Is the Culprit Zoa Spiders?

S

swsm

New member
I'm relatively new to the Saltwater Hobby but have found that it is consuming my life, and I love it ;) I have a Biocube 14 which has been running for 2 months now.

My favorite Zoanthids which I have had for three weeks have been closed for nearly one week as of today. I do have several other zoanthids in the tank which are all doing great.

I read about Zoa Spiders and think that my Zoas may have them :(
I removed the piece from my tank; however, could not find any spiders (maybe it is because I'm inexperienced). I did notice a few of the polyps from my Zoa damaged.

Could someone please take a look at my images of the Zoa and let me know if Spiders could be the culprit?

http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/10982780/img/10982780.jpg
http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/10982830/img/10982830.jpg
http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/10982845/img/10982845.jpg
 
Just as a reference, here's a screenshot of my Biocube 14. I added the frogspawn about a week ago (which is also around the time I saw the Zoanthids close--I don't know if this is a direct correlation). The Zoas that are closed can be seen in the middle of the picture:

photo-%283%29.jpg
 
I saw that my zoa in the pic was kind of ripped apart as if a spider may have hatched from it. I would be really happy to know that it isn't spiders though ;)

I have quite a few zoas in the tank and they are all doing well except for the one pictured. From my understanding zoas are pretty hardy.

Of course I could totally be wrong.
 
It's basically impossible to affirm 100% that spiders are the culprit by the pictures.
Picture number 2 shows what I would prefer to believe to be bacterial infection.
Once spiders were not found, nor other predator, I would dip the colony in Lugol's solution and go from there. Do it ASAP if you want to save the colony.
As aways: 8 - 10oz of tank water with 3 -5 drops of Lugol's solution for 3 -5 min.
Some times it's just too late to try to save the colony when bacteria sets in!
Good luck!

Grandis.
 
in my 10 years of collecting ive ran into spiders maybe twice, they just arnt that common IMO unless your buying wild colonies
 
Ah, thanks for the responses! I'm a little relieved to hear this. I went out and bought the Lugol's solution and have dipped my coral. Will let you know how it goes!
 
I'm asking that because there are many types of dipping for many different reasons.
Each time and problem will determinate what needs to be done and how often.
So the first thing to do is to find out the problem and then apply the right dipping, if so.
Some times people think dipping is the solution for almost all problems when many times the problem can't be solved by dipping because it's with the lights, water chemistry, water flow, etc...
Finding out exactly what the problem is would save lots of other headaches.

Hope that helps.:thumbsup:

Grandis.
 
A. Grandis said:
I know it's to treat the zoa, but of what?
Depends...

Grandis.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all of your help! You mentioned the zoa might have an infection. So I believe the purpose of dipping the coral is to help treat the infection. Maybe I'm not understanding :P
 
Well you mentioned the zoa was dipped in Lugol's but didn't report anything yet. ;)
I would let the zoa rest and keep an eye on it for at least a week or so.
I would dip it again only if things get worse and if there are more signs of infection.
If it doesn't get worse just leave it alone and it will probably get better and better. It won't get amazingly healed from day to night. Nope. That can take some time.
Just relax.
:thumbsup:

Grandis.
 
Those are probably open wounds from infections.
I would just leave them alone and check for possible reinfection just make sure.
I would think they'll be fine, if there is anything else going on in the system and no predators, etc...
It might take a while for them to recuperate and that's normal.
You could try to search for a good amino acid additive and start adding very slowly and small amounts, if you wish. I use Brightwell's amino acid (CoralAmino).

Grandis.
 
I think I figured out the culprit: I noticed my hermit crabs picking at the zoa frag today. They actually broke off one of the zoas!
 
I did notice tiny brown bugs like pods crawling on my zoa. Also my Sunny D single zoa polyp which was on the same rock has also closed up. Do you think these tiny pods could be doing something to them?
 
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