New Reefer Needs Help With Blue Haliclona sp. Sponge

[Emanuel Refer]

Five days ago I was at my lfs and saw a blue sponge. I wanted a blue sponge for a long time so I decided to buy it, i knew that it was a Haliclona sp. sponge because i did some research before buying it. It was sold me under the name of "Blue Sponge" , i know that it shouldn't be out of the water so I decided to pick him up by myself, the employees from the store didn't had any problem with that, and gave me a bag that I filled with water inside of the aquarium and put the sponge in the in the bag so that it didn't touch the air. When i arived home i drip acclimated the sponge and then put it in the tank (without touching the air) . The next day i saw some brown spots on the sponge but the spots didn't grow and also the oscula opened . In the third day i saw some new tissue growing on the oscula but it didn't close the oscula it just rearrange it . Also the sponge has two oscula openings one big and one small the new tissue growth was on the biggest one. I feed the tank daily Tropic Marin Reef Snow , Aquaforest Pro Bio S i am also waiting to arrive some live phytoplankton and Aquaforest Pro Bio F. On the rock with the sponge is a encrusting SPS coral i think that the coral won't survive but my main focus now is the sponge. The tank has 45 liters about 12 gallons it was started with live rock from 6 diffrent sources , in a corner of the tank i have a big ball of chaetomorpha that is growing. No fish, snails from the live rock , 1 clibanarius hermit crab , Green Star Polyp coral, Gorgonia coral , Xenia , Kenya tree , a red mushroom coral and the sponge . I like a naturalistic approach to reefing so i don't have a skimmer . Some levels of some tests are : NO3 = 0.50ppm PO4 = 0.01ppm Calcium = 480ppm dKH = 7 PH = 8.5 . I am new to reefing this is my first tank it has about 8 months . So if someone can help with some info about the sponge care or some tips please consider sharing . Here are some pics of the sponge and the aquarium :

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[atomos]

As you wait for sponge experts to offer up other info, IIRC blue sponges tend to like low light with indirect flow to prevent detritus/algae build up. Besides the obvious as you mentioned, being exposed to air is dangerous for sponges, I know sponges are finicky when it comes to temps and water parameters---keeping it closer to ideal parameters could be a good start. IMO your nitrates, calcium and pH seem high...this could also be leading to stress for the sponge.

 

[Emanuel Refer]

Thanks for help!

 

[Cory]

Most sponges need silicates to build structure. You might want to dose that. Or if your looking for "natural" i hear siporax media releases lots of silicates if put under a sandbed. Or you can buy sodium silicate and dose it or sponge power.

 

[Emanuel Refer]

Currently the sponge is doing better it has grown new tissue. The the big oscula opening has ben rearranged and the small one has been closed. I can see a translucent ring over the oscula everyday and i am thinking it is a feeding mechanism. I will keep up-to-date this post, and thanks to all the people who shared some knowledge.

In one of the pictures you can see the small translucent ring over the oscula.

 

[Subsea]

Kudos to ornamental sponges.

@Emanuel Refer
Are you sure about the species name? Check out aqua-cultured photosynthetic sponge from live aquaria.

LiveAquaria® CCGC Aquacultured Photosynthetic Plating Blue Sponge: Saltwater Aquarium Corals for Marine Reef Aquariums

www.liveaquaria.com

 

[Subsea]

I found 15 yr old copy of “Reef Invertebrates” by Anthony Calfo & Robert Fenner. On page 142, The sponge chapter there are more than 10,000 known species of sponges in 2003. With 20 pages of beautiful sponges, many being photosynthetic I saw two pictures of your Blue Sponge listed as an import from Indonesia: The Photosynthetic Blue or sometimes called Purple Finger Sponge.

I suspect ORA cultivates this photosynthetic sponge. I have come to realize that most ornamental sponges are a combination of filter feeder & photosynthetic and in all cases require robust circulation.

 

[Emanuel Refer]

The photosynthetic sponges are really interesting, especially the plating one but i don't think that my sponge is Photosynthetic. Thanks for all the help!

 

[elysics]

I found 15 yr old copy of “Reef Invertebrates” by Anthony Calfo & Robert Fenner. On page 142, The sponge chapter there are more than 10,000 known species of sponges in 2003. With 20 pages of beautiful sponges, many being photosynthetic I saw two pictures of your Blue Sponge listed as an import from Indonesia: The Photosynthetic Blue or sometimes called Purple Finger Sponge.

I suspect ORA cultivates this photosynthetic sponge. I have come to realize that most ornamental sponges are a combination of filter feeder & photosynthetic and in all cases require robust circulation.

The photosynthetic one often sold doesn't deserve the name "blue", purple is more fitting. And it is plating. The one OP has is a piercing, vibrant blue, I think I have the same one, don't know if it really is Haliclona sp., but google images and people using google images to id certainly seem to think so

Mine stagnated for a year and slowly shrunk until the core rotted away on me suddenly, don't know if that was due to an air bubble or something. A hollow shell survived though and I've got real new growth, the size of a small finger since then, a centimeter or so in the last two weeks alone.

Don't know which of the things I do are necessar, but I dose silicates, diy nopox for carbon, powdered food twice every day, and the accelerated growth in the last few weeks may or may not line up with a massively increased phyto dose of 100ml for a 14.5g tank every other day while I'm home (have yet to automate it)

 

[elysics]

Forgot the pic, the vertical branch is the new growth, sorry for the colors, was in a hurry

 

[Emanuel Refer]

Interesting experience elysics, after rotting the core it grew a big amount of tissue...hmmm . That's what i like about sponges they are so unique and there are so many mysteries surrounding them in the reefing hobby.

 

[Emanuel Refer]

Another week has passed and the sponge rearrange it's oscula. It has grown new tissue around it's oscula opening, the translucent ring is also visible. I don't really know why it has arranged it's oscula like that but about 2 weeks ago it did the same and after 2 days the new tissue started decaying. I need to mention that the same time it has started to decay i also moved my Eheim pump slightly and I suspect that is the cause of the little decaying. I think that the oscula is really tied up to the water flow and the aquarium currents. The decaying stopped after about 5 days and the sponge looked like in the pictures from the last week. In the time that the decaying was happening the small translucent ring over the oscula disappeared until the decaying stopped. We shell see if the new tissue will start decaying like two weeks ago. Thanks to all the people who are sharing knowledge in this post. I will keep this thread up to date with the sponge development.

 

[elysics]

Another week has passed and the sponge rearrange it's oscula. It has grown new tissue around it's oscula opening, the translucent ring is also visible. I don't really know why it has arranged it's oscula like that but about 2 weeks ago it did the same and after 2 days the new tissue started decaying. I need to mention that the same time it has started to decay i also moved my Eheim pump slightly and I suspect that is the cause of the little decaying. I think that the oscula is really tied up to the water flow and the aquarium currents. The decaying stopped after about 5 days and the sponge looked like in the pictures from the last week. In the time that the decaying was happening the small translucent ring over the oscula disappeared until the decaying stopped. We shell see if the new tissue will start decaying like two weeks ago. Thanks to all the people who are sharing knowledge in this post. I will keep this thread up to date with the sponge development.

Yes sponges are very particular about the direction of flow, they suck in water through the pores and push it out through the oscula. If the oscula point into the current, the sponge may be too weak to pump the water out there

I try to point the oscula of new sponges the direction the flow is going, but it's hard because the sponge itself alters the flow, same reason putting big acro colonies in a different tank or even just different position with different flow doesn't always work out

 

[VR28man]

Excellent. A very informative thread – thank you! I may try my hand at this some time......