..Another dying sponge....

[iheartcrabs]

well, long story short, I go to my LFS for water and get an orangle flower sponge. I'm familiar with caring for sponges so I'm like "sure, my tank could use some colour" so the woman goes to bag it. she informs me sponges cannot touch air or they will die, which I already knew, so she fills the bag up only with water. she goes int eh back to put a rubber band on it and meanwhile I'm paying for the water and sponge. she comes back after a bit longer than you would think it would take, and I leave. I go home. I float the bag (the bag doesn't float as it is full of water) and I cut the bag open from the bottom. I place the sponge, very lightly, not touching the soft part as much as possible, and wedge it between two rocks at the root. At this point I ntoice it's tendency towards bouyancy, instead of sinking it seems to drift around the tank, so I anchor it a bit more and think nothing of it.

perhaps 5 hours later, I notice a thin layer of white film covering part of the spong that was not there before. I also notice....bubbles? I go to investigate. I bump the sponge, bubless pour out, and it floats tot he top! D:

so, apparently, somehow it had air in it befor eit entered the tank, and, however that happened, in the process of floating up a section was exposed to air. Is there anything I can do? should I take the sponge out now or wait to see if part of it grows back? should I save the evidence for my LFS? as a side note, i ma still fascinated with caring for sponges, but am unsure whether to feed them zooplankton or phytoplankton. (I currently have a bottle of phytoplankton) also, she mentioned calcium.... do spognes really take up alot, and she said ALOT, of calcium? should I be worried or was she trying to sell me unescessary things? halp!

[MikeTR]

Nice.. she dropped the bag..just like they dropped my clownfish on the floor and tried to sell me it...

 

i'm only guessing

[The Propagator]

Wives tale.

There are no creatures in the sea or in our fresh water lakes that will die if they touch air.

Little die off from air pockets stored in it some is possible, but it will not be doomed to certain death from merely touching air. Just gently squeeze it like you would .. well a sponge to get as much air out as you can. Mine are exposed to air all the time and they are fine. I am constantly moving my rock around and re arranging various sponges in my frag tank to better locations. This involves me exposing them to air and they never die.

Also, sponges have little use for calcium. They intake minute amounts at best. They have no skeletal structure so why would they need large quantities of calcium ? They are filter feeders. Other then that they have all the care requirements of a filter feeding gorgonian.

[lakshwadeep]

Some sponges use calcium (i.e. the "calcaerous sponges"), but many use silica as the basis for their skeletons.

[Jsnyder]

Wives tale.

There are no creatures in the sea or in our fresh water lakes that will die if they touch air.

Little die off from air pockets stored in it some is possible, but it will not be doomed to certain death from merely touching air. Just gently squeeze it like you would .. well a sponge to get as much air out as you can. Mine are exposed to air all the time and they are fine. I am constantly moving my rock around and re arranging various sponges in my frag tank to better locations. This involves me exposing them to air and they never die.

Also, sponges have little use for calcium. They intake minute amounts at best. They have no skeletal structure so why would they need large quantities of calcium ? They are filter feeders. Other then that they have all the care requirements of a filter feeding gorgonian.

 

+2 I remove rocks with sponges and expose them to air for short periods of time with no ill effect. I've also freshwater dipped with no problem and soaked in furan-2 with no problem.

 

Some sponges use calcium (i.e. the "calcaerous sponges"), but many use silica as the basis for their skeletons.

Agreed, If your salt mix or source water is completely free from silicates you will have difficulty keeping sponges alive.

[ADAreef]

http://www.saltysupply.com/Sponge-Power-Co...ml-p/kz2112.htm

 

That stuff is supposed to work wonders for sponge growth.

 

More info in this thread:

 

http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10926

[lakshwadeep]

http://www.saltysupply.com/Sponge-Power-Co...ml-p/kz2112.htm

 

That stuff is supposed to work wonders for sponge growth.

 

More info in this thread:

 

http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10926

 

I wonder how many zeovit users have good sponge growth with their low nutrient systems. In any case, the zeovit system and products sounds too pseudoscientific for me as a biochem student.

[ADAreef]

I wonder how many zeovit users have good sponge growth with their low nutrient systems. In any case, the zeovit system and produces sounds too pseudoscientific for me as a biochem student.

 

Thats how I felt at first, but its hard to argue with results. I don't think its psuedoscience so much as it is blind dosing. Zeovit users definitely see positive effects from their various supplements, but they don't know what chemicals are in them or why.

[The Propagator]

Blind dosing = psuedoscience in this particular case IMHO. Mainly due to things stated as scientific evidence with the product shown via results, when its indeed as you stated blind dosing and probably blind luck to.

But as always.. I like to stick to the tried and true...if it works for you stick with it.