Zoanthid eating Nudibranchs

I found what looks like a egg mass as the URL/Link you posted. At least it is a close match. I've tried to remove it as best I could without terrorizing the fish and other corals on there. Not sure if I got them all.

Question - and I really don't do this usually, but I thought I saw a post or thread that listed certain wrasses that would eat these guys? I have room for 1 more fish and I was actually going to pick up another pair of pajama cardinals. However, if the wrass is helpful then I'd rather pick that up. Plus it swims around more and usually have great color.

Just not sure if I want to play this game or not but I really don't want more of those little green naughty nudibranches...
 
I used to employ Yellow Coris or Green Sea Grass wrasse. They're not stop swimmers and always inspect all frags that I place in the tank even while it's in my hands their already picking thru the mini colonies. Plus those 2 aren't as aggressive as the lined wrasses like a 6line.

But best form of preventive maintinance besides inspection of incoming and QT is weekly inspections if you know you already had some in your tank with manual removal of the nudis and scraping/ dipping the colonies.
 
I agree on the pre adding maint route. I haven't nor do I have a QT tank. In fact, I honestly didn't do any pre-dipping until I read this thread. I think it would be wise for me to do a bit more reading about what the dipping is and what it does before I add more.

The Yellow Coris and Green Seagrass Wrasse are too big for my tank I believe so I'll have to pass. Those are pretty large and this is a 29 gallon biocube. Although I have to say that Green Seagrass Wrasse is really pretty.

I am looking at maybe the possum wrasse family. I've read a bit on them after my post and it seems they may and are small in nature. Six line as you said is out of the question. I had one before in my 100 gallon. I like them but it was a terror :(

Thank you again for the information. I'll continue to read regardless and monitor the zoa's. As you said since I had one, and now saw a egg, I may have more although they do look better now.
 
You can attain rather small baby yellow or green coris. I usually do that, when they get rather large I give them away to fellow reefers then get another baby one. And i've also down sized to a 37 gal tank with only 1 really nice looking fairy wrasse. as my guard dog but not as workhorse as my previous Yellow or Green coris.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1379+386&pcatid=386
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1379+331&pcatid=331

this is what i have for my current guard dog. not my pic got it from internet.
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp140/ahma2006/CirrhilabrusflavidorsalisNov202011.jpg
 
Last edited:
650-IS350 said:
this is what i have for my current guard dog. not my pic got it from internet.
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp140/ahma2006/CirrhilabrusflavidorsalisNov202011.jpg
Click to expand...

That is a very attractive fish.

I think the problem I am running into is what is in the current tank. I have 2 pajama cardinals and a large cleaner shrimp. I have about 12 or so strombus snails (the tiny guys) and micro hermits. The hermits are really small and don't grow bigger than about 1/4 inch.

Unless I'm mixing my fish it seems the yellow and green coris will eat those or have a possibility to? I believe my son had a yellow coris in his cube but lost it when he was doing a water change. We think it got really scared and jumped. In passing our yellow lab or shepherd had some sushi because we never found it on the floor let alone any carcus in the tank :(
 
Actually, before I go much futher (as I am looking at the possum wrasses currently) how are hogfish? I have a twinspot hogfish that I picked up and he si snooping around the zoa rock. Sticking his mouth inbetween getting stuff.

No search results yielded anything and it seems most of the wrasses are good for other purposes too. I'm just afraid of my little 1/4" hermits. Sounds like they could be food. Bad enough I see the hogfish doing drivebys on them knocking them over. So far it seems my strombus snails are doing well.

I am almost tempted to try a yellow or whitebanded possum wrasse due to their size. I think my cleaner would make it. Just not sure about the others. They seems small and calm.
 
I think the best route is to get a coris wrasse. But for me they are a nightmare. Always flipping frags and big disc over. I would come home and see a bunch of frags upside down on the sand bed. And it was an even bigger nightmare getting it out. I would go for dif fish or does know of any inverts that eat nudis?
 
TimothyJ said:
What kind of fish is this?
Click to expand...

I think, based off a snipit of the URL, it is a yellow fin fairy wrasse. At least that is what my search turned up. Pretty fish.

Cirrhilabrus flavidorsalis.

Yeah, yellow or the sea green coris seems best bit but I think they would destroy my small strombus snail and micro hermits (1/4" in size).
 
never had issues with them killing snails and Hermits.

Hell I have hermits and snails with my Porc puffer and Small humu
 
Well i dip my corals, for 3 weeks, still seen some, i got a yellow coris wrasse, I keep seen some, I use flatworm exit, I hva not seen one since
 
Wrong found some more, I am going desperado, I also found some stars on the Zoos, help please, been figthing this for 2 month all ready
 
Odd question, how do you know if the stars on the Zoa's eat or damage them? I've been thinking about this because I have a bunch of stars that are on the glass, sand, rocks, etc but don't seem to bother anything. And a few of them are 1/2" in size now.

Side note as well to DELSOL650. Not sure if I said this earlier but thank you for your information in this thread. And others of course. I found the thread by searching when I came across my issue. It may be done now, maybe not since I've not seen anymore eggs or creatures. However, as many pointed out if there is one....then there may be more. I can't dip so I'm going to let mother nature take its course.

I have though added 2 new fish. A twin spot hogfish and a longfin fairy wrasse - they called it a social wrasse though. I have so much green in my tank at the moment that these two fish actually added a flash of color. Only other fish are 2 pajama cardinals so this is it.

Hopefully the zoa's will do fine as I keep looking over them. In the mean time this thread has taught me some things which I didn't know of before. So thanks. I'm now going to do some more research on the Monti coral bugs or things that harrass those corals and SPS I guess. So on goes my reading hat :)

Thanks again.
 
saf1 said:
Odd question, how do you know if the stars on the Zoa's eat or damage them? I've been thinking about this because I have a bunch of stars that are on the glass, sand, rocks, etc but don't seem to bother anything. And a few of them are 1/2" in size now.

Side note as well to DELSOL650. Not sure if I said this earlier but thank you for your information in this thread. And others of course. I found the thread by searching when I came across my issue. It may be done now, maybe not since I've not seen anymore eggs or creatures. However, as many pointed out if there is one....then there may be more. I can't dip so I'm going to let mother nature take its course.

I have though added 2 new fish. A twin spot hogfish and a longfin fairy wrasse - they called it a social wrasse though. I have so much green in my tank at the moment that these two fish actually added a flash of color. Only other fish are 2 pajama cardinals so this is it.

Hopefully the zoa's will do fine as I keep looking over them. In the mean time this thread has taught me some things which I didn't know of before. So thanks. I'm now going to do some more research on the Monti coral bugs or things that harrass those corals and SPS I guess. So on goes my reading hat :)

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

The stars, are all over, but while I was checking my zoa's, I found 3 of them on the polips, on top of them, and than as you do i did more research and is a comun thing, but there is a solution, arlequin shirimp, so at least now i have a reason to get one of those critters, I need to save my zoa's!
 
this may help some people , ive gotten dozens of reefers to use method and it works.

remember to dip all your corals , lfs cant be responsible for pests its up to the consumer.



adult nudis themselves are slow to eat, easy to find and cant grow to adult stages faster then we can pick them out or dip them.

now the eggs.....are virtually indestructable.....too hidden between and around polyp stalks for predators to find, and then too small once they start to feed for us to find as well.


basically remove all you can, youll find them at night and they are easy to spot.


dip all your colonies or frags , then manually inspect for any stunned nudis that may be holding on and pick off any eggs you see.


this needs to be done weekly for a few weeks or its a lost battle, you also should put your zoas either in qt or a acclimation basket while your doing the treatments, putting them back in your display just gives the adults new places to hide during the day.


add fish that scare and eat the nudis.....wrasses are your friend if your keeping zoas and palys.


zoanthid nudis only eat zoanthids, but remember most of what we call palys are actually zoas.



heres your routine in short:



day1/week1:


remove all zoas from your tank
remove all visible adults and dip the zoas
reinspect after dipping ...important to remove eggs(lots of different dips i use coral rx)
place in a qt tank or basket off your sand and rocks.


add a wrasse or a couple depending on your tank size.....yellow corris and melanarus is what i use and are preferred.


every couple of days look at them at night or early morning and look for any babies that you may be able to see.



day 1 /week 2

look for adults and remove
dip your zoas....remove any left over adults and eggs


every coule of days look at them at night or early morning and look for any babies that you may be able to see.


day 1 week three:


pest control should be close to be had now so time to do the final dip and thorough inspection.


remove all your zoas and dip them in a flatworm exit solution and followed by a lengthly dip in coral rx .

use a magnifying glass to inspect the polyp stalks for eggs under a bright light(halides work great)





theres alot of different approaches you can take but this routine works well , some people say freshwater and h2o2 work but i use both all the time and freshwater baths are a bit harsh and h2o2 does not compare to coral rx IMO i see nudis sliding around in h2o2 for long periods of time while the coral rx when blasted at them stuns them within minutes. its important to note coral rx stunns the nudis....it may kill some but not 100% all of them , you need to use a turkey baster and blow in between the polyps...be rough they hold on tight



when your looking for them at night time remember that zoa nudis can change color to match the polyps they are eating , during the day this makes it hard but at night you can lightly touch each polyp with tweasers and then the bright nudis are visible...use a turkey baster to suck them up also using a actinic light helps spot the bright nudis


on that last note , always dip your corals for pests , but with zoanthids they should have a qt period unless your absolutely sure no nudis or other pests are there , the polyps and the rocks make for great hiding places and since zoas dont eat live prey of size they can hide there safely.


good luck ,if you stick to it they arnt hard to get rid of.

hope this helps.


cheers

denny
 
saf1 said:
Odd question, how do you know if the stars on the Zoa's eat or damage them?
Click to expand...


typically with asterina stars you dont want the dark brown with black on their backside's , these are proven to eat zoanthids , the white/tan ones are harmless but can reach plaque proportions:)
 
metasinapsis said:
Great, help dude , this was a truly grate approach to solve this problem .
Click to expand...

so far it works pretty much 100% of the time its alot of work but is slowly becoming a guaranteed way to rid them and i give it to all my customers to use with great reviews, glad it worked for you:)


cheers and remember to dip new arrivals and if you can qt , zoos are great at hiding pests and youd be surprised whats hidden in the polyps.

hth


cheers

denny
 
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