Controlling Protopalythoa with an aggressive coral?

waitwut · Oct 14, 2023

I have a protopalythoa (or at least, that's what it was sold to me as) that's thriving on a rock that's only connected to the rest of the rockwork at one point. I don't dislike it but I'm concerned about it spreading up onto the rock above it and I'm wary of Palytoxin so I'd prefer to restrict its growth naturally if at all possible.

Does anyone have experience with aggressive corals vs. palythoas? I know that Favias can be quite aggressive, I'm wondering if it can hold its own or if it's likely to get overgrown. I could also move the Favia (it hasn't encrusted past the plug yet) and put in something even more aggressive like an Elegance?

Also open to suggestions for any other (safe) methods of controlling growth!

Uncle99 · Oct 14, 2023

That coral will use its toxin to clear room for its rapid expansion.
It’s either remove or keep IMM.

waitwut · Oct 14, 2023

Ok, so I guess I need to decide if I'm willing to give this entire rock over to it. I feel reasonably confident I can keep it from spreading upwards onto the rock above it, they aren't attached so I can move it around if necessary.

Lavey29 · Oct 14, 2023

I use favia to control zoa spread however zoas find a way to get to different parts of the tank still. They are even growing all over my powerheads. I imagine even if you try to isolate it you will still find polyps in different places eventually. I don't mind it because it's just nature's way so I just let them do their thing.

encrustingacro · Oct 16, 2023

Those are Palythoa (cf mutuki), not Protopalythoa; Protopalythoa is an older classification and was synonymized with Palythoa.

waitwut · Nov 3, 2023

encrustingacro said:
Those are Palythoa (cf mutuki), not Protopalythoa; Protopalythoa is an older classification and was synonymized with Palythoa.

Thanks for the identification - I'm reading about this species and it sounds like it does NOT have high levels of Palytoxin. I'm certainly going to be careful anyway but this gives me a bit more confidence that I can control it.

EDIT: Source for anyone interested.