Removing rock with sponges?

[muzikalmatt]

So I have a rock in my tank that is covered in Palythoa. I've been trying to remove them while in the tank but I think the safest route at this point is to remove the rock and address it outside of my display tank.

My concern is that this rock is also covered in multiple types of sponges, particularly on the under side. Can I assume that exposing the sponges to air is going to kill them? And if so is it safe to put that rock back in the tank?

If it's too much of a risk I'll just continue to try to remove the palys while inside my tank. I'd prefer to keep the sponges alive if at all possible, but at the very least I don't want to pollute my tank by placing a rock covered in dead sponges and palys back in my tank.

The tank is an IM Nuvo Fusion 40 with roughly 35g of water volume. If it were a larger tank I probably wouldn't be so worried about potential pollutants/toxins. Am I overreacting or is this something I should be cautious about?

 

[Flippers4pups]

I'd be concerned with palytoxins with manual removal.

I had some nasty brown palythoa's over taking a rock in my tank a few years ago. Took the rock out and placed it into my sump. With no light they disappeared over time. Yes, they slowly released what was in them over time, but running GAC off and on along with water changes did the trick.

 

[msjboy]

It is a hit and miss with sponges on a liverock. Some will die when exposed to air while others will be just fine. I recently did a move from one location to another and the sponges were fine on mine even when exposed to air with whatever species that grew on the particular rocks I had. True with the Palys, be aware of its toxicity,

 

[muzikalmatt]

I'm definitely being careful with the plays. I've been slowly trying to remove them during water changes using arm-length gloves, a mask, and goggles. Then I run carbon after the water change. So far I haven't had any issues with this method. It's just slow going and the growth seems to outpace my removal efforts.