something eating my zoas at night...

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11936284#post11936284 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thor32766
Cowries are not coral eaters and don't bother other invertebrates other than possibly some sponges.
Click to expand...

Are you sure? Because there are some species and a lot of incidences where they aren't. At least that's what my research turned up. What have you found that says they are all safe?
 
I agree with Christie on this one...especially since you've actually seen yours near the coral that is being eaten. Although most can be model citizens in a reef, like any creature, cowries can turn to other foods, especially in the absence of their normal food source. Cowries have been documented eating corals and other non-herbivore fare. From Rob Toonen:
"For all of the cowries for which the diet range is well known, they naturally consume a variety of animal and/or plant matter. Most species will graze anything from algae to sponges and cnidarians, but the majority of them are definitely eating a large proportion of animal prey in their normal diet. I have had cowries in my reef for years without a problem, but when adding a new fungid or anemone to the tank, the cowrie makes a bee-line for the new addition and chows into it. This just happened to me last month -- I had kept 2 money cowries in my reef tank for the past couple of years without incident, but when I recently added a slipper coral (Polyphillia talpina), one of the cowries marched right over and latched onto one of the tantacles of the coral and ripped it off. I moved it away, thinking it was just a fluke thing, but the next morning there was a patch of the coral that had been cleared of tentacles, and the cowrie was still at it -- it has been reloacted to my seahorse tank. The other cowrie paid absolutely no attention to the coral, and still hasn't...
The bottom line is that cowries have highly variable diets and there are even individual variation that comes into play. You never really know until you have the animal in your tank how it will react, or if that will change when anything new is added to the tank."
 
My Cowrie likes to eat blastos and micros......it doesn't kill them, but sucks the skin off and then they recover after a few days.....once in a while it'll kill a polyp here or there. I had the toughest time figuring out what was happening! I took it out and put it in my big tank and it was fine until yesterday......I'll throw it in the SPS tank now and see how it does with acropora.....I think it's probably headed to a FOWLR tank eventually. I haven't seen it bother zoas.....just a couple particular blastos and micros.

I guess we shouldn't call these guys reef safe, eh?

~D
 
The nano cube is holding them just fine for now haha...I am going to keep my eyes open on the few I left in the tank, but so far no more casualties...very strange!
 
I have one little money cowrie and to quote Marcye, it has been a "model citizen" so far....with the variety of stuff I have stuffed in my little tank right now that is an accomplishment....
 
The money cowries are the tinier ones people usually use in their cleanup crew and appear tobe reef safe. I think generally speaking (there are always exceptions!) the larger ones are more of the coral predators
 
I really do have to wonder if they turn to predation if a lack of their main food is unavailable. Some of the really big ones do a great job of cleaning up algae problems in a very short time, so we can figure they do need quite a bit of algae to sustain themselves. Perhaps if you try to attach some algae to rocks with rubber bands you could then provide the food he would be more likely to graze up and leave your zoas alone? Might be worth a shot. I think many animals will turn to alternate food if they get hungry enough.
 
That is a great point! And actually quite a good instinct for preservation if thats why some animals do turn to a different food supply. Very interesting.
 
yes I truly believe that. For example people talking about tangs eating their corals. A lot of the times this happens because they arent feed enough. People control their foods not wanting to polute the water and the fish find other means of food. Tangs should be feed a minimum twice a day. They are grazers in the wild and eat all day long.
great point marcye!
 
I hate to just dump off an animal I'm having troubles with....It makes me feel bad. for now, I'm just putting it in different tanks to see how it does. I guess it'll be a fuge snail if all else fails. For what it's worth...I had an algae outbreak in my little bedroom tank which it's been cleaning up pretty well. I think maybe he isn't trying to eat the stuff....sometimes it looks like he may be going after a spot of gunk and just screws up what happens to be next to it. It's weird that I only see blastomussa and micromussa affected. I did catch him sucking on my PPE palys when I threw him in the little tank. I pulled him off and put him behind the rocks, but after looking closer, it appears that he was sucking off a bit of algae that was on the rock.....the actual PPE polyps weren't damaged at all. It's the big variety...something like two or three inches.

Heck....can't blame the snail.....I'm sure it didn't ask to get scooped up, flown to FL and introduced to my tank.....besides.....it just looks so cool! especially when the little skin wraps over the shell.....looks like some kind of rough neck harley rider's helmet with spikes and everything......I was wondering how its shell stayed so shiny!
 
thats exactly how they stay shiny is there their mantle that rises over the shell. I just collected two measel/deer cowries this past weekend in the keys. They are gorgeous!!!! I have one and gave the other to tangers. Great speicemens!! They are beautiful I have to agree juicey!!!!
 
You brought up another good point Donovan. Often I think animals are accused of eating coral when they are actually eating either damaged tissue, parasites that happen to be on the coral that we can't even see or algae that again isn't obvious. We're having a real problem right now with our Red Sea sailfin nipping the tips off some of the acros in her tank. It's only the real thin branched ones. We've checked them over and over again under the scope and nothing is on them. BUT, after she nips them algae grows on them and she then eats that. I know it sounds crazy, but I have to wonder if this is an instinctual behavior played out in nature that allows for certain fish to actually set up a harvest for themselves for the foods they naturally eat. Watching this behavior now for several weeks, and noting that she's targeting not so much acros in a certain family, but of a certain structure, I really feel this is her goal. Not that she isn't well fed...sheesh! But, doing this may allow her to harvest food more closely related to what she would eat in nature. Over the years I've witnessed some mind blowing behavior with some of these animals...it's what makes this hobby so fascinating to me!
 
On the same note, we've also observed that Cindy...yes, that's the culprit, has started doing this ever since we overharvested our caulerpa and haven't had any to feed her. That's her special treat and she really loves the red caulerpa best. So, if anyone is harvesting some out of their tank...red or green, I'll gladly trade for some to get my crop going again. Just let me know! Thanks:)
 
sounds plausible! I think it is something else with the micros, though. It was the PPE blastomussa and two particular micros. It would suck the skin right off of every single polyp, then leave.....the coral would recover after a week or so, and a week or two after that.....return of the skin sucking snail. I was thinking maybe something about the symbiotic algae was attracting it. That tank is VERY clean and has virtually no algae. My Bedroom tank is pretty dirty........crappy skimming.....good filtration and lighting.....and lots of different algaes. The difference in the tank when I put it in compared to this morning when I woke up was simply amazing!

I believe the thing was just plain hungry! I'll definitely try to keep him now that I realize I wasn't giving the thing enough food.....

my LPS and palys LOVE the "dirty tank" I was getting frustrated with the algae breakout and planned to get a good skimmer and re-doing the tank......but I think I'll leave it now! I think it'll be algae free in a day or two without really doing anything.

Marcye....you know how it is.....some corals just like that kinda cruddy water.........

~D
 
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