Cruzan,

You aren't really explaining what they look like. Like Amber said(by the way I like the description Amber) if they look like small white pineapples,then they are harmless sponges. They are one of two things,either sponges or tunicates(seasquirts). If they have two openings and no others they are more likely tunicates. If they resemble the average sponge,then they are sponges. Most sponges are harmless. Occasionally there are encrusting sponges that actually eat away at stony corals with a strong acid. But thise usually do not encrust things not made of calcium. So you would not see this sponge on your overflow. Unless you see them harming anything I would leave them be. Sponges are great filters.

 

[Anonymous]

I beg to differ mridgep,

The pineapple shaped things are sponges. Seasquirts(tunicates) have two siphons making them somewhat easy to ID(they may appear to have more if they are a colony massed together). Tunicates come in many different colors,white,red,orange,yellow,purple...etc.

 

[VkeSu]

I think I have both! I noticed last night the cotton balls w/small spikes . And in another shaded area a cream colored (slim looking) covering with two openings. Are these sea squirts ok?

 

[Anonymous]

The first you speak of is a sponge and the second sounds like a seasquirt.They are both signs of good water quality and they will both help keep it that way. They both feed on disolved nutrients and free floating plankton and algae.