Removed 1 Zoa eating Nudi last night ... time to panic?

[njudson]

My tank has been up for 3 months and over the last month I have been collecting zoas from various local reefers. Last night I saw one of my colonies was closed and a strange looking slug thing crawling on them. (which I am 99% confident was a zoa nudi) I removed the nudi and have not seen any more yet. Is it time to panic? according to what I just read on bluezooaquatics not all nudibranches breed prolifically in captivity. Is closely monitoring my zoas this week and hoping for the best what I should do?

 

[Drix]

I'd get out my baster and start pushing some water on zoa's to get them to close and inspect colony by colony for eggs.

 

[ms123]

Agree with above. I have never only seen 1. Usually if you see one there are more hiding. I would pull out that frag, if you can, and thoroughly check it over for eggs and nudis. A fresh water dip will kill the hatched ones if there are any and you can manually remove the eggs.

 

[826 moto]

watch every thing they will get out of control fast

 

[disenchantedone]

Now I'm panicked! lol. I found one about 6 months ago. Caught it. Never found another one!

+1 on the blowing with baster to inspect the rock its on!

 

[mfinn]

Instead of blasting water on the colonies and possibly spreading any nudibranchs else where in the tank, why don't you get some Flat Worm Exit and dip eack piece and during the dip inspect for eggs.
Here is a great website that explains dosage.

http://www.practicalcoralfarming.com/zoonudis.html

 

[njudson]

Thanks for the link mfinn. Nearly all my zoas are on frag plugs so dipping shouldn't be too hard.

 

[Timanator]

I keep a green or yellow coris wrasse. They always take care of the nudis.

 

[mfinn]

I keep a green or yellow coris wrasse. They always take care of the nudis.

A good hunting wrasse is one of the weapons, but not the only one you should use.
New pieces should be dipped and quarantined.
I currently use a lepoard wrasse in my zoanthid tank and it does a pretty good job of hunting continually, but after learning a few very hard lessons over the years, I now q-tank and dip.

 

[saltygeek]

I would definately keep searching for eggs and adults. That being said I put a few zoa frags in about a year and half ago and found a nudi a few days later. Got it out and searched the tank for the next month. Have yet to find another. I did add a sixline wrasse a few months after finding the nudi though because I was paranoid. Hope is not lost:fun2: Just keep searching!

 

[Mr. Microscope]

I saw two once after getting some frags and not dipping. No biggie though. A colony of zoas were closed up, I saw the thing crawling around on it, and removed it. Never saw any again. Don't panic, just be mindful and watch out for eggs. Maybe dip if you feel like it. These guys are not going to get out of hand like, say, flatworms do.

 

[mfinn]

These guys are not going to get out of hand like, say, flatworms do.

What????

they will consume every zoanthid in your tank if you don't do something.
They eat, lay eggs,,, eat and lay eggs, as long as there are zoanthids for them to eat.
That is what they do.

 

[PGUY1]

I'm with mfinn. I thought the same thing as mr microscope and just used a baster to take out a couple and before I knew it they were out of control. I can't remove my colonies and have done a double dose of FWE with limited results. I'm to the point of dumping two bottles of FWE in the display to handle it.

 

[PGUY1]

I will never put another piece of anything in my display without QT and several dips. It's just not worth it.