ID Please -- interesting thing attached to my frogspawn frag

[ayaws]

I've noticed this small (roughly 1.5cm) egg sack looking thing attached to the base of my frogspawn. I haven't a clue what it is and could definitely use some help here. It's relatively soft since I've lightly poked it with a long stick. (Frogspawn stings the heck out of me so I stay away from it w/o gloves.)

I've poorly circled it in this pic -- this was taken before the main lights come on so it would be visible.:
View attachment 22921

Thanks for any help!
Adam

 

[Haddonisreef]

From the pic looks like a sponge

 

[zombie]

^this

 

[FinsUp]

From the pic looks like a sponge

that was my thought, too. I would take out the frag, and see if the weirdness is squishy/spongelike. If it is, you should be able to pull it off fairly easily. Sponges are great filters, but they're better to have in your sump than in the display. They can get a bit outta control in the display, and could overgrow some corals. Would I tear apart a display to eradicate them? Absolutely not. But... I would remove the ones that are easy to get to if I had nothing better to do.

 

[CRW Reef]

Sponge for sure

 

[ayaws]

Thanks everyone. I'll pull it out tonight.

Poking it with a cleaning stick, it certainly seems spongey!

 

[Balz3352]

Leave it!! Sponges are great! Just extra filtration and they don't hurt anything!

 

[zombie]

Either leave it on or if you decide to move it to your sump or elseware, make sure it is never exposed to air. Air exposure is certain death for sponges.

 

[ayaws]

Is that any air exposure is certain death to sponges?

Just curious since I bought this thing from an LFS who exposed the whole frag to air when removing it from the tank and it saw some air when I moved from the 90 to the 150G.

Hmm...now I'm at another impassable decision point...I love this hobby.

 

[zombie]

Not always. If any air get inside the tube while its being moved, its basically certain death.

 

[Highway66]

that was my thought, too. I would take out the frag, and see if the weirdness is squishy/spongelike. If it is, you should be able to pull it off fairly easily. Sponges are great filters, but they're better to have in your sump than in the display. They can get a bit outta control in the display, and could overgrow some corals. Would I tear apart a display to eradicate them? Absolutely not. But... I would remove the ones that are easy to get to if I had nothing better to do.

I agree. I have several different sponges in my display tank. Most I really like the look of and they are beneficial so I let them be, but... some can grow out of control and have strangled some of my zoas. So I have pulled them out and take tweezers and just pull most of it off. The ones that seem the most invasive in my tank are a pale white color.

 

[CRW Reef]

good read on sponges:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/6/inverts2

 

[ayaws]

Much appreciated. I suppose for now it's not bothering anything so it can stay. If that changes however, the tweezers might come out. As far as I can see it's the only one in the tank.

 

[jahmic]

I'd just leave it be. In all likelihood it will end up seeding your tank with sponges in your overflow/sump which will only be beneficial in the long run. It's very unlikely that the sponge will irritate your coral by sitting there.