Large amphipod destroyed my people eaters? Pictures.

[A. Grandis]

I'm pretty sure that in my case it is the water being too clean. I cut my GFO off and after a few days the zoas look happy and healthy.

GFO is not to keep the water clean, nor too clean.
I believe you already know that. Just to make sure...
Other people have reported before about having problems with GFO and corals.
When they stop, their problems stop too.
There is more to that and we still can't find out why.

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

Most of the amphipods are herbivores, but some of the ones we believe are herbivores are also omnivores (eat plants and animals - and therefore opportunistic). I believe there are the strictly carnivores also.

If the point is that they are caught eating the zoa, they need to go.

If they are eating a " sick" zoa, they need to go also.
Because it eliminates our chance to try to save that zoa, if it's sick in the first place.

They become just a double trouble!!!

Like I've posted before... I believe that the size matters too. The bigger zoas tend to be carnivores or omnivores. The smaller ones tend to be herbivores and are the " good guys".
But it shouldn't be taken as a rule of thumb.

If we look at the " after" pictures we can see some white spots. I believe that bacterial infection was taking place. Hard to tell if was because of the amphipods or the bacteria attacked before, and then the amphipod did it's job.
Also, the skirts were gone!!! Very sad!

Grandis.

 

[bluejaykaren]

I think the population explosion coincided with a sun coral purchase. I had managed a fish store that specialized in salt for 9 years but when family came along and a big move came, new job, I sold everything. Now my 14 year old is a budding marine biologist. so we set the 29 gallon up in her room. She wanted the sun coral for Christmas. When she first got it she fed it "all the time". Several times a day. The great thing is that the thing stays open all the time and doubled in size already, the bad is that nitrates appeared and there was abundant food for the pods. She gave everthing mysis shrimp when she fed the sun so there was a lot in the tank all the time. I gave her a lecture and the newness wore off. Now she feeds the sun a couple of spectrum pellets a day and mysis twice a week and only specifically to the coral polyp. When she cut off the food supply is when they turned to eating the corals. I was trying to find an alternative to a fish to eat the big ones. That is why I was wondering if a large coral banded shrimp would eat them.

 

[signal7]

I witnessed this last night actually.

I have several zoa frags lying on the bottom of the tank and they've been doing great. I noticed a few days ago that one of my single polyps that was previously open and happy was gnawed down to nub (no skirt). A frag next to it had a few polyps with the same thing, just a stump. They're not closed, because you can see the color pattern.

So, having read this thread, last night I took a flashlight to the tank after the lights had gone out and sure enough, large amphipods having a snack. Most of them were just crawling around on the frags, but I did watch one munching away. What was strange was that they didn't scurry away from the light like they usually do. They also weren't on all the frags, just those two.

I'll keep an eye on it for sure!

 

[bluejaykaren]

I feel bad. My daughter,14 years old, has been away for a few days. She keeps a log and writes down everything, paramaters, additions, new polyp that grows, When her giant hairy mushroom divided, when baby mushrooms apeared, when she first noticed the duncan had a new head growing, etc... We are divers and she wants to be a research diver. In nov. I ordered 4 vairieties of zoas for her birthday, 5 polyps came in each colony. They all had grown lots more new polyps on each rock. She will be home tonight and most of the zoas are gone. I have the rest in a bucket in hopes they can be saved. She will be heartbroken. She has loved her tank and it has done so well. I am setting up a quarantine tank now.

 

[A. Grandis]

Well, good thing we don't have to worry about something like this guys!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNES2tNPtu4&feature=player_embedded

We would need a giant tank with huge polyps too.

Grandis.