ID: sponges? Safe, not safe?

[lesserwhirls]

Help! I have something growing around my nipples! Gorilla nipple zoas, that is ;-)

I pulled some off and here is what it looks like under sunlight against a styrofoam cooler lid:

It really is a neon yellow color.

It looks like some sort of sponge (syconoid?), but not sure. Any thoughts? Safe? Not safe?

 

[FinsUp]

generally speaking, sponges are good. they're great filters, and highly desirable in a sump. I didn't mind prettier ones in my tank.

However, they're not good when they overgrow your corals, and should probably be removed. I used to remove the whole rock from the tank when I could, and pulled the sponges off away from the tank, to avoid them releasing spores and such, which could lead to a sponge explosion in the tank. Might have been an excess of caution on my part. Wouldn't be the first time.

 

[lesserwhirls]

Quick update on this. It turns out there was a small pit in my live rock, over which the gorilla nipples grew. Unknown to me, there was a snail that died under the zoa's in the pit, and that seems to be where all of the sponges originated (nasty stuff!). I lost quite a bit of my gorilla nipple zoas, but not all (they are fast growers, so it's ok). I still see a few sponges sprout up, and I go in every few days with a pair of tongs and pull them out. It's going to take some time, but eventually they will be gone.