Can you remove Zoa colony from main rock safely

Chicagoreef2016 · 03/20/2018, 11:17 AM

So I am upgrading tanks and have some nice orange zoas, rastas, and another no name which are doing very well and have spread onto my main rocks in my current tank. I plan on using these rocks in my new setup, but don't want zoas all over everything in my main structures. Is there an easy, "safe" way to remove them when they have worked their way into crevices, etc? I don't want to end up in the hospital for obvious reasons.

Chicagoreef2016 · 03/20/2018, 11:27 AM

Or in my new tank if I just turned the rock over so it wasn’t under light, or put another ock on top of them so they got no light would they release a lot of toxin that would harm the tank inhabitants and/or me? Preferably would like to remove and sell for cheap.

BeachBumm · 03/20/2018, 06:55 PM

Usually Zoas do not contain any palytoxins but if you have palythoas especially certain ones ( large brown or nuclear greens ) then I would be worried . You can cover them with epoxy in the crevices that would help but may make your skimmer go crazy for a little while . Hope this helps !

samm · 04/15/2018, 06:19 PM

Hammer and Screwdriver to chip out the shallow area they are on, then sell as frags.

Mark9 · 04/19/2018, 09:06 AM

You can peel them off of rocks, unless they are deep in small crevices, which makes it difficult.
I've done it with an x-acto knife (or something else super sharp), just go really slow so you do not damage them.
Totally do-able.

Shia · 04/19/2018, 04:50 PM

Very difficult to do on anything that is not completely flat. You can try to frag as much as possible and leave in tank. Then let the rock dry out, all the zoas with die off and not infest new tank.

03/20/2018, 11:17 AM	#1
Chicagoreef2016 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Posts: 315	Can you remove Zoa colony from main rock safely So I am upgrading tanks and have some nice orange zoas, rastas, and another no name which are doing very well and have spread onto my main rocks in my current tank. I plan on using these rocks in my new setup, but don't want zoas all over everything in my main structures. Is there an easy, "safe" way to remove them when they have worked their way into crevices, etc? I don't want to end up in the hospital for obvious reasons. __________________ 127ish gallon SC tank and associated equipment

03/20/2018, 11:27 AM	#2
Chicagoreef2016 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Posts: 315	Or in my new tank if I just turned the rock over so it wasn’t under light, or put another ock on top of them so they got no light would they release a lot of toxin that would harm the tank inhabitants and/or me? Preferably would like to remove and sell for cheap. __________________ 127ish gallon SC tank and associated equipment

03/20/2018, 06:55 PM	#3
BeachBumm Registered Bumm Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: South Florida Posts: 176	Usually Zoas do not contain any palytoxins but if you have palythoas especially certain ones ( large brown or nuclear greens ) then I would be worried . You can cover them with epoxy in the crevices that would help but may make your skimmer go crazy for a little while . Hope this helps !

04/15/2018, 06:19 PM	#4
samm Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: round lake beach Posts: 236	Hammer and Screwdriver to chip out the shallow area they are on, then sell as frags.

04/19/2018, 09:06 AM	#5
Mark9 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Atlanta Posts: 2,497	You can peel them off of rocks, unless they are deep in small crevices, which makes it difficult. I've done it with an x-acto knife (or something else super sharp), just go really slow so you do not damage them. Totally do-able.

04/19/2018, 04:50 PM	#6
Shia Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 981 Blog Entries: 1	Very difficult to do on anything that is not completely flat. You can try to frag as much as possible and leave in tank. Then let the rock dry out, all the zoas with die off and not infest new tank.