Zoa stems

[sb__78]

Hi I'm new to the salt water hobby and have only a few small soft corals. I have noticed some funny looking 'tentacles' at the base of the zoas is this normal or a parasite and if so am I best doing a coral dip? The polyps open fully everyday and I have noticed new polyps within the last week. I only noticed the 'tentacles' last night as they were all fully closed

 

[JJ Ligs]

I have some Palys that do this when spreading, it is very weird but a few types in my tank grow like this. They tend to be the fast growers.

 

[ahiggins]

Those aren’t part of the paly. They are an invasive sponge and can actually strangle some of the weaker zoas if it starts in on them. Currently struggling with them on an utter chaos frag I picked up. Manual removal is best.

 

[sb__78]

Remove how? Cut them out or scrape off?

 

[JJ Ligs]

Oh are they not attached to the rock just free floating? So sorry my bad. You should remove the rock if you can when you remove the sponges some have a very fiberglass like shedding that happens when scrapped and it can hurt fish gills I learned that when removing some a while back thankfully my fish were ok

 

[sb__78]

I removed the rock and they are in fact attached to the zoa stalks. I have scraped off what I can with a razor blade but there is still bit attached. I didn't want to damage the colony and ended up removing two polyps as they were heavily covered with the stuff

 

[GigiHayward]

I removed the rock and they are in fact attached to the zoa stalks. I have scraped off what I can with a razor blade but there is still bit attached. I didn't want to damage the colony and ended up removing two polyps as they were heavily covered with the stuff

Were they quite solid to remove? I've had a similar issue with mine but it was a brand new piece we bought so I took it back to the shop. Can see white spikes coming out of the stems