Remove and preserve zoas from rock work
- Thread starter Dave VG
- Start date
depends on the rock and how much if any you mind breaking it up
you can of course peel the polyps up, but it is hard on them and usually unecessary
If the rock has a somewhat of a soft skin, a extra heavy duty razor blade can many times be used to cut rock out from underneath them with them on it. Then they are easily glued wherever you want with hardly any stress. This is my first choice always if possible. some rocks dont allow it though
a pair of angled cutters can break the rock out from underneath, or another great method for all kinds of corals is a dremel with a 2x cuttng wheel.....cut as far underneath trhe frag you want as the wheel will allow and then stick a screwdriver in the hole and pop the piece off. depending on how much you are trying to take off you may want to prescore the polyps with a scalpel or similar for as much as you are going to take to prevent ripping what you couldnt get in that first cut of rock
you can of course peel the polyps up, but it is hard on them and usually unecessary
If the rock has a somewhat of a soft skin, a extra heavy duty razor blade can many times be used to cut rock out from underneath them with them on it. Then they are easily glued wherever you want with hardly any stress. This is my first choice always if possible. some rocks dont allow it though
a pair of angled cutters can break the rock out from underneath, or another great method for all kinds of corals is a dremel with a 2x cuttng wheel.....cut as far underneath trhe frag you want as the wheel will allow and then stick a screwdriver in the hole and pop the piece off. depending on how much you are trying to take off you may want to prescore the polyps with a scalpel or similar for as much as you are going to take to prevent ripping what you couldnt get in that first cut of rock
Dave VG
New member
Thanks guys this is a huge rock with a huge colony like 4X6 and a smaller one 3X4. Really do not want to lose them. The rock was bought this way and unbeknownst to me is riddled with aiptasia. Lemon juice has been working well but it’s the ones I can’t see that are worrying me the most. So at this point I would like to remove the rock and nuke it to get rid of the aiptasia. My tank was pest free up to this point but I guess I’m going to have to be very vigilant keeping an eye out for more when they pop up. That sucks.
Guess maybe I’ll try the chisel method really don’t want to break up the rock to much.
Guess maybe I’ll try the chisel method really don’t want to break up the rock to much.
mcdonaldjosh7
New member
+1 for hammer and chisel method. This still wont help you if you want to keep your rockwork...
If you are really patient, you could put a small rock right up against the colony, wait for the colony to grow somewhat onto the small piece, and then move that over to the desired location.
As for the other part, you could trade it pound for pound or just leave it. Its all up to you.
