blue sponge?

If this is Haliclona blue sponge - check Google Image search by name or see mine here - most had problems with it, very few had it a for a long time or actually seen it growing new parts.

I bought mine with necrotic white parts (the large channel was blocked by agaronite, but this was not visible outside), it died within days in tank, where other sponges did fairly well. Later it was fragged (necrotic parts removed) and placed in separate tank, but it didn't help.

I have strong suspicion, that it caused the only tank crash I had, that wiped out sea stars, sea cucumbers (they were later victims, not the cause), sps, bleached to snow white color porites, blinded fish (had to put them to sleep), crustaceans were not affected at all. LPS and softies contracted, were depressed for some time, but survived.

I was told, that it is not because the Hliclona is particularly bad, but because sponges, when dieing, are releasing the toxic compounds. I had other sponges dieing in the tank - orange ball, spiny orange sponge, orange tree sponge, candycane or spider sponge and some hitchhiker sponges, while some other hitchhiking sponges are doing perfectly OK in the same tank - none of them caused such devastation.

BTW, it was never exposed to air, at least in my presence.

Here are some links to Haliclona requirements (note, that there are more than one Haliclona species and not all all blue sponges, called Haliclona are Haliclona in reality):
- It is photosynthetic and requires high light (1, 2, 3).
- few notes from keepers (1).

You can find much more by search fir this name.

I have had my blue sponge in my tank for months, with no problems, but i did alot of reading, and was very carefuly when choosing one. I waited months for one, and when my LFS randomly got a shipment of 12 in, i waited 3 weeks to see if any of them were going to survive, one did, so i have had it for aound 4-5 months, and have seen a little growth out of it. IT recently got brokedn in a rock slide, but all parts are doing great. Its in high light, med-high flow.

Here is a close up of a blue one that came as a hitchhiker along with a red one next to it.... It has been in a low , almost hidden location of my tank for about a couple of years now..... Not a lot of growth, but seems to stay healthy.

Why is it that the hitchikers always do well, but the ones that we buy are most likely to die?
Beautiful picture. I have a similiar species, but it is purple. Came in on live rock, not bought, and doing wonderfully, has even grown.

that is a really nice color combo of sponges. I have some purple, alot of pink, a few yellow and some white sponges around on my rocks. I think that the type of sponge he is talking about though is different than the hitch hiker one. still an awesome pic though

I acctually just bought one yesturday lol. I was told they dont need light so I put it into a cave. Mine doesnt look like the one above, it has finger ike projectons with the osculum(excurent holes) at the top.

Just trying to be active so my thread posts