Clove polyp. Coral taking over

[choupic]

I have some brown clove polyp coral taking over the center of my tank...Any suggestions of how to remove it...I try to grab it and no luck shrinks up to fast...Its on a big rock with several other corals...

 

[TCTFish]

For excessive soft coral growth, gently trim what you want off the colony with a non oxidative cutting source. Surgical and stainless steel are non oxidative, so less chances of deterioration at the cut site. Plastic would be preferrable so long as the tool can deliver a nice clean cut. You can then use the tips of your fingers to 'roll' the edges of the trim to lift them off the rocks. Be patient and use stress coat on your hands to prevent buring the coral with acids from your hands. You can then move them to other areas of the tank (propped against a bare rock will help establish a new colony). You might be able to get credit at a LFS if the cuttings are nice. If you are patient enough...wait until the rocks grows over with the new colony and then sell the rock with the colony

To create a boundary for the polyps, try bordering them with hairy mushrooms. A stingy coral next to them may keep them at bay. I've seen it work with xenia.

 

[Lance M.]

I agree with TCT.

To create a boundary for the polyps, try bordering them with hairy mushrooms. A stingy coral next to them may keep them at bay. I've seen it work with xenia.

Good idea. But I wish this would work with my xenia. It grew all over a rock that has my devil's hand on it and it would touch the devil's hand all the time and not be bothered. I remember touching the hand when I first put it in there ~9 months ago and it burned my fingers. Now it's literally 10x the size when I bought it and anchored in the rock and not hurting the xena. So I finally ripped the xenia off the rock and then did a water change. It's starting to grow back now . My bta was touching my xenia too and it didnt bother the xenia one bit.

 

[TCTFish]

A bed of hairy mushrooms fills more space than leathers thus makes a more effective border. Also, neither may not exactly hurt the xenia unless the xenia gets on top of them and I think that's the reasoning behind the border strategy. In order to expand to the other side of the border, they would either have to jump (physically impossible) or go through a sea of stinging cells (in which case risk serious injury and injury may not be evident immediately. It depends on the dose of chemicals the other coral delivers and the encroaching coral's resistance to that chemical). They can get as far as the edge of these types of coral, but that's as far as they go. Though this doesn't prevent any detached polyps from being pushed over by a current, but it at least keeps them from crawling to the other side of a border.

Just for the comparison of it, I can touch all sorts of coral others generally cannot including Devil's Hand. I can play with carpet anemones as if they were velcro without any ill affects. In fact, they feel like velcro...lol. I've been speared by Christmas Urchins without any pain...though (on the flip side) have been stabbed by black urchins, which are generally considered weak, but was very painful to me.

The tolerance levels of corals seem to be a primary factor to any injury that occurs from being stung.

BTW...xenia are great for refugiums.