Sponge on hammer?

[MTsquared]

Hey guys I have this black stuff (I think it’s some form of sponge) growing on what used to be a large colony of Hammer. Lately the sponge seems to be winning the battle and I think irritating the coral enough to the point I am starting to lose heads. Anybody have any experience with this or know what it is/ how to combat it? Thanks in advance.

 

[goggs29]

I have same situation on one of my zoa rocks, but mine is covering 25% of the rock evenly and feels almost velvet like

 

[MTsquared]

I have same situation on one of my zoa rocks, but mine is covering 25% of the rock evenly and feels almost velvet like

Yes definitely had a smooth velvety feel to it

 

[elysics]

I am usually in favor of sponges, even to the detriment of corals sometimes, but this one is the devil. Frag/rip/grind/acidburn it off that coral while you can.

 

[vetteguy53081]

This is undesired sponge and there are ways to rid of it.
1- You can expose it to air which starts to destroy its' cells. Be aware of zoa out of water . No more than 10-15 mins

2- using a syringe, you can inject it in various spots with air or vinegar

3- This may or may not work, but injecting with very hot water

 

[MTsquared]

This is undesired sponge and there are ways to rid of it.
1- You can expose it to air which starts to destroy its' cells. Be aware of zoa out of water . No more than 10-15 mins

2- using a syringe, you can inject it in various spots with air or vinegar

3- This may or may not work, but injecting with very hot water

Ok thanks I will try to take the colony out of the water to expose it to air. How often do you recommend I do this?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ok thanks I will try to take the colony out of the water to expose it to air. How often do you recommend I do this?

once or twice should do it

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Hi,

Quick question on the hammer. The missing heads, when did they disappear? That may be unrelated to the sponge. The skeleton looks white, or recently dead.

Reason I mentio this is there is a possibility you can see adjacent hammers start to do the same thing. Watch them closely. If you lose another head almost overnight you will want to frag off the dead branches to stop the issue.

 

[MTsquared]

Hi,

Quick question on the hammer. The missing heads, when did they disappear? That may be unrelated to the sponge. The skeleton looks white, or recently dead.

Reason I mentio this is there is a possibility you can see adjacent hammers start to do the same thing. Watch them closely. If you lose another head almost overnight you will want to frag off the dead branches to stop the issue.

Ok thanks for the pointer. Yes I recently lost a few heads and saw another one today that went bye bye. You think it’s unrelated to the black sponge? Just take the colony out and frag off all the dead branches?

 

[MTsquared]

Hi,

Quick question on the hammer. The missing heads, when did they disappear? That may be unrelated to the sponge. The skeleton looks white, or recently dead.

Reason I mentio this is there is a possibility you can see adjacent hammers start to do the same thing. Watch them closely. If you lose another head almost overnight you will want to frag off the dead branches to stop the issue.

Lights recently came on so will let you know if I see any other heads that may look like they are having issues.

 

[MTsquared]

One of the heads was not looking so hot today. It looks like a bigger one that was starting to split. Other heads do appear to be irritated by this sponge.

 

[MTsquared]

The head that was not looking so hot yesterday is completely nuked. Now there is another in close proximity that is also looking rough.

 

[MTsquared]

Fragged it up really good yesterday and gave it a serious iodine bath. Tried to remove as much as the sponge as possible during fragging. Will continue to expose the frags to air to try to kill the remaining sponge. Any other tips or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[zimbelj]

Fragged it up really good yesterday and gave it a serious iodine bath. Tried to remove as much as the sponge as possible during fragging. Will continue to expose the frags to air to try to kill the remaining sponge. Any other tips or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

I know this is a super old post but I am experiencing the same thing and was wondering if the air exposure worked?