Orange Finger Sponge

[wds21921]

After getting some LR from Just Fish at Fox Run Plaza in Bear, DE, I noticed an orange spot on the 7 lb piece of rock.

After several months I can now identify it as Orange Finger Sponge. Pretty cool considering I was only using a NO light set up for about 6 months after I got it, and not feeding it.
Now that I'm using a PC setup it seems to be growing a little faster and no worries about feeding either. It seems to be catching whatever it needs to eat in the tank on it's own.

It started off as a 3-4 mm spot and has now grown vertically to about 3/4"-1" tall. It appears to have 4-6 tubes that I assume will continue to grow into branches if all goes well.

Will hopefully be heading to my first DRC meeting in August as I just missed out on the July meeting by one day, my luck.

Many thanks to jvschlegel for all the help, info and my first two colonies of Xenia which are doing great !!

[Scout]

Welcome!!!!!

I remeber many a night sitting in front of the aquarium staring at live rock trying id all the new strange life-forms. Look forward to meeting you Aug 16th.

Mike

[wds21921]

I'm looking forward to it as well Mike. My last interaction with any clubs was the old Delaware club which used to meet up at Christiana Mall in the late 80's, I assume they've since disbanded since there's no info about them.

So far I'm seeing 6-7 feather dusters and some type of white bulbous sponge similar to what JVS has in his tank.
It's sort of like Christmas in that you watch and watch and never know what's going to pop out of it lol.

Look forward to seeing you on Aug 16th at the mext meeting.

[jvschlegel]

Like I told you, there are great people in the reef club and full of knowledge. A large think tank like the club allow for people to learn the easy way instead of washing money down the drain and making it enjoyable. Most of all it is better for the animals you are keeping.

I think the best part of the hobby is looking into the tank and id'ing all the various life forms. Keeps me busy since I am currently unemployeed.

[wds21921]

Hmm looks like you gave me another idea JVS lol. Id'ing all my critters.

I have a program on CD-Rom (Simplified Reefkeeping) that allows me to record all the animals and update the info as well.
If anyone hasn't gotten a copy it's well worth it.
Automatically keeps your tests and graphs them for you as well. All you have to do is input your results. Lots of other info as well.

[wds21921]

Since my Oceanic Salt fiasco I'm not sure the orange finger sponge survived. It managed to make it through little to no special care previously so I'm hoping for the best. I've had to tuck it away inside a piece of LR since my Saddleback views it as a beach ball of sorts.

[wds21921]

Unbelievably it appears as if the orange finger sponge has survived everything. Even after doing a freshwater rinse of my LR and leaving it in a tub (moistened) for severalhours it appears to be doing fine and is healthy in the new setup.
What's weird is I've had it out of the water several times (a big no-no according to what I've read) and it's still holding up. I'm not going to keep pushing my luck but just thought it was interesting?
Best of all it's doing great under PC lighting only.
The algae that had been covering it, didn't appear to do any harm to it at all.