Zoa removal

[Nathan Milender]

I have some lage polyp zoas that have been proliferating faster than some of my other corals and are starting to encroach on some sps. What is the safest way to remove a few polyps from the tank?

 

[eggplantparrot]

i have ripped both Constellations and Gobstoppers off from a conch shell by hand outside of the tank. i kind of like the constellations so i smushed them onto a frag disk with superglue and surprise surprise, every polyp i ripped out was open by the next day (i tore them off with the intention of throwing them in the trash so it was not pretty).

wear safety goggles, wear gloves if you have a cut on your hand, and have at it. just dont lick your hands after

 

[NanoDJS]

pic of the polyps in question would help determine the methodology to use IF they are something that you actually can go messing with. Palytoxin yo

 

[45ZoaGarden]

pic of the polyps in question would help determine the methodology to use IF they are something that you actually can go messing with. Palytoxin yo

+1

 

[ectoaesthetics]

Eye protection, gloves and towels that go into the wash.

 

[Nathan Milender]

I could get a picture, but I still have not worked out a less cumbersome way of doing this. I was under the impression that the risks were mostly class related by taxonomy. I figured whatever I messed with would likely behave like others in it's class regardless of the color. These are just larger zoa/paly polyps. I cannot really take the rock they are on out as it has been cemented by some montipora. They are near the top so I could do it out of the water during a slightly larger water change or a method of doing it under water. I was really wondering if I could just cut them off or use aptaisa x or kalkwasser on them. Since it is not an emergency I thought it would be worth asking around. Perhaps I am overthinking it.

 

[NanoDJS]

Count the frills , if you have more than 60 lashes on each polyp , plan to remove it , get the other corals off that rock if you dont have to disturn the pallys, and chuck that rock in a plastic bag doubled up , if you cannot bury it for like a year. I bury the rocks with massive pally overgrowth then dig em up and clean em, most of those og rocks wioth overgrowth are legit liverock from fiji, marshall islands ect, more people inherit these type situations. They stopped collecting the bad polyps a long time ago for this reason. Hope it all works out , just take your time like you said no rush right.

 

[Nathan Milender]

Count the frills , if you have more than 60 lashes on each polyp , plan to remove it , get the other corals off that rock if you dont have to disturn the pallys, and chuck that rock in a plastic bag doubled up , if you cannot bury it for like a year. I bury the rocks with massive pally overgrowth then dig em up and clean em, most of those og rocks wioth overgrowth are legit liverock from fiji, marshall islands ect, more people inherit these type situations. They stopped collecting the bad polyps a long time ago for this reason. Hope it all works out , just take your time like you said no rush right.

These don't have 60 lashes (low 30s), they are just large, good at catching food, and growing faster than some other stuff. They look plain under daylight and glow green under leds. I just want to trim them back a bit from some sps I was not thinking the entire colony needed to go. They don't sting the sps, just starting to shade it.

 

[NanoDJS]

you should be fine , just be smart , most cut the mat with a razor then grab the chunk you isolated with some good forcep type tweezers at the fattest part of mat and yank em off , they usually survive to frag. if they were desirable

 

[User1]

Similar to Xenia you can use forceps - the curved ones - to remove. Gently brush over the polyp with your finger if gloved or forcep so it will close. Once that is done you should be able to clamp on the stalk as close to the rock as possible. Once clamped gently pull to the left or right, slowly, and peel it off. Have a cup of water near by, lift out, and unclamp in the water in the cup. Repeat until you clear what you want.

As many said we are not sure what you have so it is recommended to do with a window open, or other ventilation, gloves, and eye protection. Just to be safe. I have some green polyps that do similar and while a pain to remove that is how I do it. Seems to have a lower grow back rate when I go slow and get them off the rocks. Similar to Xenia. If in doubt you can always get some reef epoxy and putty over those you are not sure about.

Best of luck.