How long can softies stay out of water?

rantipole · Jul 4, 2017

Hi all,

The title of this thread is my question: How long can soft corals and zoas stay out of water?

The background for my question is this: I have a chunk of live rock that has become covered with hair algae. I want to take it out of the tank and scrub the algae off. The problem is that two leather corals and some zoas were superglued to the rock. None of them are very big. Can I just take the rock out with the corals and scrub off the algae? Will the corals and zoas be OK?

Thank you!

Cheers,
rant

JaimeAdams · Jul 4, 2017

Yeah, they should be fine. With those coral I would just pull the rock out and spritz the rock down with hydrogen peroxide. Let it sit 2 or 3 minutes, rinse off in fresh saltwater if you feel like it, if not just toss back in your tank.

rantipole · Jul 4, 2017

Thanks. Should I be careful not to hit the coral with the peroxide?

Cheers,
rant

JaimeAdams · Jul 4, 2017

I can't say that I have ever dipped or sprayed leathers, but I have let zoos sit in straight 3% walmart hydrogen peroxide for 15 minutes or so with no ill effect. I imagine that leathers would be pretty resistant to it as well. If you search around there is a chart somewhere. It will kill the algae in just a couple of minutes.

Tahoe61 · Jul 4, 2017

I would be surprised if there was a long term adverse reaction.
They used to and probably still ship zoanthids wrapped in moist news paper.

rantipole · Jul 6, 2017

Thanks. Do you just use regular peroxide? Do I need to dilute it?

Cheers,
rant

rantipole · Jul 9, 2017

I took the rock out and sprayed it with peroxide. I left it soak on there for 10-15 minutes and then rinsed with saltwater. Algae has turned a grayish white but not fallen off yet. Do I need to scrub it?

The zoas look fine. The two leathers are closed up but don't look like they were damaged at all. Hopefully they're just ticked off and will spring back.

Cheers,
rant