Sponges attacking LPS?

[TXRon]

I recently noticed some bright yellow/green sponge looking stuff in the middle of an alveopora with polyps receding away from it. I removed it with tweezers (pic1) and the next day the coral had filled back in with all polyps extended. Then I noticed i lost a coral head from my green hammer. A day later the hammer looked like pic 2. I took that image while dipping the coral. You can see the same sponge or whatever on the skeleton of the hammer. I didn't see any critters other than some pods when i dipped. This won't be going back in the display tank. Any help is appreciated. Anyone seen this before?

 

[GlassMunky]

It’s a sponge. It’s not bad, and not “attacking” your coral, it’s just growing where it lives.
you can absolutely put it back in your tank, it’s not harming anything and a good form of life to have in the tank.

 

[Coralsdaily]

Agree with Munky, I haven't come across any "bad" sponges so far. Though I do have a lobo coral getting suffocated by a fast growing sponge around it. But it is more likely that the coral is killed by protozoa disease than the sponge.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thety have potential to smother a healthy coral which then you should trim back or remove.

 

[Memo]

Hi, I also have the same sponges and what I have noticed is that they multiple if you pic on them. Also, it is sucking my phosphates to 0.00 and that is not good.

 

[eggplantparrot]

only heard of boring sponges that kill corals and have personally seen the aftermath of one in a frogspawn I bought.

The skeleton was full of holes with orange inside some of them, and the skeleton was SUPER brittle and hollow inside.

I super glued all over the skeleton to kill the sponge and strengthen it, didn't seem to come back.

so I wouldn't doubt if there were sponges that kill corals in other ways, ie, chemical warfare