zoanthid eating nudibranchs life span
- Thread starter mfinn
- Start date
650-IS350
New member
What Works
Salifert Flatworm Exit does work on adults using 1 drop for every 128oz or basically 1 drop every gallon of your tank. I haven't had the courage to dose the tank fully as flatworms and nudis give off toxic substances in the tank and I have far more to loose than gain by a full tank dose at this time. If you use the recommened dosage (4 drops every 5 gallons) in tests nudis die as well, but I have seen a couple get slow and take quite a while to die off leading me to believe they could survive at that dosage. Using my dosing none survive and they die very quickly usually within a minute.
Pro Coral Cure works just as well on the hatched nudis. They seem to die off in about 5 minutes. I would think a 15 or 20 minute dip will do the trick.
Furan2 does not work against these nor is it designed to work against these. However, it is a valid treatment (at least for many no scientiffic proof however) for zoa pox and I recommend dipping with this substance as well.
Hyper Salinity works as well and first deaths occur after about 20 minutes. Problem with the treatment is it will likely kill or harm incoming zoas and other corals.
QT... no suprise here waiting 4-6 weeks before moving any living thing into the main tank can save you hassle down the road. QT and good obeservation is still probably the safest form of pest control in general.
Capture and Removal: This technique will keep your zoas alive indefinitely and done religiously will likely cull the population until they are all dead. I have read numerous threads and have at least two people who ridded themselves of these annoying critters using this method. More details on this below.
Capture and Removal
The easiest capture technique is to use the following: Handheld Blacklight, Tweezers, Latex or Nitrile Gloves
Wait for the lights to go out.
Kill the flow in the main tank.
Turn on the black light.
With glove on gently touch any open zoas in the area you are searching. This will cause them to retract.
Now with one hand shine the black light over the zoas and with the other look for glowing critters
When you find one, tweeze and remove.
Eggs
The life span of the eggs seems to be about 2-3 weeks and to my knowledge no known treatment will kill them. I would suggest performing QT or dipping zoas regularly for at least 4 weeks. The eggs will in almost every case be attached on or near a zoa colony but they will deposit eggs on the rocks near zoas so those can be considered "infected" as well.
Additional Benefits
I have found doing research that performing a dip of Furan2, Pro Coral and Flatworm Exit will likely nuke pretty much any annoying critter you don't want in your tank short of egg stages. Also, using a Flatworm Exit and Furan2 bath for Fish Only looks to be a good precautionary treatment as well.
Well that is all I have to report for now. Questions, Comments, Concerns?
other info
http://www.coralrx.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11&Itemid=23
Salifert Flatworm Exit does work on adults using 1 drop for every 128oz or basically 1 drop every gallon of your tank. I haven't had the courage to dose the tank fully as flatworms and nudis give off toxic substances in the tank and I have far more to loose than gain by a full tank dose at this time. If you use the recommened dosage (4 drops every 5 gallons) in tests nudis die as well, but I have seen a couple get slow and take quite a while to die off leading me to believe they could survive at that dosage. Using my dosing none survive and they die very quickly usually within a minute.
Pro Coral Cure works just as well on the hatched nudis. They seem to die off in about 5 minutes. I would think a 15 or 20 minute dip will do the trick.
Furan2 does not work against these nor is it designed to work against these. However, it is a valid treatment (at least for many no scientiffic proof however) for zoa pox and I recommend dipping with this substance as well.
Hyper Salinity works as well and first deaths occur after about 20 minutes. Problem with the treatment is it will likely kill or harm incoming zoas and other corals.
QT... no suprise here waiting 4-6 weeks before moving any living thing into the main tank can save you hassle down the road. QT and good obeservation is still probably the safest form of pest control in general.
Capture and Removal: This technique will keep your zoas alive indefinitely and done religiously will likely cull the population until they are all dead. I have read numerous threads and have at least two people who ridded themselves of these annoying critters using this method. More details on this below.
Capture and Removal
The easiest capture technique is to use the following: Handheld Blacklight, Tweezers, Latex or Nitrile Gloves
Wait for the lights to go out.
Kill the flow in the main tank.
Turn on the black light.
With glove on gently touch any open zoas in the area you are searching. This will cause them to retract.
Now with one hand shine the black light over the zoas and with the other look for glowing critters
When you find one, tweeze and remove.
Eggs
The life span of the eggs seems to be about 2-3 weeks and to my knowledge no known treatment will kill them. I would suggest performing QT or dipping zoas regularly for at least 4 weeks. The eggs will in almost every case be attached on or near a zoa colony but they will deposit eggs on the rocks near zoas so those can be considered "infected" as well.
Additional Benefits
I have found doing research that performing a dip of Furan2, Pro Coral and Flatworm Exit will likely nuke pretty much any annoying critter you don't want in your tank short of egg stages. Also, using a Flatworm Exit and Furan2 bath for Fish Only looks to be a good precautionary treatment as well.
Well that is all I have to report for now. Questions, Comments, Concerns?
other info
http://www.coralrx.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11&Itemid=23
reply
reply
just bought some palys and zoas today and noticed a red nudi on one of them so before i put them in my main tank did a 10 min dip with the coral pro and bout 5 mins in bunch of dead nudis ,cpoepods and who knows what squirming and laying around..waited bout 20 mins then i did a iodine dip just incase i missed something the first time around. i had a horrible outbreak of zoa pox that wiped out 3/4 of all my colonies:thumbdown. dont want that to happen again.
nick b
reply
just bought some palys and zoas today and noticed a red nudi on one of them so before i put them in my main tank did a 10 min dip with the coral pro and bout 5 mins in bunch of dead nudis ,cpoepods and who knows what squirming and laying around..waited bout 20 mins then i did a iodine dip just incase i missed something the first time around. i had a horrible outbreak of zoa pox that wiped out 3/4 of all my colonies:thumbdown. dont want that to happen again.
nick b
mfinn
Active member
Alot of great information Charles. Thank-you
I'm wondering if anyone has actually setup a situation with zoanthids and some nudibranchs, let them lay eggs and them watched to see how long it takes, then growth of the baby nudi's to see when they start laying eggs.
Also I found this link and tried it.
http://www.practicalcoralfarming.com/zoonudis.html
Using FWE at 4x the recommended dose.
I saw a nudi's body actual start falling apart with in 10 seconds or so.
Couldn't believe it. Almost like it exploded.
mfinn
Active member
I have always used a small amount of FWE along with Lugols in my freshwater dips, but never at that doseage until now.
I was positive that I had more nudi's in my zoanthid tank and it would have been imposible to dip everything individually without destroying the whole tank, so I did a whole tank treatment with FWE at 4x the dose.
I removed all snails and hermits and the only fish.
I did two treatments a week and a half apart.
Haven't seen any nudi's since.
I was positive that I had more nudi's in my zoanthid tank and it would have been imposible to dip everything individually without destroying the whole tank, so I did a whole tank treatment with FWE at 4x the dose.
I removed all snails and hermits and the only fish.
I did two treatments a week and a half apart.
Haven't seen any nudi's since.
chrssprngs
New member
OK, I have been having problems with my zoas and realize now that I have a nudi problem. Saw one on the glass the other day and thought it was a cool hitch hiker. Now realize that it is a predator and likely cause of my zoas not doing well. Pulled one plug out and dipped in FW only. Sure enough, 2 nudis dropped off. Question now is how do I treat the zoas that have spread to larger pieces of live rock. Treat the whole tank? What dosage of FWE should I use in small vessel (1 pint of FW)? My tank is heavily populated BC 14.
mfinn
Active member
I used FWE at a doseage of 4X the recommended strenght, in tank water.
I'd pull all the zoanthids out and dip them, inspect them for eggs and just keep a eye on them. Maybe consider doing a dip a week or sa later even if you don't see any nudi's.
The dip isn't going to hurt the zoanthids.
I'd pull all the zoanthids out and dip them, inspect them for eggs and just keep a eye on them. Maybe consider doing a dip a week or sa later even if you don't see any nudi's.
The dip isn't going to hurt the zoanthids.
chrssprngs
New member
My problem is that to do that I would literally have to dismantle the entire tank. Some of my zoas I can dip pretty easily because they are on mounted on plugs or small pieces of rock. Others I would have to take everything out of the tank to get to them and then try and dip the large rocks while trying to keep other corals out of the dip. And do the whole thing again in a few weeks. I sure was hoping to dose the tank, and then do a water change and hit hard with carbon and chemi pure.
chrssprngs
New member
I do know that the nudis will lay the eggs anywhere in the tank. Not just on or near the zoas.
mfinn
Active member
I believe that if there are zoanthids in the tank the adult female nudi's will lay their eggs only on the zoanthids themselves. This way the baby nudi's will have food immediately available to them on hatching. If the food wasn't right there, then they run the risk of starving, before they can find food.
This is just my opinion, I have no basis for it other than what I see in other critters in nature.
So to your other post.
I did dose my whole tank with FWE at 4X the recommended dose.
With sump and display tank I have about 50 gallons of water, so it took a couple bottles to do 2 doses, 1-1/2 weeks apart. Since then I haven't seen any nudi's in the tank.
Before I added the FWE, I removed all the snails and scarlet hermits I could find.
The FWE pretty much killed most if not all the stomellas and mini brittle stars.
and I am having a problem with cyno and and a little hair algae.
But like I said, I haven't seen any nudi's and it's been a couple months.
chrssprngs
New member
I agree and it makes sense, only saying it because I witnessed it in my tank. Nudi eggs on the glass about a 1/2" from the top.
chrssprngs
New member
First round of dipping complete. 5 adults and quite a few small ones.
Hey Mfinn, great questions. A few years ago, I actually set up a dedicated tank with a couple small zoanthid rocks and several nudis intentionally placed in the tank for observation. The incubation period varied from 6 to 12 days as I recall. Gosh, I can't find that data anywhere. But I did watch adult nudis lay their eggs on the glass, on the side and crown of polyps as well as on the live rock and even in rock crevises. The very best way I found of locating those eggs where with full actinics only above the tank. What I did observe was once one adult layed eggs on the glass, the next day, another egg sack would be in the very same area within inches. Not sure if it was the same adult or if there was some sort of gravitation to this area by other adults.
Great post you guys, the kind of stuff I love to read, learn and share with.
Mucho Reef
Hmmm, good question, I would love to know. What are your thoughts, guess etc?
Mucho Reef
Yes, they appear as little 1/16 " swirls on the glass. I have found them everywhere in my tank many years ago when I had a serious outbreak. I would literally spend hours scanning my tank everyday looking for them and yes, I found those little buggers everywhere.
Mucho Reef
Mucho Reef
