Softies and SPS

[mharris7]

Hey guys - just wanted to see how many people keep softies and sps together. I heard someone mention on another board that all the chemicals softies produce can inhibit or kill sps corals. I have a big rasta leather and a real pretty toadstool leather. I've lately had a hard time keeping monitpora of all things. I don't have a lot of sps corals right now but am looking to do more in the future. I also run carbon 24/7 to clean up any nasty chemicals my corals produce.

I'd hate to get rid of my toadstool, but if it's going to be a problem with my acros I'm inclined to get rid of it.

[Jimnorris]

I use to to softies and sps corals together! I even had a large toadstood and kenyatree. I did not have a problem---but they were towards the bottom of the tank.
Jim

[StephenA]

I keep both. I have one huge toadstool. My montipora is doing pretty good. I did have a strange bleach spot on my porites last week. There was some strange stuff (slime) on the spot. I cleaned it and now it's fine. I too worry about keeping both.

[mharris7]

I have a couple acro frags and they seem to be doing ok. I run a lot of carbon though. I fill my fluval up with carbon and rowaphos and run it 24/7. I've got a little bit of monti that's bright green next to the rasta leather, but it's fading and in decline. I've tried cap frags twice but they both died. I'm not sure what the deal is. I saw the post about leathers and sps and wondered if that had something to do with it. Water params are ok although I need to test alk and calcium again. I'll do that when I get home. I dose b-ionic daily though so they should be decent.

[GaryP]

One of my montiporas slipped over next to a a very large patch of green star polyps. The base of the montipora died. It moved it away and it starting to regrow over the dead spot. I've heard about similar problems with zoo's. They have some very potent toxins. I'm sure someone here knows more about that than I do.

I do know that you need to wsh your hands very thoroughly after handling zoo's, especially if you are fragging them.

Gary

[MikeP]

Mike, I did until a few months back - had all kinds of corals in my 215. Wasn't sure if it was part of it but I took most of the soft corals out including a few giant sinaularias and a toadstool. Am getting some better growth on SPS but that may be due to other factors.

[brewercm]

I like the mixture in the tank, just have to watch what's touching each other. I put the softies in a lower and less flow area, I like the swaying and pulsing motion of the softies and the colors of the SPS.

[mharris7]

I like mixing them aesthetically, but the problem with softies (and actually other corals do this as well) is that they will actually release poisons into the water column to kill competing corals. They don't have to be touching. They can actually affect other corals anywhere else in the tank. In the ocean because of the much larger water volume it's not a problem because the toxins dissapate quickly outside of the immediate area surrounding the coral. In our tanks its a much different story. I really don't want to subject my sps corals to any more crap than I already do. :D Hair algae and aiptasia are torture enough. ;)

The thread I read on RC seemed to indicate that the toxins were particularly a problem for sps corals. I guess it's "in general" because the term "sps" (sps is actually not even a technically correct definition when discussing cnindrians) applies to a lot of very different corals.

[wkopplin]

I wear gloves when messing around in my tank

[lax]

all my tank is is sps and softies (mainly zoos). i have most of my sps towards to top, however i have zoos freaking everywhere in my tank and several toadstool frags crowding out every available inch in my nano. i had toadstools touching several different monti caps and the toadstools loose, i also have gsp growing all around one of my caps, the gsp looses. o yeah zoos galore, i have zoos touching acros, caps, toadstools, gsp, montis, other zoos and zoos on the glass and zoos on the back divider and zoos everywhere. i have no problem with zoos expeling toxins. when i have fragged zoos b4, ive had some of their juices get in a cut, no worries, just rub some dirt in it! i dont run carbon, but i do aggressively circulate and skim, too.

ive never had any problems due to mixing softies and sps even in a nano. i dont think that your problems come forom the mixing, they probably come from some water parameters that you havent tested yet, or lighting.

[matt]

Actually, the chemical aggressiveness of soft corals and zoos varies tremendously from species to species and genus to genus. Some sarcophytons will chemically attack stony corals if they sense their presence, othes might not. It really seems to be a hit or miss situation, although the Borneman book does have a chart of relative toxicity among several common aquarium species, and it's worth looking at.

Regarding the handling of zoos, the most dangerous polyps that I've heard of are the palythoas; in fact, these have been traditionally used in neurotoxins on poison darts. So the next time a pygmy aims his/her blowgun at you, you feel a sting, then get lightheaded, you can pass out with the satisfaction that you know what's causing it!

[mharris7]

here's a pic of the tank so you can see the various corals mixed

[mharris7]

the white patch above the rasta leather on the far left used to be brown digitata.... it's pretty common so I'm not too worried about losing it but am worried about affecting my couple of acro frags...so far so good though. Only monti's seem to be affected at the moment.

[GaryP]

Calfo mentions an incident in his book. He was fragging some zoo's with a scalpel and being short a hand, he stuck the scalpel between his teeth. The result was that he couldn't feel anything in his face, or taste anything for several days. They do contain a powerful neurotoxin. I think its designed to keep things like parrot fish and angels from grazing on them in the wild.

Gary

[wkopplin]

Some people would actually pay for that sensation. :-D

[dan]

so in other words don't handle zoo's and pick your teeth at the same time RIGHT? :o :o