Rank the peskiest soft corals

[blackstallion]

I have all 3 of these in my reef and I fear in the next 6 months to 1 year they will begin to overtake the take.

Which should I be MOST concerned about, and should I take action now to eradicate or control by some other means (either predator fish or coral or other means)

Do CBB fish eat any of these soft coral? Or any non-safe reef fish ie. Angels?

From my observation, I would currently rank them form most pesky to least as follows:

1) Xenia
2) Kenya Tree
3) GSP

 

[blaxsun]

Xenia for certain. I've never had an issue with GSP (Xenia is definitely the "weed").

 

[GillianB]

I have all 3 of these in my reef and I fear in the next 6 months to 1 year they will begin to overtake the take.

Which should I be MOST concerned about, and should I take action now to eradicate or control by some other means (either predator fish or coral or other means)

Do CBB fish eat any of these soft coral? Or any non-safe reef fish ie. Angels?

From my observation, I would currently rank them form most pesky to least as follows:

1) Xenia
2) Kenya Tree
3) GSP

literally have the same problem

 

[bnord]

depends on where you plant them.
Xenia are in my experience the worst - need to control their spread like aptasia
Kenya grows fast but can be contained

GSP can be positioned - cultured and then isolated on rocks and back wall

and nothing eats them that I know of

 

[mfinn]

IMO all 3 can be easily controlled.
Kenya will pop up in random places, but can be pulled out.
The other 2 will spread unchecked, but can be controlled by simply using a aiptasia product or kalk paste when you see it moving out of the area you want it in.
Now, this may take a little effort by paying attention to your tank, instead of just adding, forgetting, then complaining how bad they spread.

 

[N.Sreefer]

1. The palythoa plague the uglier they are the more invasive they are
2. Discosoma mushrooms esp bright green ones
3. Ball corallimorphs some are fine and don't spread that bad but the one I attached a pic of stings/sticks to fish injuring them and is all over my tank.

 

[jfoahs04]

I don't think GSP is too bad because of the way it spreads via growing mat. Give it separation and keep an eye on it and you're fine. If you let it get into your main rock work, you may have problems in the long run.

Xenia can be brutal. It does spread like aiptasia and new stalks can turn up anywhere. It's the only coral I've ever had that's become full on invasive. Clove Polyps (Blue in particular in my experience) can similarly take over.

Green Hairy mushrooms are pretty fast growers and can spread like wildfire. But they're controllable as long as you keep an eye on them.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

there are never invasive mandarins, copperband butterflies, or grandmaster krak zoas. its always 'ugly' stuff like gambusia, snakeheads, pigeons, snakes

 

[k.schoff]

I don't think GSP is too bad because of the way it spreads via growing mat. Give it separation and keep an eye on it and you're fine. If you let it get into your main rock work, you may have problems in the long run.

Xenia can be brutal. It does spread like aiptasia and new stalks can turn up anywhere. It's the only coral I've ever had that's become full on invasive. Clove Polyps (Blue in particular in my experience) can similarly take over.

Green Hairy mushrooms are pretty fast growers and can spread like wildfire. But they're controllable as long as you keep an eye on them.

How do you control the green hairy mushrooms?

 

[jfoahs04]

How do you control the green hairy mushrooms?

Honestly, I've never really had to do a ton of work to control them (not nearly as much as what I've had to do with zoas or gsp). But when one or two show up somewhere I don't want them to be (back wall, neighboring rock), I just scrape them off if I can't move them onto a plug or some rubble and that's the end of it. It's not like GSP, xenia, or zoas where if you leave even a microscopic spec of the coral behind, it'll grow back.

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

1. The palythoa plague the uglier they are the more invasive they are
2. Discosoma mushrooms esp bright green ones
3. Ball corallimorphs some are fine and don't spread that bad but the one I attached a pic of stings/sticks to fish injuring them and is all over my tank.

Gah this one makes me so mad. I had a single Paly take over an entire zoa garden. Lost like 5 zoa colonies because of that stupid thing. Moved tanks and I STILL can't get rid of it all. It just kept spreading around.

 

[HBtank]

1. The palythoa plague the uglier they are the more invasive they are
2. Discosoma mushrooms esp bright green ones
3. Ball corallimorphs some are fine and don't spread that bad but the one I attached a pic of stings/sticks to fish injuring them and is all over my tank.

My nemesis

 

[Aspect]

All the best soft corals grow super fast (Xenia, GSP, Kenya Tree). Love them all.

 

[Argentum]

All the best soft corals grow super fast (Xenia, GSP, Kenya Tree). Love them all.

Agreed. These corals are just the best adapted to our aquariums and respond accordingly, so folks just have to know what they're getting into when they introduce them and plan accordingly. Despite the tendency for the majority of folks to stock a tank like collecting pokemon, having a nice hardscape dominated by fast growing soft corals can look stunning as well. Imagine a tank full of swaying kenya tree corals with an undercarpet of gsp, xenia, blue clove polyps or shrooms. Could be a nice, low maintenance tank that wouldn't require much light or strong filtration.

 

[damsels are not mean]

1. Sarcothelia (basically it's in there once it's in there. There are some chemical treatments that eliminate it but it spreads like algae)

2. Xenia (spreads fast and can "walk" around the tank)

3. Palythoa (tough and sometimes dangerous to remove)

 

[Aspect]

1. Sarcothelia (basically it's in there once it's in there. There are some chemical treatments that eliminate it but it spreads like algae)

2. Xenia (spreads fast and can "walk" around the tank)

3. Palythoa (tough and sometimes dangerous to remove)

Is Sarcothelia also known as Sympodium?

 

[damsels are not mean]

Is Sarcothelia also known as Sympodium?

Nope they're very different but sometimes confused. Sympodium grows much more slowly, though I have seen sarcothelia be labelled as "blue sympodium" before. The main visual distinction is usually the green lines inside the polyps, kind of like clavularia. Not much is known about soft corals though, since they don't come in as many varieties and colors. They aren't studied or categorized as well. There may very well be a true "blue sympodium" and there may be some sarcothelia with green lines! I don't know. If you want some sympodium I'd get it from somebody who has been growing and propagating it long enough to know based on growth rate. Tidal gardens for example sells both under different labels.

 

[Aspect]

Nope they're very different but sometimes confused. Sympodium grows much more slowly, though I have seen sarcothelia be labelled as "blue sympodium" before. The main visual distinction is usually the green lines inside the polyps, kind of like clavularia. Not much is known about soft corals though, since they don't come in as many varieties and colors. They aren't studied or categorized as well. There may very well be a true "blue sympodium" and there may be some sarcothelia with green lines! I don't know. If you want some sympodium I'd get it from somebody who has been growing and propagating it long enough to know based on growth rate. Tidal gardens for example sells both under different labels.

What's the most common name they go by?

 

[damsels are not mean]

What's the most common name they go by?

Usually I've seen sarcothelia called "blue clove polyps". Sympodium people just say the scientific name but it's more rare in the hobby.

 

[mdb_talon]

there are never invasive mandarins, copperband butterflies, or grandmaster krak zoas. its always 'ugly' stuff like gambusia, snakeheads, pigeons, snakes

Haha I see your point, but I think it a chicken and the egg situation. I think Pandora paly are beautiful and I bet if they grew slowly and died easily they would be a pricey sought out coral.