Zoa pest

[monarchckey88]

Does anyone know what these little red specks are that are bothering my zoa? It's isolated to this frag. All other nearby zoa colonies look healthy.

 

[tbrown]

They look like possible Clove Polyps. They can be pretty invasive.

 

[tbrown]

Can you get a better picture at all for better identification?

 

[ThisIsTheWay]

Yeah, those look like clove polyps to me too. Currently trying to rid them from a few rocks in my tank. They will absolutely smother their way across your tank once they get going.

 

[monarchckey88]

Thanks. Maybe I should I just toss the frag? I don't want to deal with an invasion.

Quick research seems there is no good easy to get rid of them.

 

[monarchckey88]

Can you get a better picture at all for better identification?

 

[tbrown]

Those sure look a lot like Clove Polyps.

 

[ThisIsTheWay]

If you want to try and save the frag, you can try mixing up a slurry of kalk paste (add just enough water to the powder to make a slurry), put the frag in a separate container of water with no flow, and then baste the clove polyps with the slurry and let it sit for maybe 30mins to an hour.

I did this recently on a couple rocks with just a few clove polyps and so far they seem to be gone, but I'm still gonna keep a close eye on those spots for the next few months just to make sure. One of those spots did have zoas, and as long as not all the zoas get covered that should recover.

If it was a cheap frag and you don't want to run the risk, then tossing it might be the best solution.

I'm also testing overdosing iodine on a couple rocks that are absolutely covered, but I'm still too early in that process to tell if it'll be effective.