Who is eating my zoas?

nivekid

New member
I've never had much luck with zoas. Ever since starting the tank about a year and a half ago I have tried a few colonies of zoas. The same thing happens every time. They are always open well, colorful and look good. Slowly they start to disappear. The ones along the perimeter of the colony are the first to go. Slowly the colony disappears from the outside inward. This happens over a period of a couple months. Meanwhile all the remaining polyps look great. My water parameters are right where they should be. All other corals, clams, etc. are doing great. Interestingly, one colony of zoas is doing great. and spreading well, but all others keep shrinking.

I've inspected for all sorts of pests, and I'm familiar with what they look like. (I found a zoa eating nudibranch on the most recent purchase). Here are my prime suspects:

Suspect 1: Peppermint Shrimp (ate all the aiptasia, but is he hungry for more)
Suspect 2: Scarlet Reef Hermits
Suspect 3. Some other nocturnal snacker.

Who would keep doing this? Thanks for the help.
 
My fish are: Helfrichi fire fish, tailspot blenny, yellow assessor, yasha goby, spotted mandarin. Only other inverts are a pistol shrimp and snails.
 
Hmmm... Could be the peps. Mine ate a small hammer. Zoa spiders and nudis usually are much slower eaters.
 
Sounds like the peppermint will be finding a new home this week. I'll see if that helps before removing the hermits.
 
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