Help! Getting rid of palythoa polyps?

[Playapixie]

Help!

I wish I'd never put any of these polyps in my tank, as now they've taken over far more than I ever intended.




I think they are a blue palythoa or protopalythoa.

From what I've been reading online I'm highly suspicious that this is the sort of paly that could be very toxic. Unfortunately, they are in places in my tank where I cannot remove the live rock (everything they are on is epoxied &/or zip tied in place.) I've read horror stories of crashing tanks from trying to eliminate these, and of poisonings.

Any advice on how to deal with them? I'd really like to re-claim their territory...

As you can see, they've taken over the bottom two rocks on the left, and migrated up to the staghorn in the top left, too...



At the very least, I want to keep them from spreading further.

When they close up at night they look like they'd be easy to remove. But they are actually really slimy, and rather than peel, they goo.


Thanks!

 

[NanaReefer]

What I've done in the past is....using a pair of long reef tweezers grab the paly as close to the rock as possible and gently but not so gently peal them off the rock. I did this during every water change & ran carbon for a few days after. My tank never suffered any ill effects. I was able to remove all that I wanted this way. The smaller ones were the easiest. The larger required a little more elbow grease
Make sure to wear gloves.
Also during a water change...Another method is to use a thick Kalkwasser paste. Turn off all flow and apply the paste to small patches at a time. Let stand for 15 minutes. Return flow. Watch for rises in alk. This method I've never personally used on palys.
Good luck as I really feel your pain My tank has been over taken with shrooms! UGH!


Sent from my iPhone 4s via Tapatalk.

 

[mfinn]

Also during a water change...Another method is to use a thick Kalkwasser paste. Turn off all flow and apply the paste to small patches at a time. Let stand for 15 minutes. Return flow. Watch for rises in alk. This method I've never personally used on palys.
Good luck as I really feel your pain My tank has been over taken with shrooms! UGH!


Sent from my iPhone 4s via Tapatalk.

I use the kalk paste method myself, and I do have some of the same pest palys.
They are murder to get out.
They are so slippery and slimy that I don't think pulling them out with tweezers would work, atleast not the ones in my tank.
I do the kalk paste before I do water changes.
Let it sit on them for 15-20 minutes, then start siphoning water out and the excess kalk paste at the same time.

 

[Playapixie]

Once you've pasted them, do you just wait for them to die, or do you try to remove them? I injected a half dozen polyps with joe's juice with a hypodermic syringe the other day and they seem to be dying, but I'm not sure if I should just leave them alone or proceed with trying to remove them somehow. I'm nervous to be too aggressive, as they do slime up considerably, and that seems to irritate my acans. Planning to do small sections at a time.

 

[toolz2]

If you I would try removing over letting them die and decay in the tank. Just my 2c

 

[mfinn]

Once you've pasted them, do you just wait for them to die, or do you try to remove them? I injected a half dozen polyps with joe's juice with a hypodermic syringe the other day and they seem to be dying, but I'm not sure if I should just leave them alone or proceed with trying to remove them somehow. I'm nervous to be too aggressive, as they do slime up considerably, and that seems to irritate my acans. Planning to do small sections at a time.

I just let them die where they sit. It just makes too much of a mess to try and remove them.