Help - Sponge Killing Corals

[naterealbig]

Orange/tan sponge came in on a frag. Has spread to many spots in the tank.

It starts on frag plug and grows up and over the frag, smothering the coral and killing it.

Have tried:

1. Removing frag and let sit in air for 20 min. No effect.

2. Pouring non diluted hydrogen peroxide directly sponge. No effect.

3. Pouring fresh water directly on sponge. No effect.

4. "Peeling" off w tweezers. Does not peel off rock/frag. Breaks up easily - basically turns to dust when you touch it. Then grows back immediately.

Have about $6k worth of corals in this QT - don't want more to die.

Please help.

Pic of sponge currently killing Utter Chaos frag. Polyps have not opened in a week. This particular frag i dumped H202, ran fresh water on it, let it sit out of water, scrubbed it off with tooth brush. Two days later this is what it looks like.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

You need to find whatever Nudibranch eats sponges then try to get one.

SPONGIVORES – The Sponge Eaters | Nudibranch Domain

nudibranchdomain.org

 

[Lavey29]

Dwarf angels like Coral Beauty eat sponge. It's part of their required diet intake.

 

[naterealbig]

You need to find whatever Nudibranch eats sponges then try to get one.

SPONGIVORES – The Sponge Eaters | Nudibranch Domain

nudibranchdomain.org

Thanks for the reply. I don't do the "natural" predator pest-eradication thing, unless it there is a lot of empirical/some peer-reviewed data down to at least the genus I am looking to eradicate. Even then, there is too much risk (take Acreichthys tomentosus for expample, who we frequently hear from hobbyists taking to polyps and LPS for lunch once Aiptasia are eradicated). Couple this with:

1. absolutely no info (with the exception of the article you link) that these will consistently feed on the sponge that I have

2. no availability through normal hobbyists channels.

3. and even if I could work around the 3 or 4 points above - I don't want a predator that consumes all of my sponges - just the one that I hate (heh)

Let me be a little more clear - I am looking for a chemical/medication-type remedy that can either be administered directly to the pest in the tank, directly outside the tank, or effectively through broadcast dosing.

 

[naterealbig]

Dwarf angels like Coral Beauty eat sponge. It's part of their required diet intake.

I have read this as well. In my particular circumstance, the quarantine this sponge is in is intentionally fishless.

I frequently broadcast feed Reef Chili and Amino Acids for food, which likely is helping this pest proliferate.

 

[Doctorgori]

I’ve seen that stuff before, odd its spreading like that and smothering corals….
I wonder what peroxide would do?

 

[naterealbig]

I’ve seen that stuff before, odd its spreading like that and smothering corals….
I wonder what peroxide would do?

Have tried:

1. Removing frag and let sit in air for 20 min. No effect.

2. Pouring non diluted hydrogen peroxide directly sponge. No effect.

3. Pouring fresh water directly on sponge. No effect.

4. "Peeling" off w tweezers. Does not peel off rock/frag. Breaks up easily - basically turns to dust when you touch it. Then grows back immediately.

 

[Doctorgori]

Sorry, I saw your post but have to expand to read …
Weird that neither air exposure nor peroxide worked …
I had a Rock Beauty and it made short work of (SOME) sponges but didn’t touch others,,,
Again thats a Rock Beauty, not coral beauty …so tank/space/diet requirements could be a problem

 

[naterealbig]

@Randy Holmes-Farley - if you're around, I'd be curious to get your thoughts on the following:

Assuming this is a siliceous sponge, could I use hydrofluoric acid to treat (dissolve) in/out of quarantine?

Ignoring pH effects, would this be harmful to other animals (QT is fishless) at a dosage which prevents a major pH swing?

With a pH of 3.27 and assuming a 40% concentration solution, how much could I add to a 14 gal volume with less than a decrease in pH < 0.5 (through a 'targeted application', say, a syringe inside of the sponge ?

 

[naterealbig]

Sorry, I saw your post but have to expand to read …

No worries friend.

Weird that neither air exposure nor peroxide worked …

Yes, neither had any impact to the sponge at all. If necessary I will go through the gambit of 'normally-used' coral-safe pest treatments (iodine, melafix, Coral Rx, Bayer, etc, etc, but am trying to minimize the list by seeing what others have tried. I have been searching for threads and articles on these, but the only working solution based on these data was 'tossing' the rock/corals with the sponge on it. Not a single person in a thread or article found a chemical that worked consistently to kill the organism.

I had a Rock Beauty and it made short work of (SOME) sponges but didn’t touch others,,,
Again thats a Rock Beauty, not coral beauty …so tank/space/diet requirements could be a problem

Ah - have read the natural predator advice as well. In my particular instance, the tank the sponge is in is intentionally fishless. Someone recommended dwarf angels, but between inconsistency of natural predation, acquiring a specimen, waiting for it to eat all of the sponges - including the ones I'd like to keep, and then having to re-quarantine the corals for 76 days, I'd be more apt to eradicate through brute force. Or even just chuck the corals (it's growing on several frags, including a $1k WWC Rainbow Blasto colony as of now....)

 

[Cell]

You would rather chuck a $1K coral colony then try housing a coral beauty for a few months and maybe lose some beneficial sponges?

 

[Timfish]

Try brighter light, the yellow sponges I have in my tanks will grow around corals but don't tolertate bright light well and will slowly recede if moved to bright light.. As mentioned above it's surprising to see problems with a yellow sponge. With all the things you've tried with that frag plug I'd suspect that to be still bothering the zoas and not the sponge. Another thought is use a small brush and a solution of 1 part H2O2 and 6 parts aquarium water to scrub the sponge off and repeat after a couple days.

 

[naterealbig]

You would rather chuck a $1K coral colony then try housing a coral beauty for a few months and maybe lose some beneficial sponges?

Not necessarily, but my concern is the all the other animals (and more $$$$$) in the QT. I certainly would consider it though if it meant I could stop worrying about everything in a single move. And sure, I could live without the sponges.

My biggest beef with the argument for this is:

1. I have not read a single thread where someone has said that they put a dwarf angel in the tank, and it handled the problem.

2. In addition to having no evidence that this fish would be the solution, it could add a new problem - as I have actually observed these fish feeding on SPS polyps and LPS flesh. So, the other $3-$4k in the QT are at risk now.

It's a lot of risk for what I would consider a very (very, very) low-confidence reward.

 

[naterealbig]

Try brighter light, the yellow sponges I have in my tanks will grow around corals but don't tolertate bright light well and will slowly recede if moved to bright light.. As mentioned above it's surprising to see problems with a yellow sponge. With all the things you've tried with that frag plug I'd suspect that to be still bothering the zoas and not the sponge.

Pfff. These things eat light for breakfast. I run an A360X over the QT. 5 hours per day (10 hours total), at full color with R/V/G turned to 100%. The Blasto colony it's on it directly under the light, mid-way up in the tank.

Another thought is use a small brush and a solution of 1 part H2O2 and 6 parts aquarium water to scrub the sponge off and repeat after a couple days.

For now that's the plan, minus the watered-down part. I pulled the zoas in the pic out, scrubbed it, doused it with undiluted H202, and let it sit there fizzling for 20 min. It grew back like I was dumping a bunch of silica on it. I'm going to see what I have in my arsenal, but I my try dabbing the sponge with isopropyl alcohol or chelated copper or something.... Whatever I try I will post here, along with the results of course.

Whatever it is, I need to handle it ASAP - I feel like I'm right on the edge of it getting completely out of control. I've been observing for a couple weeks now (like an idiot) because I was absolutely certain that pulling it and dumping peroxide right on it would fix it immediately. Wont make that mistake again....

Next round, I'm going to pull all the frags w/ the sponge, scrub, super glue over the spots where the sponge was (including between the coral polyps), do the same thing to spots where it is growing on the rock, bleach the racks that the plugs were on, and then replace.

Unrelated: I do a 76 day fishless QT for all incoming invertebrates, and despite all of the products out there to address algae, spiborbid worms, and anemone pests - the quickest, cheapest, most reliable and readily available tool I use to prevent these pests from making it to the display is super-glue gel. It sticks to everything, and unless I'm careless I can put it directly onto a coral without killing it. Of course this doesn't handle issues like red/black bugs, AEFW, MEN, Pyrimidellids, EEFW - but with such a long QT period those are relatively easy to address...

 

[Reefer_NYC]

bumppp anyone find a fix?

 

[naterealbig]

bumppp anyone find a fix?

Today I cannot find any trace of this sponge in my QT, and no other corals died with the exception of the polyps that I posted a picture of.

I DID NOT:
1. Aerate the water
OR
2. Increase lighting intensity or photoperiod
OR
3. Adjust the Coral QT feeding schedule
OR
4. Add a "natural" predator

I DID:
1. Pull the affected frags from the QT
AND
2. Put on my magnifying glasses
AND
3. Used a soft-bristle tooth brush to scrub the sponge off of the frag/frag plug
AND
4. Rinsed with undiluted Hydrogen Peroxide
AND
5. Placed the frag/frag plug back into the same spot it was before
AND
6. Scrubbed any sponge I saw on adjacent rocks with the soft-bristled tooth brush
AND
7. Removed any frag racks that had the sponge on it and scrubbed and rinsed with tap water and placed it back into the QT

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[brandon429]

3% peroxide is baby water

35% is man water you should score some at a natural foods market, don't get in the eye it will permanently blind, and do surgery over and over on all frags with it until you find a preventative. You can be the remover in the mean time

Lift frag, use a knife point to debride away the target rinsing in sw

Apply 35% dabbed on clean surfaces several times, rinse and put back over and over until you find a preventative.

 

[Reefer_NYC]

lol so basically.... the sponge will grow back. i've done all the above and still grew back, a microscopic piece of sponge will still make it through all of that and spread again unfortunately.

 

[JasonVH]

Sure it was a sponge? I had what looks exactly like this several months ago. The spires swayed in strong flow. Extremely difficult to remove. Experienced the same issue of it being noxious to corals. It was able to spread at an astonishing rate. Ended up removing the entire rock it was on and threw it outside in the sun. Slathered any surviving coral frags with glue right up to the fleshy parts. I'm glad you found a way to deal with whatever it is. Keep watching closely as I did find a tiny piece right on the sand bed a month after.

Encrusting/spreading transculent ??

Due to translucence, it was tough to get decent pictures. It seems to form mats(it's the weird looking areas with some brownish tint- filtered items..? in the second picture) with sort of tendrils spreading over the rock. There's a couple tube/spires coming off it also. Kind of looks like a...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Seansea]

This dude will maul your sponge. Not pick but eat like it was nori on a clip. I have tried several sponges for some of the dark places in my tank and he just gets right to it. Once hes done feed nori twice a day to curb his appetite for the more desirable stuff. I guarantee no more sponge prob