Sponge killing my starfish and damsel

bseahorse · May 13, 2019

So I stupidly bought this sponge from my lfs because i thought it looked really cool and I had never seen this one before . I’m in the habit of picking up sponge because I have a nudibranch/invertibrate tank. I had it about a day and my chocolate chip starfish became obsessed with it. I woke up in the morning and the starfish was trying to eat it. A few hours after that my damsel fish died and now my starfish is starting to curl up. I did a 30% water change and changed out the charcoal in the filter. Can anyone ID this sponge or have any advice?

bseahorse · May 13, 2019

Pretty sure the starfish is dead now it’s beginning to disintegrate [emoji20]

reef lover · May 13, 2019

#reefsquad

EmdeReef · May 13, 2019

Sorry about that. I’d be surprised the damsel tried to eat the sponge. That said, most sponges are indeed toxic and will defend themselves, only specialized feeders can get by. It’s not easy to positively ID a sponge just by looking at it but it could’ve released some toxin. Also unfortunately sponges are often mishandled and many times when we buy them are dead and decomposing - could have caused an ammonia spike too.

What are your parameters? How big is the tank and how big is the sponge? What else do you have in your tank? I would continue water changes and running carbon.

KJ · May 13, 2019

Sponges also produce their own toxins through normal metabolism, or in collaboration with the many microbes that live inside them. Whatever the source of these toxic chemicals, many have been found to be highly toxic to other life forms.

bseahorse · May 14, 2019

Thanks! It’s my own fault for buying a sponge that I didn’t know anything about. It’s a small 10 gallon invertebrate tank I mostly use for Nudibranchs. I’ve had it about 7 years. I usually keep a few of Nudibranchs a starfish a seahorse sometimes a clown. I usually pick up different sponges from time to time to help keep the nudis alive, but lesson learned this time. Had the water tested and the parameters now look good after the water change and carbon change.