something killing zoos

[Ross]

Something is killing my zoos. Its an orange colony i got from aquatic warehouse a few months ago. They just started dieing recently. Starting from the middle and going out. Others zoos are fine, all other corals are fine. I guess its some kind of flatworm?? I have a few little red ones, but not too many. What should i do to get rid of them.

[BA]

are the flatworms covering ur zoos???if so then they killed them..only if u have a out of control pop. tho...do u have ur zoos dirrectly under that 400watt mh????i put some zoos under that same bulbs and it melted them...then i put them in a tank with PCs and they did fine....

[Ross]

The flatworms are on a rock next to the zoos, but thers not many of them. Maybe 10, and there very small. The zoos are at the bottom of the tank so there not under too much light. Theyve been doing fine for the last few months until recently.

[BA]

what are ur parameters???

[Ross]

ammonia and nitrite 0...

nitrate, calcium, and alk...???(dog chewed up test kits)

temp gets up to about 83 on the hottest days...normally about 80. specific gravity...1.024

[BA]

lol, invest in test kits, they can help...lol

[Ross]

yeah i know...i had them but my dog chewed them up. Its not water parameters that are killing the zoos anyways...

[Ram_Puppy]

there is a snail, similar to the pyramids that prey on clams, that will kill zoo colonies. I am not sure how big, or what it looks like, but i would suggest removing the zoo colony to quarantine if you can, when you bring it out of the water and they pull in nice and tight, get a magnifying glass and go over the rock, see if you can find any pests, if you find anything questionable, I would kill it right then and there, just to be on the safe side.

If you have some zoos allready looking bad, maybe look at the situation like a cancer, and cut all the effected parts out.

Since it is happening from the inside out, I would doubt it's water conditions, that would effect the entire colony the same I think... look for a pest.

[Ross]

I found some little things...i have no idea what they are...but they look kinda like little flatworms, except there clear. Could this be whats killing the zoos? There the same size as the red ones, and the same shape i think but perfectly clear.

[Ram_Puppy]

do they look like pacman ghosts? if so, they are probably just pod predators... I can't remember the link to the photo of them, but I am willing to bet someone can throw up a pic... :)

[Ross]

Yeah they kinda do look like pacman ghosts now that u say that.

[scuba_steveo]

it is flatworms. can you take the rock out? if you can take it out and dip it in fresh RO water. Put a bowl of RO next to a bowl of saltwater from the tank. Dip it and shake it in the RO for 15 seconds and the put it in the saltwater bowl for a few minutes. Do this 3 times. Then put the rock back in the tank and do not put the rock on the bottom. Try to put the rock in a decent flow area where flatworms will not go. In the future if/when your flatworms get bad you will need to dose flatworm exit.

[Ross]

These are the red flatworms..i thought they didnt do anything bad. I went over the rock very closely w/ a magnifying glass and found 1 tiny snail....smaller than a pod. Maybe its these??

[Nano_Steve]

these are the infamous zoo eaters. these guys no matter what size can take out some hefty colonies and domajor damage to zoos.

hth, steve

http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/img/faq_heliacus.jpg

http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/img/faq_heliacus2.jpg

[scuba_steveo]

unless your snail looks like that, it is the red flatworms

[Ross]

Ok my zoos are getting worse. I keep getting a few dead ones coming in the middle. I have other colonies from other ppl that are doing fine...its just this one colony. If theres something on it, would it be possibel to fw dip the whole rock of zoos?? would that kill the zoos?

[GaryP]

Steve,

I have never heard of red flatworms (aoecels) eating zoos, or anything else for that matter. Where are you getting this info? They are typically detritivores and are photosynthetic. Larry and I are going to be doing a talk on flatworms at the Oct. meeting, so if there is any info on this I would like to get my hands on it.

Gary

[scuba_steveo]

Larry is the one who treated my zoo colony with FW dips to rid them of the red flatworms

[GaryP]

Steve,

Yea, I remember. He called me about it when he was at your house. I was referring to the info about FW's eating zoos. I'd never heard that before.

One of the things that Larry and I have agreed on is that we need to down play some of the hysteria about FW's. Yes, they can be a nuisance and can may be unsightly, but, they are not aquarium equivalent of AIDS. I have FW's in my tanks and I dip everything in fresh water with Lugol's before I do any trades to prevent spreading them. My point, and I know Larry agrees, is that a lot of hobbyists do more damage to their tanks trying to kill them than they do to the tanks themselves.

I'll save the rest of my thunder for the Oct. meeting. I plan on handing out a bibliography with a couple of good references on FW's as part of the talk.

Gary