Dying hitchhiker sponge

[cocoacf]

I had a manilla colored sponge that hitchhiked on a piece of LR I bought. The sponge has a circumference about the size of a quarter. My tank was new, but had water from an established tank when I put the LR in there. I believe the sponge has started to die because it is getting a lot of holes in it and just looks like its deteriorating perhaps.
The reason I thought it might be dying is because my water has been getting a little cludy with a lot of white specs in it...
So my question is, does a dying sponge harm your tank or can I just let it die? Is there any way to remove this sponge from the rock and tank?

 

[mie]

Take the rock out and scrape it of. Most sponges will die if exposed to air. Yes they can raise your ammonia level if they are large enough.

 

[cocoacf]

Will it come off in once piece if I do scrape it off? or will it leave pieces behind that will raise ammonia too?

 

[mie]

No more decaying matter than leftover food would leave behind.

 

[reefkprz]

holes dont always indicate dying, they open channels for feeding, often in lower flow the holes have to be bigger to allow easier flow, it could jsut be modifying its shape to fit the conditions in your tank. generally when a sponge dies it starts to detiriorate at the outer perimiter first and receed leaving it silicious or calcerous structure behind. at the size of only a quarter I would jsut leave it alone, and see if it survives.