Sick Haliclona Blue Sponge...

[canada911]

Hello guys, I have a problem here, I bough a Blue Haliclona sponge at my LFS 2 days ago. I spotted it 1 week ago at the LFS and the sponge was always doing fine. So I finally deceied too buy it and did a rapid aclimatation and putted the Sponge in my 30g tank... I knew (and the LFS knew too) that air contact is to avoid. So I took all the precautions to avoid air contact. Now the day after the aclimatation of my sponge he turned 1/3 white (all the central part).... I was pretty badly surprise since I am sure that there wasnt any contact with the air... So Today I didnt had the choice and had to stop this bleaching too propagate, so I fragged all the good part of the sponge and placed those piece on th liverock. Did I made the good choice? I did in sort that there was one "Mouth" of sponge for each frag (If you know what an Haliclona looks like you will understand) and that there was absolutly no other white bleached parts on those frag...

Now my water is a bit milky... Is that toxine??? I am a bit scared now... If the watter gets more milky I will to a water change... I really hope it isnt some toxine released by the Sponge...

What do you guys think? Why did that suddent bleaching occured??
Did I made the good choice by fraging it? Does the frags have a chance to survive this cutting???

Thanks!
:s

 

[steve-s]

Sponges release toxins and antibiotics when they die, if you feel the coral is in it's "death throws", I would remove it before the tank suffers. The death of your sponge is actually quite a common event with this particular species. Along with the other "sponge" related issues, these guys are highly photosynthetic and like corals, contain zooxanthellae. They require above average reef lighting and excellent water quality. They are easily affected by allelopathy, poor handling/husbandry and changes in their environment. They will also usually be accompanied by a coral as this sponge is really a hitchiker/parasite. There is a small possibility this sponge may recover but unfortunately I would not expect it to.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Brenden]

What exactly does a "rapid acclimatation" consist of?