Zoa’s vs Sps. What should I do?

[SneakyTortuga]

I’ll post pictures later but for now i thought I would get this post going.

I have a rock with 2 encrusted Sps and what started off as a few polyps of zoas. The zoas have completely gone out of control and are now encroaching my Sps.

1. Will the zoas grow onto the Sps and kill them?

2. Should I remove some zoas? If so what is the best way?

3. By removing some zoas from the rock will the remaining zoas that I leave release anything into the tank that I should worry about?


Thanks All
Dan

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I’d have to see is honesty. Myself, I’d let them battle it out. I have a lovely “ strip” of cyphasteria growing right under my zoa garden. And it looks pretty cool.
Seems they found a compromise.

 

[29bonsaireef]

I've always been on the "let Mother Nature take its course" side. IME, no, zoas won't kill an acro. Usually they will grow right up to it. Unless its a tiny frag, acros have enough punch to hold back the zoas. I have zoas, palys, shrooms, and Mojanos covering most all of my rock work where there's not an acro present.

 

[SneakyTortuga]

That’s what I was thinking. It hasn’t had any due back so it has to be fighting back I just wanted to be sure before I lost a coral over something I could prevent. I’ll still post a picture later so you can get a better picture of what’s happening

 

[andrewkw]

Are the sps still encrusting or just growing up?
If it was me I'd just cut the zoanthids around the sps and leave a small buffer zone and recut everything couple of months. That is in fact what I do in my own tank :

When they start touching I cut them back. I agree that they won't kill the sps but if they are small pieces like mine they need more space to encrust / branch out. They will release toxins when you cut them but there is not much concern for you or your tank. Wear gloves don't touch your face or get any water in your mouth and you will be fine. Glue them to plugs / rock rubble and sell / trade / give them away. You can run extra carbon or replace your carbon just before if you run carbon regularly as a precaution.

 

[SneakyTortuga]

Here’s my current situation... do I remove the zoas?

 

[MontiFanatic402]

I would cut a few zoas and trade/sell em!! You have some cool colored zoas!

 

[SneakyTortuga]

i guess trading them is an option

 

[AdamNC]

This happened in my last tank. The Cap started to overtake and grow around the Zoas.

 

[Softhammer]

I have zoanthids overgrowing and killing sps of 5 different species. Kill them before its too late.

 

[Softhammer]

And the best part is, i never put them in. A frag plug had a microscopic one on it. Probably have 2000 polyps now. I hate them!!

 

[jda]

I kalk them when this happens.

 

[Reefltx]

Monti’s can win but acros grow too slow, zoas will shade the bottom area and the acro will die.

 

[SneakyTortuga]

ding ding ding! @Reefltx couldnt have called it better. i just said screw it and started ripping the zoas off to fond the entire bottom portion of my acro had died due to shade.

now i wonder if im gonna have any issues with palytoxin in the tank

 

[jda]

You probably do not even have any species that have palytoxin. You can Google which ones that they are.

 

[A. grandis]

Saw the pictures.. I would just remove the zoas close to the Acro colony with a sharp knife IF I would see any SPS tissue recession around the base. Just keep checking. I don't think there is a big deal there. The Montipora will do more than fine too. Looks actually nice!
The zoas don't have only palytoxin to defend themselves.
They look healthy as they should. Nice pics. What light are they under? T5s?

 

[SneakyTortuga]

Saw the pictures.. I would just remove the zoas close to the Acro colony with a sharp knife IF I would see any SPS tissue recession around the base. Just keep checking. I don't think there is a big deal there. The Montipora will do more than fine too. Looks actually nice!
The zoas don't have only palytoxin to defend themselves.
They look healthy as they should. Nice pics. What light are they under? T5s?

I removed a large area around the acros. The yellow zoas multiply WAY to quickly.

Yes they are under a nanobox hybrid. Pretty much a ati with led arrays in the center

 

[Duraticate]

I have recently had to remove an acro from a spot where the zoas were growing onto it. Since it was a small acro the zoas were smothering it to death. After removing it and the zoas from the plug the acro was on. I could see dead spots from where tje zoas were.