New zoas frag with too much junk between polyps

[GoldenNugget]

So i recently order a pretty expensive rock with a ton of fire and ice zoas and they came absolutely covered in junk. during acclimating and dipping i was able to scrape half of it off, but there is just too much gray/brown debris, green algae like string wrapped around each polyp. They are opened for the most part, but I have heard of people having this problem and the zoas eventually dying. Does anyone know of an efficient and stress free way to remove this junk? I tried the best i could, but i already damaged some of the polyps and dont want to cause anymore harm. The other coral I got were filthy as well, but they were LPS with large polyps so they were easy to clean up. Ive got a few hundred dollars sitting here in limbo, so if someone can give me some advice, I'd appreciate it.

 

[blueseatex]

Spray bottle with peroxide. Pull the rock out spray the whole rock with peroxide and let it sit out for 3 or 4 minutes then dip and rinse in tanK water from a water change. This an extreme method but, has worked for me with no losses other than the algae. Repeat the process if needed a few days apart.

 

[Eric81]

@blueseatex wrote:

I would only do this as last resort....as the h2o2 will burn the zoas as well. Try swishing the rock around in a bucket of tank water (outside the tank) and blasting it with a turkey baster in order to remove as much gunk/algae as possible. Sometimes when zoas get stressed (shipping, quick salinity changes, etc.) they will expell some brown/green gunk out of their mouths...this can usualy be washed away pretty easily. In my experience, this is usually a one time thing and they will return to normal in a couple of days given proper parameters. If it is algae, it may take a few turkey baster blastings over a period of days. If that doesn't work, the peroxide method could be used, but I whould suggest diluting it with tank water at a 1:3 (h2o2:h20) ratio to start with. Also, if you go the peroxide method, make sure that all the zoas are closed up before applying the peroxide, as an open polyp will be damaged more than than a closed one. Others may have better solutions, but this is just what I have learned through my experience.

Cheers!