sponge

[jayfish]

please help if you know what kind of sponge this is i have been told it is a sponge with a colonial anemone attached, this colony is completely attached and covers almost the entire sponge in a vein like structure, the colony flowers with lots of white flowers coming out of the veins but only occasionally (when it feels like it)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52361737@N00/19001536/

 

[TCTFish]

The photos are hard to make any detail and detail is needed to make accurate IDs. Try rephotographing, but stand back a bit further. I think you may be too close to the subject for the camera to focus. Focusing ranges are hard to determine without a ruler...lol. I photograph aquarium livestock all the time. It's a challenge.

 

[jayfish]

ive been trying but these r it as i hav a cheeap digi,mabye cause it half dead, in the photos the tips r ball shape cause its dying the orange spounge is loosing colour and white is still alive and doing good if i can find out what type of coral it is i might be able 2 save it, thanks in advance

 

[TCTFish]

I can't ID it but I can tell you is the white part of a sponge is dead unless it is naturally white. You can tear the bad pieces off the good parts. Just one requirement when dealing with sponges...do not let the sponge touch air at all. Anything and everything is done with live sponge needs to be done under water or you risk killing more of it. Areas that touch air will soon die off.

Good luck

 

[jayfish]

no the white isnt dead it actualy flowers occasionally i can see the sponge wasting under neath it and the dead spounge is brown as the sponge dies the white is scrunching up like a ball on the tips but still flowers occaisionally i also creat waves against it to remove sum of the algy build up

 

[TCTFish]

Corals don't flower. I don't think it's a sponge in that case and that it doesn't turn white when it dies. Sounds almost like polyps of some sort. If in fact it is a type of polyp, those 'flowers' are the polyps. That's an animal not a plant. The base could be breaking down because of the algae competition for space. Remove any slimy type dead matter if you can and if it breaks apart, just move any good frags to a clearer area. That's what I would do whether they are polyps or not. Let me know how it goes

 

[jayfish]

ive moved a few peices of it and the spounge fully dies but the white stays alive 4 a bit and diapears aswell the spounge does go sort of clear like when its dieng and the white like vains going all over it is curling up into balls on the tip of its branches but still flowers at the moment its in a sort of chady part of my tank and its not dieng as quick.i also aint seen the algie on it in this spot