Coral taking over tank need help

[adamRS80]

I've got this montipora cap. that spreads all over the place and is very agressive. If my tank were not so small and corals not so close together I might just let it go but it's starting to become a real problem, threatning other corals, growing up around and over them, and totally covering my liverock with it's encrusting action. Is there any way to control the growth of it? I've spent time scraping it off the rocks and sucking the broken pieces out of my tank but i need something that will actually kill this coral because it's killing other corals. Can I use a syringe and needle and shoot something on the coral and try to kill it's tissue? I thought of this because Aquarium Sales used to injuct aptasia with something. I know this is nothing like that but I just have to do something. I need to be able to kill it all around it's perimeter and get it under control. Scraping it off the rocks is a huge pain, always causes me to break other corals, and just makes a slimey mess than I have to siphon out. Any ideas?

[Tim Marvin]

Caps are very sensitive to kalk and 02. What does it look like? Is it just a brown one?

[adamRS80]

It's green w/purple rim. It's brown under PC's but afte a little time under MH it's color is great, and it grows like mad.

[JimD]

Cover it with black plastic for a few days, that usualy does the trick. Youll know its dead when it starts growing algae. Give away as many frags as you can first...

[adamRS80]

Okay I borrowed a little Kalk. How much should I mix with a cup of water to get the right mixture. I could mix a whole gallon but I won't need it.

[Shark_Bait]

If your going to kill it off frag it out. I'll take as big of a piece as you will part with, and what you would like in return. I have a small frag of the same thing but it is growing so slow.

[::pete::]

If your going to kill it off frag it out. I'll take as big of a piece as you will part with, and what you would like in return. I have a small frag of the same thing but it is growing so slow.

Same here and if you want Ill trade you a piece of hydnorphora you can place next to it and it wont grow in that direction. At least in my tank it wins :D

[JimD]

After you mix it, then what are you gonna do? lol, kalks not gonna kill your cap, youll OD your entire tank before you add enough kalk to have an effect, kalk is for killing Aiptasia.

[DeAngelove]

Hi Adam -
If your going to frag this coral before you decide to do away with it in your tank, I'd be happy to trade you for something less aggressive. :)
I'm sure its a pain to keep in check... but it seems like a waste to just kill it because it grows too fast... just my $0.02! :)

[SuperXdude]

i'll take a frag if you can spare one! Something to give life to my tank.

You say it spreads like mad? Heh...I can't keep xenia alive!


SuperX

[adamRS80]

I would love to give everybody a frag but right now it is mainly just encrusting over everything so there are not really any plates I can break off. There is a large piece of it at Aquatic Warehouse right now. It's brown and jaged looking. They have two montipora caps of mine, both pretty much brown but they are normally purple/blue and the other is the green one I have. You can see them both in that tank they have right next to the front counter. Don't let their drab current color fool you, they just need some 20k MH lighting.

JIMD I've heard that montipora is sensitive to Kalk or vinegar, more specifically the high PH. I'm sure all corals are sensitive to high PH. If I use a syringe and shoot a little at the areas I need to stop. I think the small amount I would be using would not affect the tank but I could be wrong. Anybody thing Part 1 of B-ionic could do the trick? Maybe this is a lame idea that won't work. I thought about fragging a hydnophora and placing small pieces of it on the coral to kill it.

[::pete::]

Adam
I have in the past shot Aptasia with Kalk in a cap and the cap was never affected. Just my experience.

[Tim Marvin]

JimD try getting a couple globs of kalk on one of your caps next time you kill an aptasia and see what happens.
Pete, did you blow any spillage off the cap?
Adam, is it at all possible to remove the rock and coral? If you can mix up the kalk solution and put the rock in a bucket, let it soak for 10 minutes and put it back in the tank. Be careful not to leave clumps of kalk on the rock when you put it back in the tank. The other thing you can do is keep breaking it off, or srub it hard with an old toothbrush.

[Shark_Bait]

Where are you located? If your going to the meeting maybe we could swap rocks. Tell me how big it is and I could try to find one about the same size, and add some frags to it. If that's an option. Just seems like a waste to kill off the entire colony.

[Tim Marvin]

Adam, that cap is valuable. Depending on the corals you have near it possibly a lot more. Check www.frags.org to get a value of it.... You may not want to kill it off after looking there.

[JimD]

Okay I borrowed a little Kalk. How much should I mix with a cup of water to get the right mixture. I could mix a whole gallon but I won't need it.
My point was an attempt to try to stop you from wiping out your tank by adding a large consentrated solution of kalkwasser based the above post. Stopping growth in a certain direction and killing off the entire speciman are two different scenarios,""something that will actually kill this coral because its killing other corals"" If you want to control its growth direction, then a thin film of kalk paste applied to the edge will most likely force it to grow in the desired direction. If you want to wipe out the entire colony with minimum effect on your prameters, then the black plastic route is the best.

[Tim Marvin]

I agree, after thinking it out in the other direction. I was thinking more the paste, not doseing the tank!!! Thanks JimD for pointing that out. You need to be very careful with the paste also! Plastic would probably be a better solution, if you don't want to sell it off.

[adamRS80]

Thanks everybody. If that frag is very valuable then there should be plenty around San Antonio with it because I've sold / traded with quite a few people, taken it to Aquatic Warehouse numerous times and I hear the piece I gave to Dan is quite huge. It was a coral I got from garf, so there are probably a gillion of them out there. I know everybody probably has this image of a beautiful scrolling montipora cap. colony and im just going to shoot it was some mixture and kill it and my tank completly. I would give away frags to everybody if there were plates of it to break off. I've been fragging it as much as possible so there are no longer any plates forming, and hanging out over my tank, now it is just like a slow moving liquid taking over my rock and surrounding a couple of corals that are way cooler...blue chalice, and blue fuzzy milleapora. I'm just trying to control it. Today I used Part 1 (alkalinity) of B-ionic in a small 50cc syinge w/needle. I tested it in a couple of different areas to see if it works. It definitly upset those areas and covered them with a white film. I only used about 15 ml of Part 1 and that covered a good sized area. It seemed like the mucus from the coral actually contained the solution and kept it in contact with the coral, hence the white film. If I could frag it I would but right now it's either this method, scrape it off my rocks and let it slime all over, or use the plastic. I may try the Kalk paste but since I've never used kalk at all and i just have some in a zip loc bag I think it might not be a good idea. I appreciated everybodys input. I'll let you know if it worked.

[Tim Marvin]

Try a tooth brush also.

[Tim Marvin]

Oh, I killed some gold zoo's once and the chemical they released torch a good amount of the caps. Nothing else seemed affected.

[adamRS80]

Part 1 of B-ionic worked very well. I used it just as I use it in my tank, not the concentrate. I'm surprised by how well it worked. I'm definitly not going to kill it throughout my tank, I'm just going to limit the spreading. The toothbrush is a really good idea as well. I might have to try that. Well now we all know what to use if you want to control the spreading of a coral, although I don't think many will want to stop a coral from growing. It also worked on a small piece of milleapora which was not intended but it was nearly touching the cap. I am trying to control so I'm sure it would work on SPS but I don't see those spreading quite like this.