Zoas creeping on base of SPS; is this problem?

rerana · Mar 16, 2018

My zoas are creeping in on the base of some of my SPS. I am starting to get worried. Should I be? I feel like this will only get worse. One of the plugs already has a few polyps on it.

How should I deal with this? Although I like the Zoas, I like the SPS much better. I would be ok with trimming or removing the zoas if i had to, but not sure the best way to go about it. I like the rock a lot, so removing it would not be ideal. Thoughts?

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stylaster · Mar 16, 2018

the zoas will eventually kill off the sps

rerana · Mar 16, 2018

whats the best course of action in a case like this?

ihavecrabs · Mar 16, 2018

#reefsquad

Interesting question for those of you that have lived it.. what does your experience tell you?

Crabs McJones · Mar 16, 2018

The easiest way would be to move the sps. Otherwise you could take out the rock, and very carefully (not sure if these zoas carry palytoxin or not) remove them and rehome the zoas to their own island. ALWAYS ALWAYS MAKE SURE TO WEAR PPE WHEN HANDLING ZOAS OR PALYS!!******

redfishbluefish · Mar 16, 2018

As mentioned, the zoa's (faster growers) will overtake the SPS. Removing is with great caution. Zoa's and Paly's have palytoxin, which is highly poisonous...even with skin contact. So when removing wear gloves. If you've removed the rock to work at getting the zoa's off, also wear safety glasses...they can atomize this poison.

I had a problem years ago trying to net a fish and bumping into zoas in the process. I broke out with welts on my hands and spent the next day in bed feeling darn lousy.

So proceed with caution.

redfishbluefish · Mar 16, 2018

Oh, and one more bit of bad news....if you decide to do this removal in tank, if you PO enough of these little poison bombs, they can impact other corals and fish.

Crabs McJones · Mar 16, 2018

redfishbluefish said:
Oh, and one more bit of bad news....if you decide to do this removal in tank, if you PO enough of these little poison bombs, they can impact other corals and fish.

Agreed..Almost better to rehome the SPS. I had a similar situation except mine was GSP. It was choking out my tri color and my strawberry shortcake acro. Ended up scraping off the whole mat, still lost the strawberry acro though

rerana · Mar 16, 2018

Thanks for the advice! I think i'll just have to keep an eye on the SPS to make sure no zoas creep up on the base, and rehome when they do. Seems like eventually I'll need new rock to isolate the zoas. I definitely did not foresee good growth as a problem back when i bought these suckers 2+ years ago. On a bright note, I have no zoas on the left side of the tank and I somehow knew to isolate the GSP on its own rock.