Sponge

Is this a sponge in the attached picture? It's on a piece of my LR that I flipped upside down the other day. It's now facing up and toward the T-5's and a little piece of it is starting to turn brown and looks dead. Now my water tests are showing a little nitite (< .25) and I'm concerned it's causing problems. Any ideas what I should do about this little problem?

 

Ya looks like it. I would just do a water change now and then one in a week

J

 

looks like a very tiny finger leather, but probably just a harmless sponge. Sponge's I dont think require very clean water, they want water rich in organics and plankton.

 

Do they like low light? It seemed to be fine until flipped the rock and it was not hidden from the light anymore.

 

I have that sponge in my tank, actually its great for adhering the rocks together for added stability ;D Sometimes it can get a bit much and grows all over the place, but you don't really see it unless you're moving stuff around in the tank. For the most part it likes really low light as I've never found it growing on the rock surface, just the undersides.

Christy

 

Read my article on family Porifera(the sponges)! It will help you regarding sponges. In a nut shell rhough, it looks like a sponge to me though the picture really isn't that clear. Sponges don't require intense lighting. They cant me removed from water or air gets trapped inside and they cant rid themselves of the trapped air, causing them to die. When they die the sponge turns white. They are excellent filter feeders and do an awesome job of cleaning your water as they turn over water at a very high rate. A small piece of sponge that size probably would contribute that much to the nitrate problem you have. Are you over feeding? Did you add a fish to your tank recently? These could affect your nitrates. Perform a water change to aid in lowereing nitrates.

 

You say a small piece of sponge would or wouldn't contribute to my nitrates. The sponge has always been white and seems to be turning brown since it got more light. Nothing new in the tank, I do need to do a water change in the next couple of days though. Great info, thanks!

 

No, it wouldn't make your nitrates go up. Sponges come in a variety of colors from cream color to blue and many colors in between. The sponge turning from a whitish color to brown is probably due to algae on your sponge. It really shouldn't affect the overall health of your sponge. I have the same kind of sponge on some of my live rock and it is kind of a cream/light brown color as well. It has been like that for a year or so. I would add some carbon to your filter as well to remove some impurities and again a water change.