Keeping Zoas and Palys under control

reeflover · Dec 8, 2014

So I made the mistake of gluing frags of zoanthids and palythoas on rocks that are not able to be removed. The yellow palys are now taking over my colony of Rastas and I am not sure how to fix it. I can't cut them off because I can't remove the rock.

That brings me to my next question, how can I keep my zoanthids from over growing onto other things if I can't remove the rock to cut them? Is there an easy way to do this?

Thanks in advance!

zesty · Dec 8, 2014

research mining.

If you have z/p's on a rock and you can't remove the rock, you;re going to have to get creative. See if you can glue/place a small piece of rubble rock near them and see if you can divert their growing patter.

Someday, it's going to come down to tearing out rock to eventually get what you want. I've had to do it a couple times, it sucks... but sometimes it's the best way.

Any other ideas, I'm open to as well!

reefwars · Dec 8, 2014

Place a thin epoxy mat over them , no light no grow after a while you can either put something over the mat or remove and you'll have bare rocks .

Fur the edges of the epoxy down so polyps can't squeeze out to reach for light , obviously only put the mat on the corals you don't want.

Works great not only for zoas but for gsp, cloves, motiporas etc.

reeflover · Dec 9, 2014

Could I use the putty that people use for aquascapes? Just spread it over the mat?

joshporksandwich · Dec 9, 2014

Yellow palys are horrible. They sting other zoas and are very hard to get rid off. If you can do what other people suggested you might get rid of them. Take out the rastas if you can and try to rip the yellow zoas but most likely they will come back. I don't want to be negative but those yellow palys are mean lol. Ask AquamanE I spent hours removing every trace of yellow zoas and rocks and he told me they came back after months.

reeflover · Dec 9, 2014

They are, I am regretting ever putting them in there in the first place. One of the biggest mistakes I have made in the hobby! Very frustrating plucking each one out by hand.