reefkprZ, have a question 4u

[albfishin']

A few months ago I purchased a combo rock with some pink/green shrooms and dragon eye zoos. Also on the rock is some type of sponge (light green color) which seems to be growing faster that either of the two types of coral. Anyway it seems to be crowding and inhibiting the growth of my dragon eyes which is the real reason I purchased the rock. Not worried about the shrooms cause they can move themselves.
Alright heres the question.....can I frag off (somehow) one or a few of my dragon eye's to try to propagate them to another rock to try and save the colony? If so can you please enlighten me as to the procedure. Any help would be great! Thanks.

 

[albfishin']

Bump, anyone got anything to help out???

 

[grabbitt]

When a sponge begins to take over a coral, I think it can usually be solved by taking the coral out of the water for a short amount of time. When a sponge is out of the water, the oxygen tends to clog the pores, suffocating the sponge. Give it a shot and see if that works.

 

[triga22]

GRabbit is right. Take it out of the water for 5 mins. This will kill the sponge but the mushroom will be fine.

 

[reefkprz]

taking the rock out of the water for 5 minutes will usually kill the sponge.
if you want the sponge to live you have a couple options.
you can use the hammer and chisel method to break the rock removing a good portion of the colony of zoas.
Or you can peel back the polyp matt gently with a butterknife, then use a clean razor to cut between the polyps seperating some from the colony. dry the piece of Lr where you want to glue the polyps (paper towell) then add a couple dabs of super glue gell to the dry spot. dry the bottom of the zoanthids and press gently into the super glue.
and presto your done. make sure you wear gloves and saftey glasses no matter which method you use, both as a precaution against flying rock chips and palytoxins the zoanthid may contain.

 

[albfishin']

Thanks for the advice. I think I'm gonna go with the "rock out of water" technique, mostly because I don't trust my fragging ability. The colony of zoas are small and dont what to do them in with a mistake. They are pretty sweet, bright red/orange centers with bright green ends. Anyway, again, I appreciate the help!

 

[reefkprz]

your welcome, while you have the rock out of the water you can use a soft bristle tooth brush top gently scrub away as much sponge as possible, this will increase your chances for success.