Orange sea fan sponge acting strangely
5/9/16
Hi,
<Hey Mark>
I have had my sponge for around 3 months now and it seems to be doing okay
as its siphons all open, it has grown slightly in size since I got it and
there is no overt bleaching or valleys/veins.
<Reads and looks good>
However, over the past week it has started producing small orange
balls which occasionally fall off and settle on my live rock, though when
they fall off the colour beneath is still orange. I have no idea what this
means!
<Reproduction... from "good" or "bad" conditions!>
It has never been exposed to air and I have been providing salifert feed
supplement which supposedly is okay for sponges, and my system is a BiOrb
60L with medium-low flow and medium lighting (I have adjusted the bubble
flow to its lowest setting so that bubbles do not get into the tank). The
sponge is positioned in the highest flow of the tank and in the shadiest
part as the central tube blocks most of the blue light. My specific gravity
is .024
<1.024...>
, nitrates pretty much 0 and everything else 0. The system has been up and
running for almost a year with no problems whatsoever.
<Ok!>
In the tank I have a host of clean up crew including a boxer, a peppermint
and a cleaner shrimp, a flame scallop, 2 turbo snails, a
feather duster, an emerald crab and a porcelain crab. I have two clown fish,
a Firefish and a regal damsel all of which are fine. I also have some hammer
coral, some star polyps (which seem to hide a lot but when they come out
they are healthy) and various soft corals all of which are fine.
Please could you tell me what is happening to my sponge and also any
general advice on what I should/shouldn't be feeding or putting in my tank?
<What I know re is archived, accessible on WWM>
This is my first marine set up so any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I have attached a picture of the sponge below.
Kind regards,
Mark
<Thank you for sharing. Bob Fenner>