Blue layercake sponge photosynthetic

[christa1421]

I made a rookie mistake and think I inadvertently killed my sponge. I used coral rx and didn’t know it couldn’t be exposed to air. Could I use an exacto blade to cut off the dying tissue to try to save it or is it too far gone?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I have no idea if it’s too far gone or not. I don’t know if cutting the dying tissue out would help or not. You could also try burping it like described in my quote below:

With regards to sponges dying when exposed to air, my understanding is that they essentially get air trapped inside their structure and slowly desiccate and/or starve from not being able to continuously filter the water in and out of their body. I wonder if this condition could be treated successfully using methods similar to how one "burps" a clam or a nautilus (i.e. I'm curious if slowly rotating it 360 degrees underwater multiple times would help relieve the problem/release the air from inside the sponge). I suppose with a sponge you would likely need to rotate it 360 degrees in a number of different directions (i.e. top to bottom, side to side, diagonals, etc.) and/or possibly expose it to some flow while "burping" it to help dislodge any bubbles in the spicules, but - in my mind/in theory at least - it seems like it would help.