Can a dying sponge spoiled your tank?

Two week ago I decide to buy a coral, went to my fish store and had them for 2 for 30 so figure i will get 2. one was a xenia wich melted the next day and the other was a button polyps with a white sponge on it. the polyps does not look good and the sponge was turning brown but seem to getting is white color back.
If that sponge die can it spoil my tank?

I was trying to figure out why these coral die, all my params are good even bought a copper test just in case and it's zero. anyway with more thinking i finally realize that with my lack of experience I expose them to air so I am guessing that's the problem.

My pet store gave me an info packet and it's said that sponge can spoiled your tank when dying.

If that's the case i am wondering if I should take the button polyps with the sponge on it out of my tank ( the polyps is dying).

Wow I hope I did not confuse to many people just want you to know that English is my second language so it is difficult for me to explain myself.
Let me know if I don't make sense

 

I'm not sure about the sponge, i've heard that also.But why is you buttons dying??there some of the easiest to keep.What type of lighting do you have?

 

I have 2 t12 actinic white and 2 t12 super actinic, I have talk to other on this site and they grow softies with those light no problem. I expose it to air could it be it?

 

Sponge-yes,exposing it to air can kill it.But button polyps can be exposed to air for a short time with no problem.Maybe one of the pros will chime in.I've had soft corals under t8's with good results,but in a wayyy smaller tank than yours.Mabey the light isn't penetrating far enough?

 

You explain things very well,no need to apoligize.I had no luck with even soft corals like Xenia and Zoas till upgrading my lights,now they grow too fast.My tank is also very deep,24inches.You might want to think about improving your light before spending more on corals.

 

In my opinion those corals shouldn't melt or die that fast unless something is seriously wrong with your water. Are you using a hydometer or a refractometer to measure your salinity?
I'm thinking that either your water is way too salty or way not salty. Also, what temperature do you keep your tank at, do you have a heater?

 

yeah something is in the water

 

Yes, too much sponge can spoiled your tank but from the sound of your post, you didn't have enough sponge to spoiled your tank. How large is the sponge you are talking about? How large is your system.
The xenia and button polyps are fine to expose to air for a short period of time. Try not to expose the sponge to the air though.
Xenia and GSP are sensitive to high phosphate and ammonia level. Xenia tend to melt away due to high phosphate level. You can test for ammonia but phosphate is a little trickier to test. There are 2 types of phophates - organic and inorganic. Your test kit only test for one type but not the other. Do a water change (it's cheap and can solve most tank ailment) if you reef inhabitances showed signs of problem.

 

I do have phospate it's .5

 

As far as the sponge goes, I have had the experience with the ones in my tank. They came in the live rock, one is white another one orange, and the biggest one is bluish-white. I've moved and re-arranged my rock several times, moving these rocks from my DT to my soon-to-be-sump 30 gallon tank and even had them there with salt water and no heat. None of them suffered at all. The sponges were placed back in the tank after almost 30 hrs of being left in the 30 gallon tank and never had a problem with them. You may have a different kind of sponge. Could you post a picture, maybe?

I did have a pulsating xenia that melted as you described, only that it took it several weeks. The problem was my alkalinity being way too high. What do you currently test, and if you will, can you post all the parameters you test?

I'm still learning a lot here, but something in the test results may raise a flag for somebody.

- Mag.