Cali Kid Corals

Zoa Island taken over by Captain Jerks

Srt4eric

Vice President
BOD
I have a little zoa Island and when I first started it I needed some filler so I put a couple JF Captain Jerk palys. 6 months later the Jerks are starting to smother all of my other zoas. On one of the first episodes of Reef Beef Ben said Captain Jerks were super, super toxic. What's the best way to get rid of the jerks while saving my other zoas. On that episode @Thales suggested injecting individual polyps with muriatic. Where do I get a syringe without looking like a drug addict? Can I pluck polyps off while the rock is still in the water or will the toxins mess up other stuff in my tank? I can't cover them with paste because I don't want to kill all the zoas. Help!!!

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I am pretty sure CVS has syringes. I have a few old ones from my Hanna tests you can have. I have read they can be disposed of the same way aptasia can, so I would start with a kalk paste.

If it were in my tank, I would take the rock out, don safety glasses (close your mouth when you cut), and cut the rock up into whatever pieces with my new, big rock cutters. Dip everything in a salt water bath to "rinse" the toxins off. Then put the good back in my tank and auction off the "bad"
 
@H2OPlayar with a Kalk paste I feel I would kill a lot of zoas I don't want dead. I also really don't want to break of that rock
Geez, all these rules! With the kalk, I would inject it in the mouth of the zoa you are trying to kill with the syringe. When I frag zoas, I try to clip the rock they are stuck to, so I am not re-gluing feet of zoas. Could you frag the ones you like? I bet you (or I) have another similar sized rock that could replace it.
 
My zoa island is slowly turning into the same situation. Green palys are just plowing through the others.

I am in the same boat. I don’t think the idea of kalk paste. My plan is to possibly switch out the rock and restart the zoa garden by fragging the old one.

obviously not the funnest thing to do in the world.
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My zoa island is slowly turning into the same situation. Green palys are just plowing through the others.

I am in the same boat. I don’t think the idea of kalk paste. My plan is to possibly switch out the rock and restart the zoa garden by fragging the old one.

obviously not the funnest thing to do in the world.
This I think is the right answer. Frag what you want to grow, and sell the rock to a newbie who needs to see fast growth!

Only other thing I can think of is that expensive, electronic aptasia zapping wand.
 
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This may not be a popular option, but I’ve had good luck using coral snips to gently peel offending zoas/palys off rock. I get them to close up, clip under one and gently am able to scrape underneath with the snips and pull quite a few off at once. I wear a pair of arm length gloves, have carbon running and have never had an issue. Not suggesting you or anyone do this, but I have…
 
This may not be a popular option, but I’ve had good luck using coral snips to gently peel offending zoas/palys off rock. I get them to close up, clip under one and gently am able to scrape underneath with the snips and pull quite a few off at once. I wear a pair of arm length gloves, have carbon running and have never had an issue. Not suggesting you or anyone do this, but I have…
This in a separate bucket is a great way to go! And yes, always run carbon after messing with zoas in the tank, or with anything in the tank, lol
 
I haven‘t had these particular jerks but my experience is that Paly’s create a firm fibrous mat at their base that can be peeled off the rock fairly easily. If these do that, this would be the easiest and least traumatic way to remove them without harming the zoas underneath.
 
I ended up basically going scorched earth on zoa Island. Took 3 little frags of what I wanted off of the left side of it. Then cleared off the middle and put a thin layer of epoxy where the main colony of jerks were sprouting from. Hopefully I got them all.

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is there a list of zoa/pallys to avoid? these guys looks like they swallowed everything up on that rock.
Anything fast growing. Palys are more susceptible to taking over than zoas. Gold dust palys and green palys are the two I know will go really fast, but there are others for sure.

 
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