zoa eating nudis?

[reef-fisher]

i have a colony of zoos that seemed to be slowly dissappearing about a month ago. i took them out and dipped them with seachems reef dip, coral disinfectant. ive only been doing top offs and simple testing, and am now noticing many other polyps missing. im assuming its nudis, but havent had any problems like this before, so im not quite sure what to do. please give me your ideas before i start losing more! thanks, BD

 

[gflat65]

Do a lugo's dip. It's no longer stickied, but you might be able to search and find it... I basically equalize RO/DI water by floating it in a tupperware container in the tank with the zoas. Then I drop about 5 drops of Lugols (in about 48oz of water-kinda on the heavy side, so don't be a fraid to start lower). Drop in the zoas and wait 15 minutes. Find a well lit place (I bring in a clamp on light) and grab some toothpicks. Pick through the entire colony looking for stunned/dead nudi's and eggs. If you find either, you know you've got them. Problem is tht not finding them doesn't necessarily rule them out...

Other causes are fishes that like the taste of zoas. A scribbled rabbitfish got mine. Some tangs are culprits. Can't remember many specifics on which ones have been known to munch zoas, though.

 

[DaveJ]

Slowly disappearing, meaning what exactly?? Are the rest of the colony open and you're noticing things going bare or are things closing up and then disappearing?

If you had nudis I would say you'd notice things closing up and then dying off.

Areas going bare without shrivel and/or closing up and withering would indicate something eating them whole like a tang or angel or something of that nature. Emerald crabs, Blue Hipps and Angels have been known to eat them whole.

Also, you'll want to check for sundail snails and large pods as these have been known to eat them too.

The dip with lugols is a good start, but I would also add flatworm exit to it and fruan-2 if you can get it. I make it a habit to do a full on elimination dip every few weeks after having a slight nudi issue a few months back. I haven't noticed any in my 45G Paly tank since and added a yellow coris wrasse for good measure.

 

[AquaReeferMan]

Heres a link with everything you need to know.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=451720

 

[mikekman]

If you don't want to use all those chemicals you can freshwater dip the zoos.

Recently I saw some nudis and nudi eggs on my zoos. So what I did was take them out, put them under the faucet and blast it with some freshwater for a minute or two. I also made sure to rub each zoo off of any eggs or any supposed eggs. The zoos are now doing well and weren't affected by the freshwater dip/spray