Zoa Spiders

anomie

anomie

New member
I noticed that one of my colonies wasn't looking too good and a few has some suspicious white lesions (I was thinking zoa pox) and decided to be proactive and take off the suspicious polyps and the healthy ones surrounding them to stop the pox in their tracks. While I was doing this, I stumbled onto a spider like creature. It was really tiny, I’d say about 3mm or so. I think it may be a zoanthid eating spider. I’m not sure where it came from. I haven’t added anything to my tank in the last 6 weeks and I always dip my zoas in the dip that is stickied at the top of this forum. I’ve done a bit of research on this and the lack of definitive information on this predator from other hobbyists is astounding. My impression is that these spiders are being encountered by more and more hobbyists and it’s concerning me that there doesn’t seem to be a specific course of action that is universally recommended.

From my research here is a partial list of suggestions for getting rid of these spiders.

1) Throw the affected coral away.

“Frankly, if they are found on corals in any tank, the best option would likely be to remove the coral from the tank, and simply dispose of it.”
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/rs/index.php

2) Dip, Dip, Dip

Various dips from FW, Lugol’s, magnesium chloride to dips with interceptor, etc. Most recommendations suggest a dip repeated every 3-4 days for x number of weeks.


What works? I have no idea. Do you? I dipped the rest of my zoa/paly stock in a FW lugol’s dip and carefully searched for more spiders between each and every polyp and didn’t find another one. I threw away the colony that I found the spider in. Am I over the hump? I don’t think so. I’ve read that the male’s hold onto the eggs. Then again, I’ve read that juvenile spiders live in the polyps themselves. If they live in the polyps, does that mean that we all take the risk of a spider infection even if we dip and inspect? Would quarantine have helped? If so, how long? How long is the reproductive cycle of these things? Are the zoa pox type lesions observed, concindental? Any help, observations, experiences and other information would be greatly appreciated.

(my secret hope is that I had one lone spider that didn't have a chance to reproduce.):)
 
Wow, you too huh?
I have these things also, but I wasn't as lucky as you have been. I found about 20 the first time, 10 about two weeks later and none after. I had place the affected zoos in QT after finding them the first time. About a week ago, I dipped again and found about 8 juvenile spiders.
From my also extensive web research, it seems that the male adults hold the eggs and then lay them INSIDE the polyps until they hatch. Then they come out and feed on the zoos.

The frequent dips are so that you can get the juvi's as they hatch.

Good info on these is on the wetwebmedia.com site. I actually posted a question there about this and Bob Fenner answered. There is a long thread about them on that site. There's also an older thread on this site about them as well.

I did throw away the most heavily affected frag. What I am doing now is keeping the other affected zoos in QT. I dip them about once a week. The zoos in my DT are dipped also, but thus far, no new affected zoos found in the DT. I am keeping the affected zoos in QT until no spiders are found for at least 6 to 8 weeks.

As far as the reproductive cycle length, I don't think anyone seems to know.

I am now QT'ing every zoo I get for a month. I check them over completely before they go into my DT. Hopefully, this will help.
I also dip every zoo in a FW dip for 2 to 5 minutes, then dip them in Coral dip(a type of iodine dip) for another minute. So far, so good. I dip them again before they go into my DT.
My LFS thinks these things are being spread from hobbiest to hobbiest. Not so sure about this, but seems logical that if you get infected zoos from someone, then you get them too.

Haven't been able to find anything in any of the books on these little suckers. Didn't know about them until I got them.

A good place for pictures of them is Melevsreef.com ( I think) and the hitchhiker thread on saltwaterfish.com. There's also a good set of pictures of them on zoaid.com.

Anyone else with any info to help out?
:confused:
 
Wow, you too huh?
I have these things also, but I wasn't as lucky as you have been. I found about 20 the first time, 10 about two weeks later and none after. I had place the affected zoos in QT after finding them the first time. About a week ago, I dipped again and found about 8 juvenile spiders.
From my also extensive web research, it seems that the male adults hold the eggs and then lay them INSIDE the polyps until they hatch. Then they come out and feed on the zoos.

The frequent dips are so that you can get the juvi's as they hatch.

Good info on these is on the wetwebmedia.com site. I actually posted a question there about this and Bob Fenner answered. There is a long thread about them on that site. There's also an older thread on this site about them as well.

I did throw away the most heavily affected frag. What I am doing now is keeping the other affected zoos in QT. I dip them about once a week. The zoos in my DT are dipped also, but thus far, no new affected zoos found in the DT. I am keeping the affected zoos in QT until no spiders are found for at least 6 to 8 weeks.

As far as the reproductive cycle length, I don't think anyone seems to know.

I am now QT'ing every zoo I get for a month. I check them over completely before they go into my DT. Hopefully, this will help.
I also dip every zoo in a FW dip for 2 to 5 minutes, then dip them in Coral dip(a type of iodine dip) for another minute. So far, so good. I dip them again before they go into my DT.
My LFS thinks these things are being spread from hobbiest to hobbiest. Not so sure about this, but seems logical that if you get infected zoos from someone, then you get them too.

Haven't been able to find anything in any of the books on these little suckers. Didn't know about them until I got them.

A good place for pictures of them is Melevsreef.com ( I think) and the hitchhiker thread on saltwaterfish.com. There's also a good set of pictures of them on zoaid.com.

Anyone else with any info to help out?
 
I'm so glad that I'm not the only one. (Didn't mean it the way it sounded :) ) I was begining to think that I was one of the lucky few from the lack of responses. Anyhoo...

So how long was it from when you first found the spiders and then finding the juveille ones?

What made you search for the spiders? Were polyps looking distressed? How did they look? Any recently added corals?

Sorry about all the questions but as they say...knowledge is power.
:cool:

And thanks for taking the time to write your experiences.
 
Dipping every new coral with lugols or TM coral dip should be done with every new addition. I was licky as I stopped them from entering my system.
 
Its hard to dip before going in the tank if you dont know about the dip are just put one frag in there thinking it willl be alright i dont see nothing on there. a year later find one>>>>
103_0819.jpg
 
Even if I don't see anything, it still gets dipped. They can come in on the smallest of frags. My Bro got them and had to throw out the colonies they infested. Luckily he caught it early and didn't have to throw out much. It is always better safe than sorry.
 
Ok, well here is what my experience has been (and the answers to your questions):
So how long was it from when you first found the spiders and then finding the juveille ones?
Time has been about 2 months. I didn't find any for a while and then last week found 8. A couple of them were TINY and none were as big as the first ones I found.

What made you search for the spiders? Were polyps looking distressed? How did they look? Any recently added corals?
I didn't search for them per se. I think I was dipping for another reason and lo and behold, there was one of the buggers. I then began dipping all the zoos and found around 20 adults total, no juveniles.
I had noticed that some of the polyps were skinnier than previous and that some were not as erect as before. I had had no deaths or loss of polyps at that point.
I had added some new zoos about 2 to 3 weeks before finding them. Don't know if that's where they came from, but those were the most heavily infested zoos, so I suspect they came from there.
Did you check out the thread on wetwebmedia.com about the spiders?

msman825:
Had the same experience/problem. Did not know about dipping until after I had the bugs in the DT. My spiders looked just like yours except they are more tan. Have you found anymore lately?
 
That little bugger hitchhiked on live rock. have never saw another one. I agree on dipping. But they can get by the DIP on rock and so can other pest
 
I just found some also. About 10 of them. Pull them off and they were also inside of the polyps. Bought a bunch of high end frags and they were on them and I did not get them all I guess. Have not see any if weeks now.
 
some of my piercing teals are bloated and inflated, i would post a pic but my lights are off now. do you think that there could be spiders inside?
 
Yes, I found a lot of info on Wet Web. Thanks for pointing me there. So 2 months and you had juvies. I've dipped again and haven't found another spider, but plan on dipping once a week for a while just to be sure.

I've always dipped my corals in the same dip at the top of this forum and add FWE just in case. This spider must have been inside a polyp and somewhat safe from the toxicity of the dips.

LoudProudNPunk, it doesn't sound like spiders. My polyps got skinner like Rackyrane's.

Dave, I use the dip stickied at the top of this forum and generally shoot for about 5-10 minutes.
 
I have used FW dip for 2 to 5 minutes. I also use coral dip and alternate the two about once per week. I plan on dipping twice weekly for another month or two and leaving them in QT until I don't see any spiders for a month or so.
Although I haven't done a scientific study, it seems about every two weeks I see new babies. I hope that these are from the eggs inside the polyps and that I have killed all the adults.
 
Zoa Spider

Zoa Spider

Of anyone catches a few of those could ya send them to me? I would totally pay for shipping and would send you a little zoa frag of my orange guys.

I sure would love to get my hands on some live ones.
 
:eek2: :eek2: :eek1: :eek1:
You want live ones???!!!! Everyone wants to get rid of these little suckers. I never saw a live one, only dead ones I had killed. Could try getting some frags from someone with them in their tank and you could get them like that. Otherwise, you could probably only get dead ones.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9947408#post9947408 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rackyrane
:eek2: :eek2: :eek1: :eek1:
You want live ones???!!!! Everyone wants to get rid of these little suckers. I never saw a live one, only dead ones I had killed. Could try getting some frags from someone with them in their tank and you could get them like that. Otherwise, you could probably only get dead ones.
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking! :eek2:

Seahorsedreams, what are you plans with the spiders?

Rackyrane, that was a very interesting read that posted in that link.
 
What's the best way to find out what really kills them?? Get live ones under a controlled environment and experiment with them. Also helps with determining the live cycle and gestation period.
 
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