My kenya trees spreading like weeds!!

[Sxybeemr325]

here is the story. I bought this tiny piece pf rock (1 inch round) with 3-5 zoas on it (the bright green ones with the orange middle). The guy who sold it to me said: here you go, there is even a piece of kenya tree on it (or whatever the pink thing is...) The only reason i bought this rock was for the neon green and orange zoas!! Now, the kenya trees are taking over.... Look at the pictures from jan 1st and now.... they are just spreading like crazy!!! Can i rip it off the rocks? and also, keep in mind that the rock on what it is growing looks fairly small on the picture but this rock is approx 15" -20" long. all I want is the zoas!!!

The zoas

 

[Melonbob]

hahaha! I'm only laughing cause I have the same problem with my Anthelias. I ahve no idea how to get rid of some of it. I cut it down with scissors, and I couldn't seem to rip it off. It grew back completely in about two weeks.......): I want it gone, but I'd like to keep some. I just have to figure it out myself!

 

[Bifferwine]

That's xenia, not kenya tree.

The good news is, xenia are actually worth something (unlike Kenya trees). That means you can sell them back to your fish store!

Go buy yourself some razor blades and start cutting. Cut them as close to the rock as you can. Some will grow back from the stumps, but the majority of them won't.

I have a big xenia farm myself. I cut them off with razor blades and put them in a tupperware container with live rock rubble and let them reattach to the rocks (once they're cut, they will reattach). Then I sell the rocks back to the store. Here are some pics of mine:

 

[Sxybeemr325]

Biff, how long does it take to reattach to a rock? I don't really have any spare rocks or any rubble. Most of my rocks are large pieces... You really think my LFS would buy this from me?

I buy all of my corals from a guy I discoved on a website. he started his own business and transformed his basement into coral-land. he has various tanks with every single type of coral you can imagine and the quality is not even comparable to any LFS i visited. His prices are way cheaper then the lfs as well. but he only sells corals... I guess i could do that.... or try it once and see if it s worth the effort to cut it off and wait for it to re-attach....

 

[Bifferwine]

It took mine about a week to attach. They would totally buy it from you. Mine buys it from me for $4 a stalk. I made $140 in two weeks last month.

If you don't want to resell them, you could give them away to other reefers or just throw them away.

 

[Ironman]

I hevent experimented with irradicating zenia, so I dont really know what your best bet is if you dont want the hassle of cutting and taking it to the local stores. depending on the store they may be willing to take the fesh cut zenia and put it in there tanks to reattach. who knows, but I think if you try and kill it so it wont grow back you will contaminate your tank. maybe sell the whole rock and start over?

 

[Sxybeemr325]

biff,

when you cut as close as you can to the rock, do you "contaminate" your water? whatever is left of the stump on the rock just dies off right? and that will not mess up my water parameters?? like ammonia, nitrite, nitrates...? I don't want everything to spike off out of control!! Hum, i guess I should ask my LFS this week end....
I think i'm gonna go for the mandarin this week end and at the same time, i'll ask them if they would buy my xenia.

What about my green zoas. Could I cut off the stump, buy epoxy, and glue it on a rock so it may start growing somewhere else in my tank without beeing invaded by the xenias? I guess I have major invasion problems in there lately.... the flaworms, then the xenia.... hahaha

 

[HAWKS12thMAN]

I pull out the rock and hit the xenias with a blowtorch! your fighting a losing battle!

 

[Bifferwine]

My water parameters didn't spike from the xenia. I've also tried pulling them off the rock with my hands. When you pull them off the rock, you get the whole piece, so there isn't a stump left over, but it releases this cloudy stuff into the water when you squeeze it and cloudy stuff isn't released into the water when you make a clean cut.

 

[reeffreak]

I'm not an advocate of fragging in the main display Sexy.Because of the chemicals softies release and some produce excessive slime.I always did my cutting in a separate container then put into a holding tank so they can heal.

Sure,you can cut the zoas off the rock much easier and use super glue gel to attach the zoas on rock rubble,shell etc.Do this in a separate small container and always wear gloves.You know about the toxins zoas can produce.Then if you don't want the xenias than return the whole rock.I'm having issues with my xenias too.They are good nitrate removers so I'm going to cut mine and place them the in fuge.

 

[fishbait]

I cut mine off the rock with razor blade. then take a tooth brush and scrub the remaining stump off. then do a large water change and run carbon to get rid of the toxins released when the xenia is cut in the tank. the stump has allways grown back twice as thick as before if I don't scrub it off. it is best to remove the rock from the tank before fragging softies. I only do this in tank because the rock is too big to be removed with out disturbing everything in the tank.

 

[fatman]

I have over the years used a lot of Xenia's for nutrient export. I usto grow them on perforated PVC sheeting and would literally scrape alternating strips off like a tic tac toe puzzle with a putty knife and the little fragments left behind would regenerate faster than the remaining Xenia's could fill in the spaces. Lagoon weeds, used to high nutrients. They either grow or don't. Usually they grow and heavily and quickly. Hermit crabs with little Xenia frags on their shells sale well up here. The crabs snatch up shells with Xenia frags even when they are too small for them they will give up a plain shell that fits for a decorator shell.