Gardening Zoas

[enricocoron]

I've got a colony of bob marleys that is out of control, is there as safe way to 'trim the edges' or kill them with boiling water ? Will they release toxins?

 

[burton14e7]

I have a colony that took over my tank. If people were selling zoa eating nudis i'd buy them.

 

[mermaid_life]

Just take a pair of scissors and cut the polyps. You can easily super glue them to a plug and they will propagate.

 

[Coral Your World]

Don’t boil them, take a razor blade to them in a separate container of water, under water (or out of water with care and/or goggles and gloves if you have any open wounds on your hands). Then pack up whatever you trim and ship it my way!

 

[enricocoron]

So I need to remove the rock they are on to cut the polyps? I can't do it in the tank? If there is a branching monti on the same rock will the toxins released kill it?

 

[Coral Your World]

You can do it in the tank if you have adequate space to work with and you’re doing a small amount of trimming. I’ve trimmed small frags in my tank with other corals and absolutely no ill effects (though I do run carbon). If you’re doing some serious trimming or it’s easy enough to isolate the rock in a separate container of water, why not

 

[mermaid_life]

So I need to remove the rock they are on to cut the polyps? I can't do it in the tank? If there is a branching monti on the same rock will the toxins released kill it?

I do it in the tank. I blow on them with a turkey baster to close them up. Then I cut just the heads with a fine set of surgical scissors. I use a net to catch them all floating in my tank and glue to frag plugs for healing.

 

[enricocoron]

Thanks, do you turn the pumps on to do this and do they always float? I did it outside on a aluminum foil wearing goggles and they definitely squirt. Afterwards I hosed the area down thoroughly but my wife with her steady hands made a few new colonies on small rocks and I put them in the dark today and tomorrow will maybe put them on the bottom of the main tank in lower light lower flow as I'm sure that's stressful.

 

[mermaid_life]

Thanks, do you turn the pumps on to do this and do they always float? I did it outside on a aluminum foil wearing goggles and they definitely squirt. Afterwards I hosed the area down thoroughly but my wife with her steady hands made a few new colonies on small rocks and I put them in the dark today and tomorrow will maybe put them on the bottom of the main tank in lower light lower flow as I'm sure that's stressful.

they don't float. They fly around in the tank lol. They definitely squirt and release stuff because my skimmer reacts but I have carbon so I'm not concerned.