is this a sponge or what?

[roadcrew]

my friend got a nano tank setup from the lfs and wanted me to house his new perchace till his tank was ready for for the critters. we thought this was a sponge but maybe a cucumber? cucumbers are more mobile though, right? kinda like a slug? this thing has a hole in the top and one in the side, either large enough to stick my pinkie finger in...water refraction makes sizes hard to tell properly. what would be the proper care for this thing. btw my lawnmower has since chowed down on the pretty algae i was hoping would spread to the rest of my tank.

[Whoyah]

Sounds kind of like a sponge from the description. Hard to tell from picture. Sponge are good natural water filters for your tank.

[JustDavidP]

Google "Tunicate". Does it look similar? If not, it could be a sponge. Also kind of looks like a dying chili coral.

[roadcrew]

i believe we have a winner. i looked at the tunicate, and thats deffinatly what it looks like. chili coral just didnt match up. but dying it might be, these were mis handeled and brought to me in a half full bowl of freshwater. poor guys. it was limp on arrival but soon after acclimating it to my tank it stood back up and inflated. looked good as i peeped on it this morning b4 work. hope it survives. how well do these usually do in poor conditions like it has gone through?

[JustDavidP]

Tunicates/Sea Squirts are awesome little pumping stations that filter, filter, filter, and when done, filter more. They actually thrive in areas that you'd figure would make the strongest of us turn green and die I have a northern atlantic variety that makes a MESS of my floating docks every year, in nasty, green, brackish water. The salinity of said water changes every time it rains because it is an esturine environment.

If yours has pulled through a scrap with fresh water (very stressful to a primitave organism like this.. osmotic shock is NOT fun) and is looking better, you should be fine. They are not easy to keep though...well..in pristine reef conditions anyway. They are filter feeders and therefore need plankton.

They tend to like to be in an area of adequate flow. This is because they feed by filtration through gill traps. They (most) don't move. They are stuck in place and actually, when young (believe it or not) ingest the section of their rudimentary "brain" that controls motor skills. If they do not get flow, they do not get food, and well... you know the rest.

Dave

[cweber]

Thats interesting to know.

[roadcrew]

thanks for the advice dave. that was helpful, now i think it might have a chance.

[hummer]

congrats