Something eating zoanthids

[lewk]

I've got something in my tank that is gradually picking off my zoanthids. Not a clue what it can be. I don't have any sundials, I've gone in there with a flashlight several times over the past few nights to try and catch someone in the act.

I have an emerald and two or three peppermints in there. The emerald is out a lot during the day and I've never seen him nipping at them at all. The peps used to be out during the day and eat out of my hands, but they have since taken to hiding in the rocks while the lights are on. Could possibly be them, I'm just not sure. They are for sure peps and not camel shrimp.

As far as fish go: yellow tang, bangaii, percula, mandarin and a tailspot. It seems like this usually happens while the lights are out, so I wouldn't suspect one of these guys is responsible.

Whoever is doing this is picking the polyps clean off the rock/plugs. Any ideas or thoughts? Other folks have suggested possibly zoanthid eating nudibranchs. Haven't noticed any of those guys. I'd like to figure this out before all my zoos are gone.

One thing worth noting, all my palys in the tank appear to be untouched.

Thanks in advance.

[corruption]

Look for zoanthid-eating nudibranch:

http://www.pbase.com/ppphotography/image/73581917/original.jpg

Freshwater dips with lugols, or if you're brave, Flatworm eXit will rid them... that would be my guess. They don't eat palys or carribean sp. zoanthids..

-Justin

[jetty]

I found 2 of them crawling on my glass one morning. They ate my purple people eaters.

[corruption]

Your PPE died from something else, most likely -- they don't eat palys. :)

-Justin

[ShAgMaN]

Thing is the nudis are so hard to spot since they take on the color of zoo there eating. I had this same issue, dipped the coral for a minute or two, and haven’t had a problem for months. If you shake the zoas while in the freshwater they should fall off, then you can ID the suckers and toss them.

[corruption]

Agreed -- a quick pH-adjusted freshwater dip with some lugol's solution (3-5 minutes) will tell you if you've got em pretty quickly... the thing to watch out for is the eggs afterwards. The treatments do nothing to the egg sacs, and they will hatch and breed again if not caught quickly enough/manually removed.

-Justin

[stoneroller]

Your PPE died from something else, most likely -- they don't eat palys.

FYI, people eaters are Zoanthus gigantus, thus not Palythoa nor Protopaly (which have sand or other particles embedded in their stalk tissue). PEs are highly susceptible to zoa-eaters. http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=2459

Keep looking for pests; if you can take the frag/colony out, shake it in a lugol's dip. nudis and spiders can be difficult to detect. Maybe that tang?

[corruption]

Thanks for the heads-up stoneroller -- I've only ever seen them listed as palythoa sp. or protopalythoa... learn something new every day!

There is a probability that zoa-eating nudis DID go after your PPE's! :D

-Justin

[lewk]

I can easily take the frags out. If they are nudis will they always stay on the frags? Is lugol's pretty easy to come by?

[BIGBIRD123]

any LFS should carry it. we do a 10 min freshwater dip before any zoas/palys go into the tank. we have seen a lot of critters fall off during this dip...nudis, spider stars, pod-like critters, etc.

[aquasport24]

Sometime zoas just melted away for no reason too:sick:

[ShAgMaN]

Hey lewk, if you don’t find lugol's any iodine supplement (I use Kent's) would work. Not that I'm recommending, but I've dipped zoas in plain ole chlorinated tap water for a minute and they were just fine.

[BIGBIRD123]

we use tap water for 10 min.

[lewk]

we use tap water for 10 min.

so just tap water by itself?

[stoneroller]

I'd go with RO. Swish them around to make sure all the beasts fall off.

[ShAgMaN]

That’s what I do. I used to throw some iodine and declor in a bowl but now I just dip them in tap water. I wouldn't do this with expensive corals, but regular ole zoas get SA aqua. However, I don’t dip for 10 minutes like Bird, only because I have watched nudis and pods die in a minute or two and figured that’s long enough…but he has a lot more experience than me.

Only other thing that I’ve came across with zoas are light changes which can really affect them. I’ve had some disappear practically overnight, and I believe it was due to my LED’s high intensity.

[Paraletho]

+1 ShAgMaN I changed from a PC to a 6 bulb ATI SunPower and my zoas withered back. Most of them walked to the underside of their frag plugs and hid.

[jpond83]

zoanthid eating spiders