How to kill a coral?

the bro

Member
Well as the topic says im trying to kill off some coral. The fist piece of coral i ever got a was cheap pally colony that im not to fond of. Well its starting to take over theres a few polyps that have spread onto other rock that i want to kill. Any ideas on how without taking the rock out the tank?
 

ryancw01

Member
I have the same problem with green star polyps. They stayed the same size for a while and then exploded and are now taking over all the rock in my tank.
I know you do not want to take out the rock, but I think that might be the only way to do it. I am going to have to take out a few select pieces eventually and scrub off the green star. The green star lays down a purple 'blanket' over the rock though which is very hard to remove so I am not sure if your polyp does the same thing or not.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Ryancw01
http:///forum/post/3292017
I have the same problem with green star polyps. They stayed the same size for a while and then exploded and are now taking over all the rock in my tank.
I know you do not want to take out the rock, but I think that might be the only way to do it. I am going to have to take out a few select pieces eventually and scrub off the green star. The green star lays down a purple 'blanket' over the rock though which is very hard to remove so I am not sure if your polyp does the same thing or not.

You don't have to scrub off GSP, it pulls up really easy like a little carpet, if you let it mature a bit all of it will come up at once, and most LFS will be glad to take it off your hands.
 

the bro

Member
Im thinking about trying my hand at fragging these things I prob have over 50+ heads on this colony. And since I pretty much consider this colony a pest I dont really care if I screw it up in the process lol. Any know anything about fragging a pally colony?
Second off my new frogspawn is looking SWEET! Its bright green and prob 3 inches around and I want to keep it looking this good, and I am considering doing some target feeding. Anyone know what a frog eats?, small grounded meats or like small chuncks?
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
you can make a paste out of kalkwasser or Mrs wages pickling lime and put some over the top of them with the powerheads off, let it sit for a bit and then suck it all out with a turkey baster.
don't get any on anything you want to keep though
 

the bro

Member
Originally Posted by Jstdv8
http:///forum/post/3292227
you can make a paste out of kalkwasser or Mrs wages pickling lime and put some over the top of them with the powerheads off, let it sit for a bit and then suck it all out with a turkey baster.
don't get any on anything you want to keep though
So it has to be some thick paste i take it? How much to put and where , on there mouths when they are open or just close em up and cover the polyp?
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
here's a piece I wrote up fro killing aiptasia, but it should give you a good idea on the mixture. Anything it touches will die, so if you put it on the face of a polyp or colony it will kill it.
How to kill aiptasia with pickling lime or kalkwasser mix
1.) Mix 1 tablespoon and 1/2 teaspoon of Mrs. wages pickling lime with 1 1/2 Teaspoons of water to make a nice paste. The paste should not be running, but it also must be thin enough to get injected through the syringe.
2.)Turn your powerheads off, Apply a layer of the paste to the oral disc of the aiptasia. Sometimes you can get them to think its food by teasing their tentacles a little and then injecting the paste onto the oral disc. If they suck back into their hole right away just cover the hole with the paste.
3.) wait 45 minutes to an hour
4.) suck out the paste and the aiptasia with a turkey baster and dispose of them.
I bought 100 lbs. worth of live rock from a fellow reefer who was tearing down her tank. The rock was covered with aiptasia (estimating over 300). Some of the rocks also had some corals on them (mushrooms, green star polyps and Kenya trees)
I put the rock on a 55 gallon tank that I used as a holding area while I treated the rock before putting it into my display tank.
I mixed up a small batch of the lime paste and started injecting the aiptasia with the method used above.
I recommend doing only a few at a time as the paste can cause a PH spike in your tank if you do too much. Keep in mind Pickling lime and kalkwasser are similar products that are used for correcting alkalinity and calcium problems and can be used safely if in small doses.
Be sure to cover the whole face of the aiptasia with the paste to ensure that it cannot release its seed into the tank and make more aiptasia later. You also must get it out of the hole as even a small piece of aiptasia can grow into a whole one over time. Do it right the first time.
 
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