Best way to kill pest Zoa/Paly?

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chaostactics

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Thank you so much for posting this in action!! I didn't even think about a bent straw. I have a straight one.

I am not even remotely an engineer but I thought flow via suction was purely determined by the smallest diameter (of any appreciable length in a closed system system? I.e. a Venturi/eductor could increase flow at effluent bot other than that the smallest ID determines flow/suction in a passive siphon.
 

Fishfreak2009

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It may not apply for your particular situation since you are growing zoas you want as well, but for those who are reading this and only have pest palys/zoas they want to get rid of, you can always try finding a local hobbyist struggling with/fish store that imports zoas and get zoanthid spiders and zoa eating nudibranchs from them. Both are host specific in their diets, so would die out once their food source is gone, but would eventually eradicate your problem for you.

Do not think a spider decorator crab will solve the issue though! Mine used to steal and then lose the desirable zoas where they'd die in a dark crevice somewhere, but ended up spreading texas trash palys all over the tank via this same method. I ended up hospitalizing myself from aerosolizing palytoxin trying to scrub them off the rock with hot water and a wire brush.
 
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It may not apply for your particular situation since you are growing zoas you want as well, but for those who are reading this and only have pest palys/zoas they want to get rid of, you can always try finding a local hobbyist struggling with/fish store that imports zoas and get zoanthid spiders and zoa eating nudibranchs from them. Both are host specific in their diets, so would die out once their food source is gone, but would eventually eradicate your problem for you.

Do not think a spider decorator crab will solve the issue though! Mine used to steal and then lose the desirable zoas where they'd die in a dark crevice somewhere, but ended up spreading texas trash palys all over the tank via this same method. I ended up hospitalizing myself from aerosolizing palytoxin trying to scrub them off the rock with hot water and a wire brush.
We had someone in our reef club in the DC/MD/VA area do that too
 

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ReefCleaners rarely has clown crabs in stock, and those eat zoas/palys. The more toxic, the more they like it. They'll eat other foods, too. But of course it would go after other zoas, and might not do well once it ran out of food. Could always trade it around, I suppose, and put all your desired frags up on the wall (crabs can't usually climb glass) while you had it. Don't know how thorough the little guys are.
 

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I had this issue with some ugly green palys that were hitchhikers on anther frag. At the time I was happy I got an additional "free" coral. Once it took off, it was everywhere. Killed off a few other colonies. I tried kalk slurry, aptasia-x, peroxide and manual removal and had no luck. They keep coming back. Eventually I was able to remove the main rock they were on and kept up the manual removal on the other trucks it was on. Eventually I won, only to have that invasion superceded by a much more aggressive mushroom invasion. I lost that battle.
 

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I love the stainless straw idea. A Majano wand will kill them too just run a lot of carbon while using it. I think sucking the easy ones out with the straw and then scorching the rest with the majano wand would be a pretty solid one two punch.
 

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I have used the Majano Wand and does work great. But isn't it possible they will release babies into the water when using this device?
 

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Thank you so much for posting this in action!! I didn't even think about a bent straw. I have a straight one.

I am not even remotely an engineer but I thought flow via suction was purely determined by the smallest diameter (of any appreciable length in a closed system system? I.e. a Venturi/eductor could increase flow at effluent bot other than that the smallest ID determines flow/suction in a passive siphon.
This is how I plan to remove the palys I have that are over growing the tank. They grow too fast.
 
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chaostactics

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I love the stainless straw idea. A Majano wand will kill them too just run a lot of carbon while using it. I think sucking the easy ones out with the straw and then scorching the rest with the majano wand would be a pretty solid one two punch.
I'd be more worried about toxin release stressing other corals.
 

anthonygf

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Ok so I took a shot at the siphon method. Not too bad. I probably should have run more carbon though. It did stress out some corals but not nearly as bad as other methods may have.

Yes, but you need to learn to work like a surgeon lol.
 
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Yes, but you need to learn to work like a surgeon lol.
I did end up using a #11 blade at se point. I should mention I also beveled one side of the straw. I should probably try to do a shaper and longer bevel.
20210924_214542.jpg
 

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You have been doing this long enough. Have you seen this method yet? 1/4" stainless steel stray inside 1/2" hose, you should be able to suck out the polyps without poisoning the water. Works great for me and no chemicals needed.
Do you have a video of this?
 

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