Pods eating zoas?

[Fanof49ASU]

I posted this in a thread in the zoa forum, but since I know a few of you may never go there, I thought I'd post it here as well.

I've heard rumours about pods eating zoas, and others saying that's an ol' wives tale......what do you guys think?

I've been losing zoas for the past couple of months, but recently, it's gotten worse. My entire fire and ice colony is completely gone. Another small colony of radioactive dragon eyes is down to 5. I have moved the remaining polyps to my small 2.5 gallon 'frag rock tank' to see if I can get the numbers up.
I've sat in the dark with my red light for many hours. I know the tank is nudi-free......or at least they've wised up to me being there.

I took these photos today, when the lights went out. They immediately come out and head straight for the zoas.

Comments.....suggestions?

 

[fraggin]

they are probably cleaning up
i had a echino type worm come out right in front of me and rip a polyp off and go back into his burrow
20 mins later i had him on a plate and several frags and a pair of pistol shrimp looking for a new home

 

[gflat65]

I'd say they are just cleaning dead tissue, too. Check them at night after the lights go out with a flashlight. If they are disappearing that quickly, there is likely some sort of predator munching on them. If it is a worm of some sort, it'll pull back into it's rock as soon as it is hit with light, most likely, so try to eye ball it before turning the light on. Hope you can figure out what is getting them...

 

[greystreet41]

I have a 24 nanocube loaded with zoas and no fish. There are so many pods running around you can see them from a few feet away with ease. I wouldn't say they don't at the very least irritate the colonies. I'm going to get a little wrasse or something to hopefully cut back on the pod population. good luck

 

[mamagoose45]

On a non-pod note, what kind of coral is that in the bottom left of the pictures? It's not in focus, but they look like zoos. They're beautiful...

 

[Angela Short]

Looks like a gonipora to me (red flower pot) maybe?

 

[Fanof49ASU]

Good call Angela. That's it. My color in the photos is off.

Color here is better.

Here is my tank back in August. The zoas (behind the Sun Coral) is completely gone......argh!!!

 

[Angela Short]

Very nice gonni indeed! I hate when stuff just mealts! I had a set of pink zoas just mealt away all of a sudden. No other zoas in the tank were affected.
I kinda lean to the pods picking dyeing flesh off more than ripping healthy zoa off and eating them. Something like a fungus got them declining then the pods move in and get the blame maybe. But nothing is a certainty in this hobby. The thing with that thread over in the zoas forum you wonder how much experience the people claiming that pods ate there zoas have with tanks and even how old they are. The thing with boards is someone "claiming so and so" or giving advice may be a 13 year old without a clue. This is JMO But I question everything I read unless I know the person or have seen good advice come from them in the past. Kinda why I ask all my ?'s in here. At least I have a clue who I am talking with most of the time.
Your tank looks awsome!