Unidentified fuzzy sacks on my star polyps

I'd appreciate any help you guys can offer:

These things only grow on my star polyps. I can't figure out what they are.
Sometimes there's a few and sometimes there are several. I seem to have a
lot of them now. When the polyps are open these things are totally hidden.
The star polyps seem very healthy. All water tests are perfect.

Each on has an opening at the top. I never see anything go in and out so it
must be for nutrition... awww, I don't know.

A pic is worth a thousand words so go take a look.

Got some pics he
http://www.geocities.com/bryg30/Unkn...tarPolyps.html


For my tank set up: www.geocities.com/bryg30

Thanks again. Feel free to ask me questions of course.

Bryan

Those are sponges.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Bryan wrote on 8/11/2006 2:06 PM:
I'd appreciate any help you guys can offer:

These things only grow on my star polyps. I can't figure out what they are.
Sometimes there's a few and sometimes there are several. I seem to have a
lot of them now. When the polyps are open these things are totally hidden.
The star polyps seem very healthy. All water tests are perfect.

Each on has an opening at the top. I never see anything go in and out so it
must be for nutrition... awww, I don't know.

A pic is worth a thousand words so go take a look.

Got some pics he
http://www.geocities.com/bryg30/Unkn...tarPolyps.html


For my tank set up: www.geocities.com/bryg30

Thanks again. Feel free to ask me questions of course.

Bryan

Bryan wrote:
I'd appreciate any help you guys can offer:

These things only grow on my star polyps. I can't figure out what they are.
Sometimes there's a few and sometimes there are several. I seem to have a
lot of them now. When the polyps are open these things are totally hidden.
The star polyps seem very healthy. All water tests are perfect.

Each on has an opening at the top. I never see anything go in and out so it
must be for nutrition... awww, I don't know.

A pic is worth a thousand words so go take a look.

Got some pics he
http://www.geocities.com/bryg30/Unkn...tarPolyps.html


For my tank set up: www.geocities.com/bryg30

Thanks again. Feel free to ask me questions of course.

Bryan


You have sponges growing in your star polyps.

Kim
www.jensalt.com

thanks Wayne and Kim. I've not seen them this tiny.

Any idea on the ID? and if I should worry about moving them off the polyps
and on to some rock?

B



"kim gross" wrote in message
...
Bryan wrote:
I'd appreciate any help you guys can offer:

These things only grow on my star polyps. I can't figure out what they
are. Sometimes there's a few and sometimes there are several. I seem to
have a lot of them now. When the polyps are open these things are
totally hidden. The star polyps seem very healthy. All water tests are
perfect.

Each on has an opening at the top. I never see anything go in and out so
it must be for nutrition... awww, I don't know.

A pic is worth a thousand words so go take a look.

Got some pics he
http://www.geocities.com/bryg30/Unkn...tarPolyps.html


For my tank set up: www.geocities.com/bryg30

Thanks again. Feel free to ask me questions of course.

Bryan
You have sponges growing in your star polyps.

Kim
www.jensalt.com

They look like a harmless species. There is one type of
sponge that will grow in polyps, slowly smothering out the
polyps, but those don't look like that type.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Bryan wrote on 8/11/2006 5:27 PM:
thanks Wayne and Kim. I've not seen them this tiny.

Any idea on the ID? and if I should worry about moving them off the polyps
and on to some rock?

B



"kim gross" wrote in message
...
Bryan wrote:
I'd appreciate any help you guys can offer:

These things only grow on my star polyps. I can't figure out what they
are. Sometimes there's a few and sometimes there are several. I seem to
have a lot of them now. When the polyps are open these things are
totally hidden. The star polyps seem very healthy. All water tests are
perfect.

Each on has an opening at the top. I never see anything go in and out so
it must be for nutrition... awww, I don't know.

A pic is worth a thousand words so go take a look.

Got some pics he
http://www.geocities.com/bryg30/Unkn...tarPolyps.html


For my tank set up: www.geocities.com/bryg30

Thanks again. Feel free to ask me questions of course.

Bryan
You have sponges growing in your star polyps.

Kim
www.jensalt.com

Bryan wrote on 8/11/2006 2:06 PM:
These things only grow on my star polyps. I can't figure out what they
are. Sometimes there's a few and sometimes there are several. I seem to
have a lot of them now. When the polyps are open these things are totally
hidden. The star polyps seem very healthy. All water tests are perfect.
Each on has an opening at the top. I never see anything go in and out so
it must be for nutrition...
http://www.geocities.com/bryg30/Unkn...tarPolyps.html

Wayne Sallee wrote on Fri, 11 Aug 2006:
Those are sponges.

I've got some white sponges growing on my star polyps also:
http://reef.geddis.org/a/Star%20Polyps/p/dsc05558.jpg
A little different species than yours (more of a mat with tubes, rather
than balls), but probably similar.

My white sponges only grow in the dark; they avoid anywhere the MH lights
touch. My guess is that it's a bit symbiotic (or maybe parasitic) with the
star polyps. Namely, at night the star polyps retreat, so the sponges can
feed. But during the day the star polyps come out, making a light "umbrella"
for the sponges to protect (?) them from the light.

My white sponge grows fine on the dark underside of my live rocks by itself,
but the only times I see it out in the light is inside a mat of star polyps.

-- Don
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Don Geddis http://reef.geddis.org/
If your friend is already dead, and being eaten by vultures, I think it's okay
to feed some bits of your friend to one of the vultures, to teach him to do
some tricks. But ONLY if you're serious about adopting the vulture.
-- Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

Thanks for the pic and description Don. I actually had those exact sponges
on the underneath of one of my live rocks as well. I had to pull that rock
out to clean off an aiptasia. Since I didn't know what those clear things
were on my rock I scrubbed it off. (I'm sure it will grow back as I wasn't
too thorough.) So basically, you solved another mystery for me. ha

Do they ever mature to get color or look like a sponge that we'd want to
keep/decorative? Doesn't look like it so far.

Thanks,

B



"Don Geddis" wrote in message
...
Bryan wrote on 8/11/2006 2:06 PM:
These things only grow on my star polyps. I can't figure out what they
are. Sometimes there's a few and sometimes there are several. I seem to
have a lot of them now. When the polyps are open these things are
totally
hidden. The star polyps seem very healthy. All water tests are perfect.
Each on has an opening at the top. I never see anything go in and out
so
it must be for nutrition...
http://www.geocities.com/bryg30/Unkn...tarPolyps.html

Wayne Sallee wrote on Fri, 11 Aug 2006:
Those are sponges.

I've got some white sponges growing on my star polyps also:
http://reef.geddis.org/a/Star%20Polyps/p/dsc05558.jpg
A little different species than yours (more of a mat with tubes, rather
than balls), but probably similar.

My white sponges only grow in the dark; they avoid anywhere the MH lights
touch. My guess is that it's a bit symbiotic (or maybe parasitic) with
the
star polyps. Namely, at night the star polyps retreat, so the sponges can
feed. But during the day the star polyps come out, making a light
"umbrella"
for the sponges to protect (?) them from the light.

My white sponge grows fine on the dark underside of my live rocks by
itself,
but the only times I see it out in the light is inside a mat of star
polyps.

-- Don
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Don Geddis
http://reef.geddis.org/
If your friend is already dead, and being eaten by vultures, I think it's
okay
to feed some bits of your friend to one of the vultures, to teach him to
do
some tricks. But ONLY if you're serious about adopting the vulture.
-- Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

The sponge you have growing with your star polyps could
smother your star polyps, so keep an eye on it.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Don Geddis wrote on 8/12/2006 11:06 AM:
Bryan wrote on 8/11/2006 2:06 PM:
These things only grow on my star polyps. I can't figure out what they
are. Sometimes there's a few and sometimes there are several. I seem to
have a lot of them now. When the polyps are open these things are totally
hidden. The star polyps seem very healthy. All water tests are perfect.
Each on has an opening at the top. I never see anything go in and out so
it must be for nutrition...
http://www.geocities.com/bryg30/Unkn...tarPolyps.html

Wayne Sallee wrote on Fri, 11 Aug 2006:
Those are sponges.

I've got some white sponges growing on my star polyps also:
http://reef.geddis.org/a/Star%20Polyps/p/dsc05558.jpg
A little different species than yours (more of a mat with tubes, rather
than balls), but probably similar.

My white sponges only grow in the dark; they avoid anywhere the MH lights
touch. My guess is that it's a bit symbiotic (or maybe parasitic) with the
star polyps. Namely, at night the star polyps retreat, so the sponges can
feed. But during the day the star polyps come out, making a light "umbrella"
for the sponges to protect (?) them from the light.

My white sponge grows fine on the dark underside of my live rocks by itself,
but the only times I see it out in the light is inside a mat of star polyps.

-- Don
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Don Geddis http://reef.geddis.org/
If your friend is already dead, and being eaten by vultures, I think it's okay
to feed some bits of your friend to one of the vultures, to teach him to do
some tricks. But ONLY if you're serious about adopting the vulture.
-- Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

I just did some rock work on the tank today. I noticed that the sponges
have propagated in several places... they're on the base of my torch and on
the rock with my zoos as well. This tells me I may have an epidemic coming.
It would be impossible to take each one out. I've got to do some reading to
see if there's a way to eradicate these.

Anything (fish, shrimp,crab) eat these types of sponges?

B


"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message
...
They look like a harmless species. There is one type of sponge that will
grow in polyps, slowly smothering out the polyps, but those don't look
like that type.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Bryan wrote on 8/11/2006 5:27 PM:
thanks Wayne and Kim. I've not seen them this tiny.

Any idea on the ID? and if I should worry about moving them off the
polyps and on to some rock?

B



"kim gross" wrote in message
...
Bryan wrote:
I'd appreciate any help you guys can offer:

These things only grow on my star polyps. I can't figure out what they
are. Sometimes there's a few and sometimes there are several. I seem
to have a lot of them now. When the polyps are open these things are
totally hidden. The star polyps seem very healthy. All water tests are
perfect.

Each on has an opening at the top. I never see anything go in and out
so it must be for nutrition... awww, I don't know.

A pic is worth a thousand words so go take a look.

Got some pics he
http://www.geocities.com/bryg30/Unkn...tarPolyps.html


For my tank set up: www.geocities.com/bryg30

Thanks again. Feel free to ask me questions of course.

Bryan
You have sponges growing in your star polyps.

Kim
www.jensalt.com

Don't overreact. They might not be a problem.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Bryan wrote on 8/12/2006 7:03 PM:
I just did some rock work on the tank today. I noticed that the sponges
have propagated in several places... they're on the base of my torch and on
the rock with my zoos as well. This tells me I may have an epidemic coming.
It would be impossible to take each one out. I've got to do some reading to
see if there's a way to eradicate these.

Anything (fish, shrimp,crab) eat these types of sponges?

B


"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message
...
They look like a harmless species. There is one type of sponge that will
grow in polyps, slowly smothering out the polyps, but those don't look
like that type.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Bryan wrote on 8/11/2006 5:27 PM:
thanks Wayne and Kim. I've not seen them this tiny.

Any idea on the ID? and if I should worry about moving them off the
polyps and on to some rock?

B



"kim gross" wrote in message
...
Bryan wrote:
I'd appreciate any help you guys can offer:

These things only grow on my star polyps. I can't figure out what they
are. Sometimes there's a few and sometimes there are several. I seem
to have a lot of them now. When the polyps are open these things are
totally hidden. The star polyps seem very healthy. All water tests are
perfect.

Each on has an opening at the top. I never see anything go in and out
so it must be for nutrition... awww, I don't know.

A pic is worth a thousand words so go take a look.

Got some pics he
http://www.geocities.com/bryg30/Unkn...tarPolyps.html


For my tank set up: www.geocities.com/bryg30

Thanks again. Feel free to ask me questions of course.

Bryan
You have sponges growing in your star polyps.

Kim
www.jensalt.com