How do i fix / save this?

[Pmauro55]

let me preface this post by stating I know very little about growing corals, but this is my first attempt at doing so. I have two colonies growing on a rock. Sorry I’m not smart enough to even know the name of the colonies but one is growing extremely quickly and threatens a smaller nicer colony that I would like to save, and I do not have the knowledge to do so. so I am hoping that someone out there will be able to tell me how I can save the smaller colony and also a small clam that is growing on the rock and is being threatened by the coral I’m gonna try to include a couple of pictures so you can see what I’m talking about Thanks in advance for all of your input and advice.

 

[shakacuz]

gotta frag those overgrowing zoa's out, but it may be a continuous battle as they do seem to be growing very quickly. might help to target feed the smaller colony, too, so they could maybe be more nutritionally able to grow faster.

 

[Tahoe61]

That's a tough one. To me it looks like a larger colony of brown palys and a smaller colony of Radioactive Dragon Eyes Zoanthids.
Myself I would carefully get rid of the larger colony. It's always going to be invasive and take over real-estate.
You're going to have to remove the rock, is that possible?
I STRONGLY suggest you research how to remove Palythoa. They are EXTREMELY toxic. You would need glove and goggles just to get started.
If it were mine I would throw the whole rock out. A nice little colony of Zoanthids is not worth the issues you will have to deal with regarding removal of the larger colony.

 

[Pmauro55]

gotta frag those overgrowing zoa's out, but it may be a continuous battle as they do seem to be growing very quickly. might help to target feed the smaller colony, too, so they could maybe be more nutritionally able to grow faster.

Thanks for the reply. I’m currently watching the video on how to frag but he doesn’t really talk much about fragging from a large rock like this and I don’t know how in the world I’d break this rock in half but I’m sure I’ll get a few more comments and maybe somebody will be able to tell me How to save all this

 

[Llyod276]

Pull the rock take a hammer and chisel and crack it in half. You can cut/score it a bit with a tile saw or file. The clam, well good luck with that one not many things make a clam move once it's attached.

If a couple of heads make it onto the zoa side, then take a wire brush and scrape them off. But you need to get to the rock, if you just trim the heads 3 more will pop up. Wear gloves, and have fresh air with a current away from you. Just to be safe... never had issues with palythoa toxicity before but there is a risk.

 

[TX_REEF]

you can take the rock out of the tank and use a chisel or flathead screwdriver to remove a portion of the rock to save the small zoa colony, and then toss the rest of the rock, or sterilize it and re-use it. As stated above, the palys will take over the entire rock and tank given time otherwise.

 

[Llyod276]

The only thing that killed my palys was gsp... fight fire with fire!!!

 

[shakacuz]

That's a tough one. To me it looks like a larger colony of brown palys and a smaller colony of Radioactive Dragon Eyes Zoanthids.
Myself I would carefully get rid of the larger colony. It's always going to be invasive and take over real-estate.
You're going to have to remove the rock, is that possible?
I STRONGLY suggest you research how to remove Palythoa. They are EXTREMELY toxic. You would need glove and goggles just to get started.
If it were mine I would throw the whole rock out. A nice little colony of Zoanthids is not worth the issues you will have to deal with regarding removal of the larger colony.

are you certain those are actually paly's? i thought they had short skirts, and much bigger "heads"

 

[Llyod276]

The only thing that killed my palys was gsp... fight fire with fire!!!

 

[Pmauro55]

Thanks for your reply. I’m really good at breaking things so maybe I’ll be able to break this rock and save both sides of the coral and the clam

 

[Pmauro55]

Pull the rock take a hammer and chisel and crack it in half. You can cut/score it a bit with a tile saw or file. The clam, well good luck with that one not many things make a clam move once it's attached.

If a couple of heads make it onto the zoa side, then take a wire brush and scrape them off. But you need to get to the rock, if you just trim the heads 3 more will pop up. Wear gloves, and have fresh air with a current away from you. Just to be safe... never had issues with palythoa toxicity before but there is a risk.

Any idea what type of quarrels these are?

 

[Llyod276]

Pull the rock take a hammer and chisel and crack it in half. You can cut/score it a bit with a tile saw or file. The clam, well good luck with that one not many things make a clam move once it's attached.

If a couple of heads make it onto the zoa side, then take a wire brush and scrape them off. But you need to get to the rock, if you just trim the heads 3 more will pop up. Wear gloves, and have fresh air with a current away from you. Just to be safe... never had issues with palythoa toxicity before but there is a risk.

Any idea what type of quarrels these are? By the way, thanks for your reply. I’m really good at breaking things so I should be able to crack this rock in half.

Love that confidence! You go will go far, my padawan!

As for naming palys pick a name, sounds good. Naming conventions in this hobby are just an excuse to charge more money...

 

[KrisReef]

Palys, WEAr gloves and Goggles to avoid potential poisoning from these kinds of corals.

Look up palytoxin. And don’t be afraid, just be careful.


I would use a butter knife and scrape the large colony into the trash. Putty knife, flat screw driver, what ever you have to remove them.

You probably don’t need to break rocks but if you do they won’t cry.

(Play)-I hate my phone. Paly juice can be toxic, be careful.

 

[Tahoe61]

are you certain those are actually paly's? i thought they had short skirts, and much bigger "heads"

No not absolutely certain. There are palys that look very similar. No offense to the op but ugly and invasive corals are a nope in my book.