Sponge shipped out of water?!

I bought a nice chunck of sponge off eBay the seller has good reveiws so I decided to bid. I won and yay the package came today ! I opened it up and could smell some off centered smell. I opened the bag( white plastic garbage bag ) and reposed that the sponge (7-8 inch) had no water! Ok maybe I'm being a worry case but I thougt I heard the sponges can not be out of water or they die and dry up, is it a usual smell for sponges and does anyone know anything to help me calm my nerves? It's in a holding tank now hard to really tell if they are dead or not? Thanks

 

post a pic. you are right about sponges not being exposed to air. only time will tell. karma to you for putting it in a holding tank

 

Oh no, that really sucks! I don't know anything about sponges, but it does seem like they would need water.. well I hope it survives!

 

I'll try to upload a pic from my cell my cambroke the other day

 

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It won't work cuz the only thing I'm on is my iPod

 

Sponges should not be taken out of the water, if it was shipped that way, and it smells like the bay at low tide, then there probably isn't much hope for it. The air gets trapped in the pathways within the sponge preventing food from reaching the cells. It will most likely slowly starve to death. I would try to contact the ebay seller or paypal as it was obviously not shipped correctly.

 

if it starts to turn white then your in trouble.. I have a red tree in my tank, and did have some white tips due to not shutting my main pump off, while doing a recent water change. had alot of bubbles shooting on it.. I did get lucky and just cut off the dying tips of the branches.. it looks ugly but is ok now..best bet get ahold of the seller and send him some pics and kind words..

 

sponges die from air being trapped in the canal. and the cells around the bubble will die first. as the sponge decomposes from the inside it release more bubbles. thus causing certain death. many sponges may also be toxic when in decompostion. so be careful

 

Ya I am sorry about nobpictures but I can certainly see bubbles trying to escape from it's skin or membrane