Maricultured zoa colony... is it safe?

[Alpha_and_Gec]

I've been avoiding maricultured corals because of parasites, hell even lfs corals. All my corals come from local reefers, but my mom was really interested in these maricultured zoa colonies at the fish store. I didn't take any photos since I was skeptical of them, and I don't know what they are beyond probably being zoanthus. Is it safe to get them? They are pretty obviously fresh cuts with no algae on the putty gluing the colony together, but one of the colonies had a clove polyp on it and I've heard a few reports of maricultured colonies coming in with zoa - eating flatworms or nudis.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

I've been avoiding maricultured corals because of parasites, hell even lfs corals. All my corals come from local reefers, but my mom was really interested in these maricultured zoa colonies at the fish store. I didn't take any photos since I was skeptical of them, and I don't know what they are beyond probably being zoanthus. Is it safe to get them? They are pretty obviously fresh cuts with no algae on the putty gluing the colony together, but one of the colonies had a clove polyp on it and I've heard a few reports of maricultured colonies coming in with zoa - eating flatworms or nudis.

I have a wild caught zoa colony, which is similar to maricultured colonies in that sense. Never had to deal with flatworms or nudis, though the small rock is incredibly biodiverse, the only thing mildly problematic are spinoid worms. A good dip usually removes most of the stuff but it's really all up to you.

 

[VintageReefer]

If your worried just dip it. 10 min and you’ll have nothing but zoas

I have no issue with maricultured if the deal is good. Just dip and be safe. And think like this, your lfs display tank is probably more valuable than the average customers tank. And they put them in their tank.

I’ve bought maricultured and wild caught colonies many times, never had an issue due to acclimation and dip best practices

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

If your worried just dip it. 10 min and you’ll have nothing but zoas

I have no issue with maricultured if the deal is good. Just dip and be safe. And think like this, your lfs display tank is probably more valuable than the average customers tank. And they put them in their tank.

I’ve bought maricultured and wild caught colonies many times, never had an issue due to acclimation and dip best practices

Well, there still is a risk even with a dip. I only keep wild colonies do an iodine dip for everything (except for the zoa colony ironically, did a freshwater dip as there was a bivalve that I wanted to keep) and I ended up with a pest that, to my knowelage, hasnt even been scientifically documented yet (favities-eating sea spiders, they were definitely eating my leptastrea and im 99% sure theyre the reason my favites colony died)

 

[VintageReefer]

They could buy an aquacultured zoa colony from the same display tank and take the same risk as the maricultured colony.

Iodine is not very effective against pests. I reccomened coralrx, revive, or bayer

I typically use iodine for aiding in recovery from injuries or fragging, bacterial issues, etc.

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

If your worried just dip it. 10 min and you’ll have nothing but zoas

I have no issue with maricultured if the deal is good. Just dip and be safe. And think like this, your lfs display tank is probably more valuable than the average customers tank. And they put them in their tank.

I’ve bought maricultured and wild caught colonies many times, never had an issue due to acclimation and dip best practices

Well, not sure how good the deal is.. 110 CAD for a 2 - inch colony. Not all polyps are opened but no external pests.

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

They could buy an aquacultured zoa colony from the same display tank and take the same risk as the maricultured colony.

Iodine is not very effective against pests. I reccomened coralrx, revive, or bayer

I typically use iodine for aiding in recovery from injuries or fragging, bacterial issues, etc.

My lfs doesn't have aquacultured frags in that tank, all maricultured. I'm not sure whether they all come from the same place.

 

[VintageReefer]

Aquacultured is ideal, no argument from me there. Maricultured is very common though. I wouldn’t avoid a coral I liked because it’s maricultured. In fact, I just bought a maricultured coral myself.

Have dips on hand, they are a good thing to keep in inventory.

I don’t just talk the talk:

 

[VintageReefer]

If it has any form of algae I’ll do a h202 dip as well

 

[elysics]

Well, not sure how good the deal is.. 110 CAD for a 2 - inch colony. Not all polyps are opened but no external pests.

Not sure about general Canadian prices but for 2 inch that seems insane, especially if it's just some generic zoa variety and not something special.
2 inch is just a big frag plug, over here you'd get a 12 inch or more generic zoa rock for that

Or is it some expensive variety?