something eating my zoas at night...

Swirlygig

Swirlygig

Active member
So I have a zoa eating thing in my tank...last night it took out about 15-20 polyps...:(

I can't figure out what it is...I am so ready for my nano to be up and running so I can transfer my frags...

I was just thinking...I have a CB shrimp, tuxedo urchin, just bought a long spine urchin ($12 at waterford pet land), bristle star, brittle star, serpent star and some hermits, which I never see during the day harm anything...What night owl could it be?...Have they been known to eat zoas? Whatever it is...It only does this at night time...:(


i was thinking CB shrimp because he comes out at night and roams everything...
 
Don't I remember a tang in your tank or am I mistaken? I can't recall but while it could be potentially one of your inverts, if you have any fish that graze it could also be one of them. While they ususally sample and clean our rock I don't think any are beyond taking a taste of a patch of zoos to see what they taste like.

If you have the time, use a red flashlight (you can use washable red crayola marker over the plastic lense on a flashlight to do this) and peak around about an hour or so after lights go out and you may find your culprit!

I'm tempted to set up a webcam on my tank so I can watch what is going on when I am away, and well, its sort of a fun geeky project I think I'd learn a lot from setting up but the ones with night vision aren't convenient for tank use but would be *so* cool :)
 
Have you recently put in new live rock pieces? There are nudibranches that blend in very well, look just like the zoa skirts, and they love to snack on them.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11912760#post11912760 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bkwudzjeep
Have you recently put in new live rock pieces? There are nudibranches that blend in very well, look just like the zoa skirts, and they love to snack on them.
Click to expand...

Nudibranches will also start turning the same color as the zoas they are eating. It's a camouflage for them, and they look just like the skirts at times. This can make it harder to actually see them.
 
nope i am zoa spider and nudi free...whatever it is only hits at night...my tangs are sleeping then in the corners...hrm...i will try looking again tonight :(
 
i had a huge crab that i got when it was a baby (thought it was a emerald crab). it grew up and only cam out at night. thats all it would eat though well besides snails and hermits. it would come out when feeding though. look for some sand moved out around the bottom of your rocks. look in the back mostly.
 
Since it only happens at night, my vote is Nudis, or sundial snails. Most fish don't graze at night, and from my experience nothing you listed has any history of eating zoas. The zoa nudis are very hard to spot, but if it's sundial snails, they should be fairly easy to spot with a red light.
 
I THINK I FOUND HIM!!! i wouldn't believe it, but I guess it is true...I will see...he is now in my filter sock lol...

My Deer Cowrie!!! I have had him well over a year...Why now? I didn't see him munching...but go figure he was cruising the area and when I checked another 10 polyps were missing on my biggest colony :'(

anyone else had this problem?

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/1189/product.web
 
All the info i can find on the Cowrie says it is vegetarian and completely reef safe. I would still keep an eye on the zoa count unless you actually saw him chewing on them.
 
okie...I will, but he was the only one in the area besides my serpent star... :(

I plan on doing a move to my nano today...gonna transfer the water from my main tank and some of the sand bed to the nano to speed up the process...
 
I HATE CRABS.....I see someone talking about nocturnally attacking crabs....I am getting ready to move everything over to my 75 and the ONLY crabs allowed in the display will be my beloved Porcelains.....all those idiot hermits go to the fuge.....They will probably climb out of there and rewire my skimmer and return pump during the night.....I HATE THOSE IDIOTS.....(btw, this is not purely random hatred....I caught them gutting my Blasto once and trying to get my Trachyphillia once....those two may have had accidents)
 
yeah they are doing great in the nano...no problems at all...whatever it was, it had to be a crab, urchin or cowrie...
 
The little info I could find on wetwebmedia suggests that as Deer Cowries grow larger they may become more opportunistic so it is possible it was the cowrie. There just isn't a lot written on them in general.

I vote cowrie or mystery crab. I have one of those in my tank now that drags stuff up into this hole in the rock and holds some of my corals hostage sometimes.
 
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