Short term zoa eating pod solution

I had the exact issue, tons of pods keeping my Zoas closed! I skipped the dip routine and went straight to a Mandarin! The Mandarin alone was enough to pretty much deplete the over-abundance of pods in the DT. For me, a fuge with plenty of liverock is the only reason I still have pods available for the mandarin to eat.
 
Hi everyone,

I have the same problem. I haven't been able to figure out why my palys have been closed for over a month now. It is an established colony (4 years old) and has been fine. I added a new piece of fiji rock and another colony of zoas. After the fiji rock the colony started closing. I had a problem with red algae on the colony so I scrubbed if off and did a water change. One week later, the colony is still closed. I also noticed lots of large amphipods on the rock, but thought that they were harmless. The rock has zoas and palys on it, a tridacnid clam, and some brittle stars, and they seem to be fine excpet the palys just won't open and centers are turning yellow. I already have a Mandarin fish that seem quite healthy and active (But he does eat my frozen brine shrimp when I feed). Anyone have any suggestions on the next step? I feel like I need to dip the rock, but I'm concerned with the clam on it. Also, what kind of chemical should I use?

Thanks!
 
this is interesting... as my poison ivy palys have been disappearing one by one... and no, i have no nudi's... i am quite perplexed... im hoping the regression of the polyps stops soon... especially after reading this, and having jus done a full treatment for red bugs, which i believe basically decimated my pod population... i know this becuz i did a whole sytem nuke, and my water column looked like dead pod soup! lmao... seriously, i can not begin to explain what it looked like with all those dead pods... but yea, hopefully that was the issue with the poison ivy's and i no longer happens cuz i did a number on the pods...

great thread, great ideas, good conclusions...
 
I've had problems with copepods in the past, but they didn't eat the colonies. They were around them and the polyps didn't open.
I've used iodine solution to take care of that and worked well.
Never had amphipods eatig zoas yet.
Grandis.
 
It's odd, a lot of you guys, including myself, mentioned the pods eating away at RPE's; could there be a favored polyp Amphipods go after?
 
This is pretty interesting. I've intentially grown my pod population because I want a mandrine but not at the cost of my zoas
 
650-IS350 said:
you want PODS not AMPIPODS.
Click to expand...

Actually the correct term would be COPEPODS, not PODS.
PODS can still be amphipods or copepods.
There are "good" amphipods too. I have many amphipods in my tank and they don't even get close to the many polyps I get. There are different species and some of them unfortunately can eat zoanthids.
The "good guys" are herbivores. :)
Normally the "bad guys" are a little bigger than the "good guys", but that's not always the rule, I believe.

Grandis.
 
Maybe this is why my zoas and palys haven't opened the last 3 weeks. I've seen no loss in colony sizes, but they could be agitating them.

I have a 55 gallon tank and a large healthy mandarin in there already. What are the chances he isn't doing enough? Should I get a wrasse or is my tank too small to risk starving the mandarin?
 
Same problem- polyp just gone HELP

Same problem- polyp just gone HELP

I got two zoa frags last week. This morning one frag was missing at least one polyp. It was just completely gone! It is a new 100 gal tank with 120 lb of liverock from the south pacific. I cured the rock in the new tank in April and now I get all kinds of growth coming out. I have had all forms of hitchhikers and have removed some (mantis shrimp).

These frags are the first corals I have introduced to the tank and in 3 days started loosing polyps.

I see lots and lots of little bugs in the fuge and on the DT rocks at night. Some are 1 cm but most are 4 mm or shorter.

My fish are a blenny, maroon clown and a few damsels. Nothing I know that eats pods.

I like the idea of keeping zoas, but this has me worried. What type of fish eats these types of pods? Do mandarins eat the big ones too or only the tiny copepods?
 
Could this be the culprit?

Could this be the culprit?

Found him at night a few inches away from the frags.

I have no idea what species. In the tray he is about 1 inch wide. The body is about 3/8 inch wide.

IMG_0387.JPG
 
wow my RPEs wont open and i saw pods scurrying over them....any predatorial pod suggestions for a small tank...14gal aquacube...i used to have a 6 line wrasse, but got rid of him so i could have small shrimp and the pods, bristle worms, and brittle stars have been out of control since
 
I've had Amphipods eat my zoas in the past. There's no doubt that they will eat them. I think they only do it when the polyps are in a weakened state, and usually at night.
 
is this a crazy idea?

is this a crazy idea?

ok, so i'm having the same problems: zoas won't open, corals overrun w/lice looking things, etc.

i have a cookie jar pico that is 2 gallons. i do not want to pry off all my corals and dip them. i cannot have fish b/c of the bioload, not to mention, i'm not sure that would be kind to the fish b/c of the size of my tank.

i do weekly 100% changes per brandon129 who has kept his gallon pico for over 7 years. could i dose the entire tank 20 minutes before a water change and then suction everything out, or would there be too much residual lugol's left in there?
 
Assuming they are amphipods...
Lugol's? Nope.
You need to do a fresh water dip just to give a relief. I would say 1 min max. It won't kill all the amphipods.
The fish is a must to keep them in control or luckily solve the problem.
Wrasses or basslets would be good.

Grandis.
 
i have the amphipods but they don't seem to be taking over like the ones that are about half their size and straight (the amphipods seem curved, like shrimp). maybe they're copepods? i will try the FW dip, thanks. how long is safe for everything else? i can't get a fish b/c it's a 2.5 gal pico.
 
jimnyo said:
ok, so i'm having the same problems: zoas won't open, corals overrun w/lice looking things, etc.

i have a cookie jar pico that is 2 gallons. i do not want to pry off all my corals and dip them. i cannot have fish b/c of the bioload, not to mention, i'm not sure that would be kind to the fish b/c of the size of my tank.

i do weekly 100% changes per brandon129 who has kept his gallon pico for over 7 years. could i dose the entire tank 20 minutes before a water change and then suction everything out, or would there be too much residual lugol's left in there?
Click to expand...

so, still looking for an answer to this...is it too crazy or risky? will it seep into the sand and overdose my tank?
 
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