White film over red tree sponge

[coralnut99]

OK, I readily confess to not being a sponge expert, hence the question.
Simple background: I keep my refugiums divided. One side is illuminated and houses macros. The other side, partitioned by eggcrate, is reserved for live rock, sponges, and squirts.

I purchased a red tree sponge, and the packing left something to be desired. Basically it was bent in the bag to keep the packing to a minimum I guess. So it was a bit awkward to remove it from the bag. It actually "sprung" from the bag just a bit as I was opening it, and got a gulp of air before being submerged again. About 3 days later, it's coated with a white film of some sort. It's very easy to siphon off, but comes back VERY quickly. It's about 75% coated.

My suspicion is that it's a gonner, but looking for thoughts and opinions.

 

[240z]

i believe mine is doing the same. Looks like its dying but has not died yet.

 

[coralnut99]

I decided to remove mine. Tried removing that film but it just came back fast. It's just so odd that I've got 5 or six other sponges in the same spot, red, yellow, orange doing fine for months. I guess that one quick gulp of air did it in. Next time I'll open the bag while enirely submerged.