Probably a stupid question lol

[FrancineJ]

2 part question: lol

ok so I don’t have the luxury of going into a store (maybe once or twice a year) that actually has corals....

I am in the works of building my son a zoa garden... so far I’ve been pleased with the company I’ve been ordering from (very little hitchhikers- even after dipping a couple times over a weeks period)

1: My question is...
I’ve removed other corals from their plugs (like frogspawns and hammers ect because they- to me are easy) just pop them off and re glue onto my own plug or rock....
How on earth do you guys get Zoas off the original plug? I am too afraid of just cutting the polyps... they are so close to the plus it makes me nervous... lol

Is there any special way you guys do this? And I need a good step by step... don’t skip anything because I will screw it up I’m sure...

Question 2:
I’m asking because unfortunately he got one with a dreaded Aiptasia on it .... from what we can see there is just the one “bigger” one and a couple small ones... nothing major and I’m going to try some Aiptasia X today.... on that note I know it works for some and not for others...or can take a couple treatments.... but it’s our best option at this point.. if it gets worse I’ll get some Nudi’s but if I can get rid of them with this stuff I would much rather do it this way....

So any tips on using it? I know you need to squirt it really slowly with the pumps and wave makers off and that it’s supposed to almost reach out and eat it... is there any tips after that? The main one is in a really awkward spot.... so I don’t know if I will be able to get it right into the exact hole once I get it in the head... apparently from what I read it kind of makes them melt.... should I try (when it’s melting) to pull it off the rock?
I have some putty should I just slather some of that on it once it shreivels up? Usually what I hear is that it either works or it works and then they come back so I’m looking for pointers on how to keep it gone....

One of the smaller ones I was quick enough to actually grab somehow and the head part came off and I quickly scooped it out with a net and it has not come back.... yet... if that whole head part comes off is it dead? Or can it just regrow it? (I learned you shouldn’t pick at them after I learned what it was or is probably just have the one lol)

So any pointers with the stuff (Aiptasia X) would be great!

and it def. came from one of the Zoas because his tank has only Caribsea shapes rock in it....

Thanks!

 

[TheEngineer]

Removing Zoas From Plugs:

It depends a bit on the zoas and how they're attached. If they naturally grew onto the plug, it can be a bit more difficult, but the process is largely the same anyway. You want to gently peel them off of the plug. If they're attached to a mat they should come up pretty easily. If they aren't, you'd have to remove them one at a time. The easiest bet is to just cut the plug as much as you can with some hefty shears (I use tin snips) and just let them grow to cover it.

Aiptasia:
Nudis are only for when you have a major infestation. They will quickly starve and die otherwise. If there is just a few, keep feeding them the aiptasia X and watch for new ones to pop up. You'll get ahead of them without too much effort.

 

[FrancineJ]

Thanks... the only reason why (if the Aiptasia X doesn’t work) that I was going to get the nudi’s and not feel terrible is because apparently they have an extremely short lifespan anyway (8 months is typical and this is from a breeder) so if they are a sure fire way to get rid of them then I don’t mind that... he said even with a moderate to severe problem I would only need about 3 anyway... and he said it’s nearly guaranteed that they will ALL be gone.... and he said I’ll be able to tell when they are because I’ll start to see the more colorless nudi’s out in the daytime instead of just at night... because they will be searching for food...

I’ve heard/read some horror stories about this Aiptasia X where they (must not do it properly) and they come back 10 fold...
It just sucks that it’s this time of year because a lot of places are not shipping out livestock again until into January....
plus it was only a couple days ago when I tried to remove the bigger one (it’s not THAT big yet...) and so he probably has already sprayed crap everywhere....

I’ve also heard about the Aiptasia X killing their Zoas so I’m going to use that time to get my son to give them one last dip to be sure all the bad nudi’s and such are gone... that way they will be out of the tank for the most part (they are all new Zoas) within a couple weeks (2 weeks or so) and I did get some that came out with my coral RX... I have that and revive so one last dip won’t hurt them and none are glued into place yet because (as much as people say the biocube lights suck) they are all opened and healthy... just sitting on the sand... and of course where we want our garden to go (basically the exact spot I need to start glueing them) is where the largest darn Aiptasia is lol... but I’m sure after plucking at the big one before I knew I shouldn’t and the little ones that I somehow got (the whole pedal disc thing came off into the water) I caught it pretty quick with a net but still.... for that one I used the hot water method and the top just popped right off after 2 shots lol so I’m sure it will be back and probably spread everywhere lol so I may end up needing the nudi’s after all the mistakes I made lol

But we have looked everywhere as best we can and We can’t find anymore of them... but I know they can pop up at anytime...

Should I seal the spot after the treatment with some putty? Since I’m gonna be putting the zoa garden over top anyway?

And yes that’s the problem with my fear of cutting them off is that the are tight to the disk... so with my clumsiness I’d end up just chopping them up lol... I’m gonna get a small DT frag tank I think so I can at least watch them for the first couple weeks and prevent this from happening again lol

I also have pods that I added right near the same time that it showed up and I’ve read that feeding them the phyto will also feed the Aiptasias.... and I don’t have much else for them to eat (no detritus or such... I can barely keep my small cuc alive lol)

So when you say cut as much of the disk away... that wouldn’t really help a situation like this right? Don’t they grow like right where the polyps are and such? But otherwise you are saying just basically cut the disk/plus so it’s a very thin layer only left? And then glue on a new plug if I want?

 

[JustDewwit]

I recommend letting the zoa frag mature. Once you notice more new growth filling plug, just cut off the stem and place it where it's happy. For aiptasia just use aphasia x and keep from the mouth of the zoas.