Black Sponge?

[.Haliax.]

This guy hitchhiked in on a zoa frag... I left it, but it seems to be choking out the zoanthid. Should I remove it? If so, how?

This photo is from 3 months ago:

 

[Eagle_Steve]

This guy hitchhiked in on a zoa frag... I left it, but it seems to be choking out the zoanthid. Should I remove it? If so, how?

This photo is from 3 months ago:

While wearing gloves and doing this in a small bowl of water,

Remove as much sponge as you can with tweezers.
Place frag in another small bowl with more tank water.
Get a small dropper and fill with 3% hydrogen peroxide.
Pick up frag and carefully put 3% hydrogen peroxide on areas where sponge was.
Let sit out of water for 5 minutes. This will not hurt the zoas.
Rinse in tank water you placed zoas in after removing sponge with tweezers.
Place back in tank and look for any more sponge growth over the next few weeks.

Usually this will kill all of the sponge not removed with tweezers.

Please wear gloves, as I am not worried about the zoas, but some black sponges are toxic as well. No need to take a chance with it.

 

[.Haliax.]

While wearing gloves and doing this in a small bowl of water,

Remove as much sponge as you can with tweezers.
Place frag in another small bowl with more tank water.
Get a small dropper and fill with 3% hydrogen peroxide.
Pick up frag and carefully put 3% hydrogen peroxide on areas where sponge was.
Let sit out of water for 5 minutes. This will not hurt the zoas.
Rinse in tank water you placed zoas in after removing sponge with tweezers.
Place back in tank and look for any more sponge growth over the next few weeks.

Usually this will kill all of the sponge not removed with tweezers.

Please wear gloves, as I am not worried about the zoas, but some black sponges are toxic as well. No need to take a chance with it.

Thanks man, I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[MTsquared]

While wearing gloves and doing this in a small bowl of water,

Remove as much sponge as you can with tweezers.
Place frag in another small bowl with more tank water.
Get a small dropper and fill with 3% hydrogen peroxide.
Pick up frag and carefully put 3% hydrogen peroxide on areas where sponge was.
Let sit out of water for 5 minutes. This will not hurt the zoas.
Rinse in tank water you placed zoas in after removing sponge with tweezers.
Place back in tank and look for any more sponge growth over the next few weeks.

Usually this will kill all of the sponge not removed with tweezers.

Please wear gloves, as I am not worried about the zoas, but some black sponges are toxic as well. No need to take a chance with it.

I have this same black sponge growing on a euphyllia colony (hammer). Would the process be the same? Different?

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I have this same black sponge growing on a euphyllia colony (hammer). Would the process be the same? Different?

It would be close, but different for LPS/Euphillia.

You would remove from tank, remove sponge with tweezers and then apply h2o2 and make sure it does not get on the flesh of the coral. After letting sit for 2-3 minutes (Euphillia is OK out of water for that long), scrub the area of the skeleton with a tooth brush, making sure not to touch or damage the flesh. Then rinse in old tank water and place back in the tank.

Anohter tip for euphillia, is to hold upside down over the water or a minute or 2 when removing from the tank. This will allow the coral to expel more water and the contract more. By doing this, less flesh is exposed and hanging from the skeleton while it is out of the water.

Being as there is a hard skeleton, it makes it much easier to remove the sponge.