Pest Corals to Avoid !!!

C

Curtis1

New member
So what PEST corals would you recommend to steer clear from ? I have had experience w/ GSP's , Blue Anthellia that grew into 4-5" monsters !!! Kenya Tree. I now have some super tiny blue (some type of clavia ) a hitchhiker, that are starting to cover one rock. It has sprang up all around some Daisy Polyps. Anxious to see who wins ? But I have a good idea which it will be. Sometimes, I would rather have the pest corals growing, than GHA !
 
A lot of this is opinion, but blue clove polyps, xenia, many discosoma species, many palythoa species, green star polyps. For me, some of these were newbie mistakes made years ago. They just get out of hand unless closely controlled.

There are SPS pest corals as well, but I'll stick to softies as this is the softie forum.

Worst, IME, was Blue Clove Polyps, as they were the hardest to completely get rid of. This was in an SPS tank where the corals could not do much about them. I have. 100 gallon LPS/ softy tank, and the BCPs are not an issue in there. They were an absolute menace in my 465 gallon SPS tank. Finally got rid of them using Fluke Tabs.
 
Yeah been wanting to do a lone rock with some GSP, but still kinda gun-shy . I also thought about putting it on the back of the tank. Puts me in the mind of a giant algae filter. Would have to help the water quality.
 
I had 1 GSP covered rock in my old 125, an isolated island never spread across the sand. Also made the mistake of pulsing xenia, started with a golf ball size on right side, by the time Istarted to remove it had engulfed almost a 1/3 of the tank. Never could get rid of it either, I pulled it all out and a new stalk would pop up somewhere else.
 
Just curious as to why kenya tree is considered pest coral? I have one but I like the movement in my tank.
 
Stay away from parazoanthus gracilis aka yellow colony polyps as well! Their sting destroys most other corals and they'll spread everywhere.
 
Insert said:
Just curious as to why kenya tree is considered pest coral? I have one but I like the movement in my tank.
Click to expand...


It also depends on the species, since there are a bunch of corals that fall under the name "Kenya Tree". Some aren't really pests.

But yeah, the normal pest variety grows fast, intentionally frags itself and is damn near indestructible (they'll grow under just about any form of light, survive in water that'll kill other pest corals and laugh off attempts by other corals to fight back). They aren't that bad if one knows how to handle them, but they do require regular maintenance. Basically they need to be treated like a plant.
 
I've seen those mini blue snowflake clove polyps just eat tanks, same with Xenia elongata and sometimes those really fast-growing brown/grey palys.
 
i had a kenya tree that went nuts in my tank. little frags started to pop up all around the tank. it started to get out of control! I eventually just removed all of it from the tank.
 
I sorely regret my purchase of a little tiny Colt Coral, it's just growing so fast and I think I'm going to end up having to remove it.
 
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