Controlling Paly growth?

[Crustoceous]

I have a paly colony that has had explosive growth ever since I put them in the tank. It went from a frag with 5/6 heads to what you see in the picture in about 6 months. A couple weeks ago I added the small frag of the green paly in the upper left corner and there was about an inch or so space between the two, now the big colony is encroaching. Everything else has very moderated growth in the tank.

I'm worried that my tank is going to turn into a giant paly farm. Besides chiseling off that portion of the rock, do you guys have any strategies that work to contain the growth?

 

[ReeferWarrant]

Isolate the colony in the sandbed, I had the same ones and luckily while trying to identify what they were another person on here told me how quickly they grow. I've been doing small zoa gardens lately with rubble I have, you might want to go that route.

I tried selling them and no one would buy them, so either isolate them or start removing them and trashing them.

 

[Fourstars]

I’d pull that rock and either isolated it in the sand bed, or scrub it clean. Just be carful as they may be poisonous.

 

[Crustoceous]

So what's the best method to remove them? Pulling the rock would either mean removing the entire hardscape since it's all cemented together, or using a hammer and chisel.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

I think either way you look at it youre going to have to remove the hardscape. Just thinking of the risk using a hammer and chisel inside your tank and if you unfortunately crack the glass. That would be how I would go with it, I ended up throwing my colony away. They grow way too fast and there are more vibrant colored zoas/palys than those.

What I have learned is I put most of my soft corals isolated on their own rock. In the event I want to shift them I dont have to go through the hassle that youre going to have too. Better to do it now than later though, I have seen entire tanks taken over by those.

 

[Sticker shock]

Just put some rubble in there...once the plays hit the rubble pull it out. I’ve never had any trouble with the method. You may need to cut a little bit of the mat to separate the new growth from the main colony.

 

[Crustoceous]

Do you mean put rubble up near the colony?

 

[Waboss]

So a little off the wall idea, you could try a filefish. Mine not only killed off all aptasia I had in my tank, but also devoured the palys that were overgrowing everything. Granted, it even ate up the ones I liked, but the overgrowing was really starting to cause issues, so it was a good trade off for me. Now I just need him to start eating Zoos and I'd be happy!

 

[Sticker shock]

Do you mean put rubble up near the colony?

Yes, in between the colony and the area you don’t want them moving towards. A little superglue should hold the rubble in place and can easily be ripped out when it’s time.

 

[andrewkw]

There is no controlling this type of paly. My lights are still out but took a couple of pics of my maroon clownfish tank.

If I could get $2 a frag (not a polyp) I would be rich. They almost completely cover the bottom of my 90g and are growing up the front and side of the glass. I also have them in my nano. They are everywhere in my frag tank and the only reason they haven't completely overtaken my main display is it's full of other corals and if they manage to jump on top of something I pull them out. I can't even venture a guess of how many 1000s of polyps of these guys I have.

 

[andrewkw]

Here are a few from my nano reef. They grow right out of the water and right into the filter.

 

[Crustoceous]

Here are a few from my nano reef. They grow right out of the water and right into the filter.

Yea that’s something I definitely don’t want. Looks like full removal will be the best thing to do since the tank is less than a year old...

 

[Homewrecker]

I like putting favias where I want zoas/ palys to stop growing. Their sting is potent enough to kill zoas and keep them from going onto the rest of your rock work. Alternatively, I recommend burning them with Kalk or Aiptasia X

 

[Crustoceous]

I like putting favias where I want zoas/ palys to stop growing. Their sting is potent enough to kill zoas and keep them from going onto the rest of your rock work. Alternatively, I recommend burning them with Kalk or Aiptasia X

I have both of those... as I don't want to nuke the tank, would burning them be something I should do over the course of a few days/weeks or just hit the entire colony at once? I have about 200 gal of total system volume.

 

[ewanho]

Buy a half mask respirator with With full cartridges that have carbon and other components before removing large amounts.($75 versus sick or dead); have bags ready to hild the ones you get rid if and seal immediatey. Then double bag and seal again. Obviously wear gloves and safety glasses. Good luck.

 

[jda]

Kalk paste works. Just do small patches at a time and turn your pumps off for an hour, or so, to allow the kalkwasser to set up.