Help with Trimming Zoa's

[esther]

Trying to get some help from you experienced Zoa Keepers. We have some zoa's that are growing really quickly on one of our rocks. I was wondering how you guys have trimmed your zoa's back while they're inside the tank. Taking the rock out is out of the question, seeing as though it's a base rock and I'm not even going to go there.

Or do I even need to worry about trimming it back? Are zoa's capable of killing chalice's or anything else for that matter?

Thanks in advance for your help. Photo below for reference.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

@footgal

 

[footgal]

Hi! Difficult to trim in-tank but possible. Scalpels/razors are your friend. If you’re not intending to sell them then scraping one polyp at a time is your best bet (time consuming, yes). or you can kill the zoas by injecting aptasia X, kalk paste, or H2O2 via syringe with a needle. After you trim them back, lay down some pebbles so when the zoas spread again you can easily remove them by removing the pebbles.

 

[esther]

Hi! Difficult to trim in-tank but possible. Scalpels/razors are your friend. If you’re not intending to sell them then scraping one polyp at a time is your best bet (time consuming, yes). or you can kill the zoas by injecting aptasia X, kalk paste, or H2O2 via syringe with a needle. After you trim them back, lay down some pebbles so when the zoas spread again you can easily remove them by removing the pebbles.

thanks! I’ll give it a go.

 

[Oscar47f]

If you don’t want them to spread further place rubble rock around the colony one the colony starts to grow over the rubble rock you can remove the rubble rock and replace with new ones.... as far as trimming inside the tank goes +1 on what was previously stated

 

[esther]

OK, bumping this back up because the zoa's are now touching the mummy eye. Nothing seems to be irritating the other, but I want to control these zoa's. Question...

Can I scrub them? Or will that put a lot of toxins into the water? Need/Want all of your suggestions.

Thanks everyone and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

[footgal]

OK, bumping this back up because the zoa's are now touching the mummy eye. Nothing seems to be irritating the other, but I want to control these zoa's. Question...

Can I scrub them? Or will that put a lot of toxins into the water? Need/Want all of your suggestions.

Thanks everyone and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hi! At this point, I would try elimination since your rock appears porous which would make it difficult to completely scrape them off. Injecting with kalk paste, boiling water, lemon juice, aiptasia X, etc will do the job just fine

 

[esther]

Hi! At this point, I would try elimination since your rock appears porous which would make it difficult to completely scrape them off. Injecting with kalk paste, boiling water, lemon juice, aiptasia X, etc will do the job just fine

I haven't tried scraping them yet. Do you think it will work well if I use a hard bristled brush?

 

[footgal]

I haven't tried scraping them yet. Do you think it will work well if I use a hard bristled brush?

Probably not . You’re likely to just release a bunch of zoa guts and palytoxin into the tank if you try dissolving them like that. Injecting would cause them to melt which wouldn’t make and palytoxin be released. If you can scrape the entire polyp off with a razor blade, that’s probably the best course of action