what the hell is this

[duke62]

ive had this rock in my tank for months.what is that black growing around the rock.its slimey and it looks like its taking over the rock

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Black Sponge

 

[duke62]

good or bad

 

[DontXtripNfall]

good look up some research on sponges

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

ive had this rock in my tank for months.what is that black growing around the rock.its slimey and it looks like its taking over the rock

;-) Hi duke62
From the looks in your photograph it looks to be Collospongia auris of which you may see some images in the link I placed. Should it be so then although beautiful and very hardy, it can overgrow almost everything, including corals (please see the pictures in the article of the link), so as long as you keep it under control, which means that every now and then you will trim it as needed, it can be an interesting sponge to keep, otherwise it could become a nuisance.

Hope this helped
Kindly
Pedro Nuno;-)

 

[duke62]

that would be a great link for it if it was in english :lol2:

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

that would be a great link for it if it was in english :lol2:

Hi duke62, that is not a problem, I can translate as I speak and write French

1996 : The invasion by the sponge


​

...........

1996.. Invasion of the blue sponge.

Removal of the sponge by plates.

The photosynthetic living sponge found in the tank upon installation and which did grow slowly bit by bit, started to grow fast ending up by invading the aquarium. It is under a MH lamp of 1000 W that it grows faster, but it grows also under a dim light of a fluorescent tube. We observed how it overgrew form base to top a gorgonian that came from the Caribbean.
Never the less the sponge did not manage to touch/reach the gorgonian tissue since it managed to keep the distance from the assailant with repelling substances.
The gorgonian is however defenceless against the shadow cast by the sponge tissue. Thus the greyish blue crust of the sponge managed millimetre by millimetre to crawl up the gorgonian body, keep on casting shadow over the gorgonian tissue and kill it.
Wherever gorgonian tissue died, the sponge tissue encrusted the skeleton....

There is more, but the bit above gives you the "picture" of what can happen if you simply let go. Hope that now this is more clear for you.

Cheers ;-)
Pedro Nuno

 

[duke62]

well what should i do.its on a small piece of live rock now should i just kill it off

 

[duke62]

its also good to see another pork chop on this site.welcome pedro and thanks for the info

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

well what should i do.its on a small piece of live rock now should i just kill it off

Hi duke62 ;-)
Well, well.... for the time being...just sit down and relax watching your tank and the living jewels in it, perhaps sipping a nice cup of tea, or coffee, or juice ...then within some time (days, weeks) you will notice that the sponge is growing, so just trim it like every now and then one trims one's hair or cuts de lawn or cuts a coral as it grew significantly ...Should you notice that it grows and spreads to fast, then you should consider mechanical (by hand and/or with a blade) removal. Above all keep it under surveillance and act as needed according to growth rate witnessed, I'm sure you will be a good judge of that, especially now that you had access to the detailed information.
Thank you for the welcome

Cheers
Pedro Nuno ;-)