What is this black stuff on my hammer?
- Thread starter brycenelson
- Start date
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brycenelson
Active Member
Yea that’s what I think too when I look close I can see the filter on it
Sticker shock
Active Member
I agree, sponge or not, get it out of there.
brycenelson
Active Member
What’s the best way to remove the sponge without causing harm to the rest of the skeleton
Sticker shock
Active Member
If it is a sponge which it appears to be, expose the entire frag to air for a few minutes. Repeat until it dies. Also if possible, I'd keep this away from the rest of the hammers until you get it under control.
If the air treatment doesn't work you can move on to scraping and hydrogen peroxide. I'm assuming there is nothing but skeleton beneath the sponge so scraping should be ok to do.
brycenelson
Active Member
Ok I will try to remove it thank you
SteveMM62Reef
Valuable Member
I’d go ahead and dip it in Hydrogen Peroxide. This is my Formula. Coral Picked off Bubble Algae. Dipped in 75ml Hydrogen Peroxide to 2.5 Liters of Saltwater for Six Minutes. Returned Acan to 120 Gallon Aquarium. Let Hydrogen Peroxide Solution, set for Two Hours, and returned water to Aquarium. I’ve done Acans, Staghorn Candy Cane, Birds Nest, and Pocillipora Corals with no ll effects. If you have that three year old bottle in the medicine cabinet, it no good, the percentage is lost. Get a new bottle for this. At 3% it’s hard to make a mistake, that’s why I won’t use higher percentages.
A few can, but they're pretty rare in our tanks - coral killing sponges are typically either highly invasive and kill the corals by growing over them and smothering them, or they produce a chemical that combats and kills corals (or, in cases like the sponge Terpios hoshinota, both).
The vast majority of sponges are completely harmless, though, including some of the more invasive ones (there are some sponges that can literally grow up and around the base of corals without harming them at all).
Dburr1014
7500 Club Member
Surprisingly, this may not work. Some sponges close right up the second they get banged around. Peroxide and a toothbrush would be my go to. Just dip the brush in the peroxide and scrub. Don't scrub the flesh of the coral.
Sticker shock
Active Member
Very true, the air treatment may not work, but is the least aggressive treatment for the coral. That's why I suggested to try it first. Peroxide and scraping would be my second option, and most likely to succeed.
You could even try injecting air into the sponge with an empty syringe.
I would scrape and scrub, look like its mostly on the skeleton
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