tee'tiny lil white critters on zoas @ night

[arkaeus]

I have been suspecious as my DM and some of my magicians have been staying closed. It was time to check out what everything looked like at night... when I hit the light these guys are so small i barely noticed them. They are not nudis or spiders from what i can see. I will try and dip coralRX tom the first chance i get to see if any fall off. Anyone have info on this? I have one of the frags next to the glass and with a magnifying glass i can barely make out what they look like besides little white specs that move.

Im noticing them on almost every zoa I look at, but only the ones mentioned are the ones closed up for about 2 weeks now. The magicians started coming out for the past 3 days, but my DM are closed up hard. All the other zoas are growing and look great?

If you get a ball point pen, tap it on a piece of paper, make a small dot, would be close to the size. Some are half that size.

If they are some kinda zoa spider... I dont know what im going to do guys.... I have about 20 diff kinds of zoas on all kinds of diff sized rocks... Im guessing I have to dip them to get rid of them but how can I make sure they are gone for good?

In the video blow it up.. seriously love the camera on the galaxy S3.
Srry the vid is upside down..

 

[saltyjarhead]

Not for sure, but they look like copepods to me.

 

[arkaeus]

Im thinking they are some kinda pod also, was just trying to make sure they are not harming my zoas. From what I gather its hard to tell without a microscope.... Was wondering if anyone else could tell by the vid. I have ordered about 4k pods from reefs2go over the past 4months. Its very likely I have a large pod population, was just worried....

 

[EricSIny]

They look like pods to me. You can dip the coral anyway just to be safe.

 

[A. Grandis]

They are probably copepods and they probably don't harm your zoas, but irritate them. Irritation for long periods of time in captivity could prevent healthy growth and optimal metabolism, so yes would be a good idea to diminish their numbers.
I believe that if you dip the zoas in CoralRX or Lugol's solution X tank water would help for some time, but the copepods could come back after a while, and probably will, once they are in the system. A natural predator like a mandarin fish would be another alternative.

Again, I don't think they are eating the zoas and it could be that they can get used to them after a while. There are millions of the copepods in nature, besides other organisms that live among zoas' polyps. In closed system, with good conditions, they become a pest.

Are the polyps closed for long time? Or do they close only at night?

Many of those copepods are herbivores and with algae growth they reproduce fast. Would be a good idea to check your phosphates and nitrates, specially if you have excess algae...
Controlling the algae you'll bring their numbers down!

I have similar organisms in my tank and I see the polyps closed sometimes for no visible reason, and I believe could be the tiny creatures, but I don't dip them and the zoas open after a while, so... it's up to you. Keep watching...

I would wait and see if the zoas get used to the copepods, specially if they are new in the tank and if there is no problems with other polyps. Perhaps a week... If the problem persists than you can try dip. The reason for that would be to try get the zoas used to the copepods, because to mask the problem doing the dipping would be just trying to postpone the solution once the tank is full of the copepods anyway.

Grandis.

 

[arkaeus]

Thanks for the reply, I have stocked about 4k of mixed pods from reefs2go for my mandarin and red scooter blenny over a 4month peroid (buy 1 get one free deal). The reason I freaked out is because I have just never seen them before. Knowing some of my zoas were not open the last 2 weeks had me already worried. Now that I know they are pods I feel a lot better, was terrified it would be some kinda spider lol. The DM's are the only ones they have been closed for about 2 weeks now from doing great and being fully open. I may dip them soon, I have coralRX. CoralRX is so many drops per gallon, I dont need a gallon.... if I only use half a gallon I can only add half the dosage with the same effect, correct?

 

[EricSIny]

yes, if you use half a gallon SW, use half the dose. I do this all the time.

 

[arkaeus]

Thats what made sense I just wanted to make sure.

GalaxyS3/Tapatalk

 

[Aqua firemedic]

If the mandarin is not eating frozen then he should take care of your pod population in no time