Blue Star polyps

[Osama]

Blue star Polyps are getting blown all over my tank. Wife loves them. We both are OK with them on a contained rock. My question: How best to get rid of zillion of them spreading like a wild fire in a 500g tank?? Can anything be bought that will eat them and not damage anything else like tube worms , inverts or corals etc? Appreciate your input and thanks

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

I think you mean blue clove polyps. Unfortunately they spawn quite well in our tanks which spreads them everywhere. They have the potential to cover just about every rock surface if left unchecked. There's a thread in the Reef Discussion forum on how to eradicate them.

 

[Osama]

Thanks Adrienne. I searched for " blue clove polyps" and got like a thousand hits on RC. Any way you can post for me the location please? Thanks

 

[tmz]

I use a toothbrush to control them to areas where I wan't them. Sometimes I scrape them off .They can be invasive to zoanthid colonies and choke them out but don't seem to bother other corals. They have been in my system for many years. I think they are very pretty but can be a pain to keep

 

[Crooked Reef]

Google Japanese blue clove polyps and see if that's them.

 

[Osama]

CR: They are " Japanese blue clove polyps" and
Tom: I like them as well and wife loves them but they have spread in seven months beyond belief so need to eradicate a large portion of them without damaging other things. Need to somehow be able to siphon them out while brushing them off. May be I'll will need to scrape them off when doing a water change and siphon as many as I could Not sure if I'll have the energy to do it ...

 

[tmz]

The brushing kills them in place and slows them down. At least the blue is pretty; the brown types that come in as hitchikers from time to time are ugly. Not aware of an in tank safe treatment but I'll look around.

Are these the type you have? If so it's sansibia and searching that might help.Similar to anthellia in classification.

 

[Osama]

Yes they are Tom Exactly

 

[Reef Frog]

I agree periodic scrubbing keeps them in check but they slowly return. They spread faster in nutrient rich water IME. Coral growth of brains, encrusting montis, chalices etc will displace them over time. Other corals like plating monti caps will shade some rocks and keep them in check. My situation has improved markedly over time.

I can't believe I was stupid enough to buy a rock of them as a newbie in my 1st hear of SW keepimg. The LFS owner didn't warn me. He was astonished when I told them they are a pest species years later. I was jonesimg for something blue at the time...

There is a thread on RC about "fluke tabs" used I think in pond keeping that worked well for several people. I'd be very cautious using such a procedure however.

 

[Osama]

I let them in the tank as wife loved them same with green star polyps (not sure of name) looks like grass carpet Growing like crazy but at least they do not fly and land everywhere
Thanks

 

[billdogg]

I have blue sansibia throughout my 120DT. If you pull a rock out, you can usually peel them off like a sheet. Glue pieces to frag plugs and trade them back to your LFS for credit. You may only get a couple dollars/plug, but I think, if I set my mind to it, I could make a couple hundred frags.

They really don't seem to bother anything else, and in fact I have a number of stony corals that have grown right past/over them.

 

[Osama]

Thanks Bill I have them all over too Hard to get at most of them in a 500g... Will see how it goes. Will try to remove what I can over time Thanks to ALL. Was hoping something can be bought that would eat them and not damage other corals or other inverts

 

[tmz]

Well, you can't get fluke tabs anymore. If you could the active ingredient bensimmidazole used as an animal dewormer is harmful to lots of different animals particularly xenia, athellia among others ;so I wouldn't personally use it in a reef tank. It doesn't breakdown well either and will stick around for a long time on surface areas .

I use fenbendazole another type of dewormer in seahorse fry tanks to control hydroids harmful to the fry. Again though, the febendazole kills lots of things and hangs around but it doesn't bother the fry and they are in a separate system. I don't move any rock etc. from that system into the reef system. Never tried it on sansiba but it might work if you are not concerned about the side effects.

As coral cover increases the need to control sansiba lessens. I probably take a brush to it here and there once every couple of months or so. Overall, I like having it but may not have introduced it if I knew then what I know now. . Other corals seem capable of winning territroial battles with sansiba.

 

[Osama]

Knowing that it is not harmful I will relax and clean it as I go and as I need to .. Thanks to all for the info Greatly appreciate all the input.

 

[Crooked Reef]

My lfs still has actual fluke tabs, but like tmz said they will harm some other corals and may make it impossible to ever keep them in the same system again.

 

[Osama]

Thanks crooked reef... I greatly appreciate the info... I am not going to try fluke tabs as I am concerned for the overall stability of my tank 500g doing well otherwise with lots of tube worms snails hermits shrimp etc . die offs will be a major unbalance in my system

 

[ca1ore]

FWIW, Pyramid Butteflyfish ate all the Xenia in my tank and then ate all the clove polyps. Not sure if this normal behavior from them, or I just got an odd bunch, but worth a try perhaps.

 

[xdestry]

I have an outbreak of blue anthelia I am trying to get rid of too... about to just toss all the rocks with them

 

[tmz]

FWIW, Pyramid Butteflyfish ate all the Xenia in my tank and then ate all the clove polyps. Not sure if this normal behavior from them, or I just got an odd bunch, but worth a try perhaps.

Interesting observation. I have 7 tanks running on the same system . All but one have at a least a few sansiba;that one has a pryamid blutterfly fish (Hemitalurichthys polyepsis ) in it. It does nip the nepthea in there a bit but not enough to harm it and leaves the other corals alone .It's been in that tank for 7 years or so and no sansiba evethough I have moved frags from other tanks in there. I'll put a rockfull n there and see.

 

[Osama]

Tom & cai thanks Pyramid butterfly is worth a try. Tom pls keep us advised of how it shakes out Many thanks to ALL. I have Xenai that I would need to salvage !!