I got some zoa eating nudis as hitchhikers a couple of months back, thats what I get for not dipping my coral, I know my mistake no need to point them out. After the first one appeared I did a freshwater dip on the zoas that I could but some are attached to very large rocks and I would have to dismantle the entire aquarium in order to get them. Afterwards I used a turkey baster to pick them off as I saw them. Long story short, I have been gone of two weeks and my dad was taking care of my tank, when I left it there were no nudis to be seen and I came back yesterday and they have overrun my zoas, some to the point of being almost gone. Here are my questions. Is there a better method than the freshwater dip, do you guys add anything else to the freshwater? Has anybody found anything that will eat this things? Thanks for the help.
HELP with zoa eating nudis
- Thread starter mar-y-sol
- Start date
chrisaggie
Premium Member
Do a search for the "grass wrasse". I have heard they eat them. The guys over in the zoanthid forum will be able to point you in the right direction.
Ding2daDong
New member
Re: HELP with zoa eating nudis
A sea grass wrasse will eat nudibranchs but will not kill them off. The problem with dipping is that the egg sacks are not affected by the fresh water + iodine dip. You need to actually pick off the egg sacks because they will stick to the polyps. Look in the zoanthid forum for pictures of the eggs.
-Matthew
A sea grass wrasse will eat nudibranchs but will not kill them off. The problem with dipping is that the egg sacks are not affected by the fresh water + iodine dip. You need to actually pick off the egg sacks because they will stick to the polyps. Look in the zoanthid forum for pictures of the eggs.
-Matthew
I have been picking off the eggs and the nudis as I see them. I need to get my hands on some lugol's iodine and tomorrow I will dip all my zoas again. Has anybody seen a grass wrasse around, and just in case is this one the one you are talking about
http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/livestock/product_info.php?id=2270&a=b
http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/livestock/product_info.php?id=2270&a=b
chrisaggie
Premium Member
That him.
loyalrogue
New member
I went thru 3 seagrass wrasses and none of them were the least bit interested in the zoa-eating nudis I had... and the damn things always managed to find a way down my overflow to the sump.
It was an expensive waste of time in my case.
Of course, you might have better luck than me.
Either way...
Keep sucking out the ones you see.
Keep scraping off the eggs.
Keep dipping in FW and Iodine.
If you have any zoa colonies that you can't get out to dip and inspect then you're going to have to find a way to break them off otherwise they'll end up being a haven for new nudi eggs.
Good luck!
It was an expensive waste of time in my case.
Of course, you might have better luck than me.
Either way...
Keep sucking out the ones you see.
Keep scraping off the eggs.
Keep dipping in FW and Iodine.
If you have any zoa colonies that you can't get out to dip and inspect then you're going to have to find a way to break them off otherwise they'll end up being a haven for new nudi eggs.
Good luck!
loyalrogue
New member
The iodine isn't necessary to kill the nudis.
The iodine just acts as a disinfectant to keep any sores, open lesions, partially eaten areas from becoming infected.
What actually kills the nudis is the freshwater.
Doesn't matter if the FW is hot.
As a matter of fact, I would recommend keeping the FW at the same temp as the tank the zoas are residing in to reduce the stress on them during dipping.
Also make sure you match the FW pH to the tank pH before dipping.
I use "Reefdip" iodine disinfectant that I got from Pat at ReefLife.
If I had to guess at the concentration, I'd say it's probably somewhere around 50% iodine.
Seeing as how you only use a 5ml capful per 1 gal of FW, and the fact that according to the directions you can paint it directly onto your coral at full strength, I'm sure you have quite a bit of error margin when substituting another source of iodine.
Just make sure you don't exceed 5ml per 1 gal of FW and you should be fine.
