The Pocillipora Menace

[Buzz1329]

The dozens of little green bumps that started appearing on the rocks in my 180 a few months ago turned out to be Green Pocillipora Damicornis. I'd like to take credit for having an SPS coral reproduce in my aquarium, but I understand the cause of all this is stress, which does not speak well of my skills as an aquarist. I was ok with the proliferation of the GPD for the first few weeks, thinking what the hey -- free coral. Anyway, there are now more than 30 of these spuds on my rocks and they are growing like weeds.

Starting a few weeks ago, whenever I saw a new one pop up, I immediately covered it with epoxy affixed with glue. So that seems to be keeping the population in check. But there are still way too many of the things and they will eventually crowd out the good SPS. Today, I tried something new. I reached into the tank and broke off as much as I could from two 3" tall colonies, and then covered what was left with epoxy/glue. It occurred to me after doing this, that this could come back to bite me because I am obviously stressing the GPD and could accelerate the spawning process.

So I'd appreciate any feedback on what I've done so far and suggestions for other ways to deal with this problem (besides disposing of the rocks, which are hosting lots of desirable coral that are healthy and steadily growing). Thanks!

 

[deeznutz1]

Is this the only coral in the tank? If so, just spike your alk and kill them all off

 

[Jpugh73]

Got some pics of the tank

 

[AcroporAddict]

I would just kill what you see with some kalk slurry in a syringe. Stop all flow in the tank, cover the poci nubs you see, and wait 15 minutes, then restart the tank.

A bunch of glue spots all over the rock would be unattractive, I would think.

 

[Buzz1329]

"Is this the only coral in the tank? If so, just spike your alk and kill them all off."

Nope. Many other nice, non-pest coral in tank that I don't want to lose..

"Got some pics of the tank "

I'll post some tomorrow.

"I would just kill what you see with some kalk slurry in a syringe. Stop all flow in the tank, cover the poci nubs you see, and wait 15 minutes, then restart the tank.

A bunch of glue spots all over the rock would be unattractive, I would think."

Yeah, the white epoxy spots are not attractive. I'm hoping they will eventually be covered with coralline algae or other coral pieces.

How do you prepare the KW slurry. Mix a few teaspoons of lime with RO/DI water? How thick should it be?

Thanks for the suggestions/questions!

 

[AcroporAddict]

How do you prepare the KW slurry. Mix a few teaspoons of lime with RO/DI water? How thick should it be?

Thanks for the suggestions/questions!

I would just add water until it can be drawn up, then administered through a syring. No real recipe, just play with it I until it works.

 

[Buzz1329]

At long last, here are some photos:

Full Tank Shot:



The big blurry one in the center of this shot is the mother colony:



Shots of some of additional Pocillipora colonies in tank. Those white blobs are globs of Loc Tight epoxy I crazy glued to smaller Pocillipora colonies to try to smother them:















Just discovered 9 more of them growing on back and overflow walls:

 

[Tweaked]

Healthy looking colonies! Break em out and kalk what's left behind as stated above. Just take your time and don't do too much at once. Could be worse - aptasia or majanos.

I took all pocci's out earlier in the year after reading about their fall out. It seems to happen when their are happy as opposed to stressed IMO.

 

[am.gee]

mike, let them grow! this is the beginning of a more natural looking tank. let them grow until your tank explodes really, this results in a beautiful tank in some years.

 

[ClearwaterUK]

Looks more like Seriatopora Calendrium and I have the same issue it grows like a weed

if you damage a piece small pieces float around the system and start new corals, very quickly, it also has quite a sting

 

[Wazzel]

Why not just harvest and sell them as they pop up?

 

[brad65ford]

there is a thread about tanks with one type of coral, reminded me of that. But regardless looks like they tank is doing great and congrats on the babies Looks like you got some nice monti's in there!

 

[Buzz1329]

Healthy looking colonies! Break em out and kalk what's left behind as stated above. Just take your time and don't do too much at once. Could be worse - aptasia or majanos.

I took all pocci's out earlier in the year after reading about their fall out. It seems to happen when their are happy as opposed to stressed IMO.

Thanks. Very encouraging that you were able to get rid of yours. Did you use the break em out method to get to get rid of them? I am a little concerned about this method. As mentioned I tried this with two small colonies, and two days later noticed 9 tiny new ones growing on the back wall and overflow. They may have been there before I got rid of the two colonies, but . . .

Although they'd be easy to cover/smother at this stage, I kind of like the fact that they're high on the back walls so I think I'll leave them be for now.

 

[Buzz1329]

mike, let them grow! this is the beginning of a more natural looking tank. let them grow until your tank explodes really, this results in a beautiful tank in some years.

Thanks. But this species is springing up within inches of other species, grwoing fasted than the adjacent coral, and seems to be winning the territorial battle with the others. So if I let nature take it's course, I may end with a tank full of Pocillipora and nothing else!

 

[Buzz1329]

Why not just harvest and sell them as they pop up?

It's almost impossible to remove entire colonies, especially new ones, which look like 1/2" buttons and plastered to rock. Best I can do would be to rip off branches to frag, but I would not feel right passing these on to other aquarists given the pest potential of this species.

 

[Buzz1329]

there is a thread about tanks with one type of coral, reminded me of that. But regardless looks like they tank is doing great and congrats on the babies Looks like you got some nice monti's in there!

Thanks! Yeah, there's a bunch of digis and green, orange and purple caps. They grow pretty quickly compared to acros, but nowhere near as rapid as the pocillipora.

 

[basser1]

Gee.... I was thinking about getting a pink poci, but not now after reading your thread...

 

[Buzz1329]

Looks more like Seriatopora Calendrium and I have the same issue it grows like a weed

if you damage a piece small pieces float around the system and start new corals, very quickly, it also has quite a sting

I just looked a some photos of Seriatopora Calendrium online. Looks like the branches on my monsters are thicker and a lot closer together. But I will be sure to steer clear of Seriatopora Calendrium. Thanks for the tip.

As mentioned I tried removing a few of them manually, breaking off as much of the "body" as possible and covering the rest with epoxy. Might be a coincidence but a few days later, I noticed for the first time 9 new buds sprouting on the back wall and overflow. Could be coincidence but . . .

 

[Buzz1329]

Gee.... I was thinking about getting a pink poci, but not now after reading your thread...

Actually, I've never heard of the pink poci taking over tanks like the green one does. But maybe someone who knows more about this than me can chime in on this.

FWIW, I put a pink poci in the tank at the same time as the green. The pink one has been a model citizen. It's growing steadily (but nowhere near as fast as the green) and does not seem intent on conquering the tank.