Brown Star Polyps taking over my leather! How do I separate them?

[j67345]

So my brown star polyp (I think that's what it is) has been spreadking like a madman...covering maybe 30 heads of my green (midas?) polyps...mushrooms...and has now decided to start growing up the trunk of my green leather. Anything that I can do to safely separate it from the leather? My corals have been going crazy...not really sure what I'm doing, but it's fun to watch them grow so fast! Other than when they start taking over each other...am I screwed here? Or is there a trick to peel the star polyp off the leather?
Thanks guys!

 

[P-Nut]

I don't know if there is a way to peel it off, worse case scenario, you can cut the leather and relocate it.

Another idea: cover the star polyps so they don't get any light, that should kill the ones close to your leather.

 

[j67345]

Thanks! I'll try the no light on that section idea. I don't know enough of what I'm doing to try to cut the leather...I'm afraid I'd kill it!...

 

[P-Nut]

Thanks! I'll try the no light on that section idea. I don't know enough of what I'm doing to try to cut the leather...I'm afraid I'd kill it!...

You can use that stuff used to glue corals to rocks and cover the polyps with it.

 

[shawn]

Looks like pink encrusting gorgonian - a bane of my tank for almost a decade now due to this problem (though I still haven't decided to just eliminate it). I use wide blade tweezers and work under the edge, then grab and pull as much as you can get. Repeat about a million times until it is far from anything else. The stuff is super durable, and given a connection to an exposed colony can spread even through no-light areas. If you are going to try the light starvation method I'd suggest severing that part of the patch from any exposed to light.

Oh, and in case he stumbles across this - thanks a lot Scuba Dave!

 

[j67345]

Oh geez....maybe that's what it is...it friign started spreading like a mother & for a few weeks I thought it was pretty cool, but now it is going crazy & taking over my stuff. Do you think if I tried the tweezers that I'd damage the leather it's taking over? If so, I'll cut the sreading stuff with a razor blade and then cover that chunk up!

 

[j67345]

I assume (don't even know why I'm asking) that I need to do something & not just let it be?

 

[shawn]

I expect it will come off your leather ok. It doesn't adhere to soft coral well, but can really get a grip on porous rock or the skeleton of hard coral that it has enveloped. Don't let it completely envelop anything, as I don't think I've ever had anything recover from that. As for wondering if you need to do something - if you think you may have a problem, you do.

All that said, kept isolated and under vigilant watch - I like it.

 

[j67345]

Great info...thanks for that advice. I'll try to pull it off the leather this week...and cut some away from where my midas polyps are that it's been eating. It's cool looking stuff though...maybe I'll try to get some to just grow on the back of my tank. If I peel some off, will it damage it if I super glue it to something?

 

[shawn]

I was never successful with getting it grow on the glass, but my only non-viewing side gets very little light due to being under the overflow box so maybe that is why. Superglue on the back side won't hurt it. Good luck!

 

[j67345]

Nice, I'll give it a whirl & see if it works. Is that encrusting gorgonian shiny?

 

[shawn]

Is that encrusting gorgonian shiny?

??? If you mean like what Kaylee would say in Serenity - no. If you mean like the look of the surface after being rubbed to retract the polyps - somewhat. If you are asking if that is what you have in those pictures - yes.

 

[j67345]

haha! yeah, when the polyps are retracted, it looks sort of shiny...I'm gonna try to peel it off my leather tomorrow. Hopefully it doesn't do any damage!

 

[shawn]

Take your time and don't use an axe and I'm sure it will be fine! Let us know how it turns out.

 

[j67345]

Well, I pulled most of it off tonight. I was surprised how thin it is! You were right...came off the leather real easy & there was NO WAY it was coming off the rock, so I'm guessing I'll probably be doing this every month or so for a lonnnnng time.
That leather is getting pretty huge for my tank, too...I'm wondering if I might need to try to trade it for something smaller & give it a chance to grow in a bigger tank. Or frag a piece (no clue how to do it) & start over with a small one in its place...

 

[shawn]

Glad it worked out for you. If you need to get it off the rock you can just scrape it off with a sharp metal tool, but doing so will put a bunch of junk into the water (which isn't great for water quality and can actually cause it to spread). But it might be a better option than allowing it to grow over zoas or sps. If you decide to frag your leather, take a look at this as I think it applies to what you show in your pics:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/fotm/index.php

 

[j67345]

Thanks for that link...I think that's exactly what's happening with my green leather. I got it as a tiny frag, maybe an inch tall & it's probably 6 inches tall with a bunch of big branches & it's rubbing some of the other corals it's next to. Maybe I'll try to frag a few arms off it. I need to get a bigger tank but that would mean convincing my wife the same...thanks for that link...good stuff!

 

[j67345]

I need to try to figure out what the heck corals I have...I have a bunch of different kinds, but only know what a couple of the pieces actually are!