zoo eating nudibranch.

[crpeck]

With only one colony in a new tank, you should be able to take care of this without too much trouble.

I didn't do hot water. I just brought RO water in line with my tank for temp and pH. I let the zo's sit in it for 5 minutes, then turned them upside down and really whooshed them around in the water. Nudibranchs fell out like crazy. I pulled them out and looked over them carefully with a magnifying glass for eggs and pulled those off with tweezers. Then I swooshed them again to make sure I rinsed everything off.

I did this to 7 colonies Monday and by the next day, all of them were opening and looking much happier to be free of the critters. Well, the only colony that took a couple days to open was the one that had been closed down for almost a week before by the nudibranchs.

To do it right, they ought to be dipped again every 3 days. I'm not sure how long it takes. If you can keep your one colony clean, they should die out in your tank.

Good Luck
Cathy

 

[crpeck]

p.s. Thanks for posting the awesome picture. It will really help others trying to identify these.

 

[Drewcipher]

Does anybody have any updated information or experience on these little devils before I undertake the attempted irradication?

Not updated, but old. We tried this and it seems to be working well, and also doesn't scare me like super hot water.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=451720&highlight=mucho+dip

 

[crpeck]

Thanks for that link. That's where I got the instructions I followed and then I couldn't find the thread again to post the link.

 

[jcigars]

Try this link Pests I hope it helps someone If you see nudis on any colony remove it from your system asap. Setup a QT tank and treat the pieces when necessary. If you dont find the eggs it will never end.

Jimmy

 

[reefkeeper59]

that would be a warm water dip, NOT HOT.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

A dip will not kill the eggs. They are encased ( spelling ) in a thin sticky protective sack when they are layed by the adult nudis. If you really have a serious case of Nudis, I wouldn't wait three days, it is safe to dip every other day for a full week. I would never recommend dipping everyday, not saying that you can't, I'm no doctor, I have never done this and I wouldn't want to be respondsible if someone did it with negative results. All I know is the dip works if done correctly.

Mucho

 

[crpeck]

Thanks, Mucho

I'm kind of embarassed about this, but now that it is having a happy ending here is proof that zoanthids are really tough when it comes to fresh water dips.

A couple days after I had dipped all my other zo's, I realized I had missed one frag of about 8 polyps. I fixed up a small bowl to dip that one, put it in and went to do a couple things for the 5 minutes I had to wait. The phone rang, the kids went crazy ... you know how it is. All of a sudden, I realized I had forgotten those zo's.

They had been in the freshwater for 40 minutes! They were sitting there all cold and puckered up and were starting to look a little gray. I put them in the quarantine tank with a hope for the best.

It took them about 3 days, but they're starting to open up. It looks like they're going to make it.

I was feeling bad for them dipping for 5 minutes, but now I'm not worried about 5 minutes at all!

Cathy

 

[crpeck]

Does anyone out there know if these nudibranchs eat the parazoanthus (yellow polyps) too? They're a different suborder under Zoanthidea. So far, they don't seem to be affected.

I'm getting ready to do another dip. Didn't do that rock last time and ugh ... it will really mess my rockwork up to do it.

Is this a question for Dr. Ron?

Cathy

 

[mrkrispy]

I got the nudis pretty bad, I just kept at it with a turkey baster for about 2 months, daytime and nightime. They finally disappeared a few months ago, haven't seen them since...

 

[crpeck]

They will suck up off of the zo's with a turkey baster? Or do you just keep blowing them off?

I ended up dipping everything, even the yellow palythoas, 3 times 2 or 3 days apart. I've got 4 colonies in the small quarantine tank where I can watch and see if the nudibranchs come back and put the rest back in the main tank.

So far the only casualty in all of this is a feather duster that got bombed by a big falling rock while I was tearing everything up to get all the zo's out to dip. Really sad ... he was really big and pretty and has been doing well for 6 months or more.

So far, so good ... no signs of nudibranchs. I don't know quite how long before I can consider myself safe.

I'll keep the turkey baster in mind. Problem for me is that I can't see them without a magnifying glass until they're really big and by then, the infestation is really bad. Your eyes must be better than mine.

 

[lunarlanderboy]

I've been doing the same thing on my one zoo colony that I bought infested- surprising them at night with the lights and sucking off everything I can see for the past two weeks or so. At first there were like 25-30 on there and now I'm lucky to find one or two. Just as a side note I put some of the nudibranchs in fresh water for 2 min and they thrashed around for a while and stopped moving but when I put them back in salt water they recovered and started crawling around again. Tough little guys. So I figure if your're just dipping in fresh water unless you leave it in there for awhile I don't think your going to kill any that are still hanging on the coral. The good thing about it though is that they go into a shock reaction in the fresh water and quite a few fall off. I dipped my zoo colony in fresh water for 10 minutes yesterday and 5-6 more came off in the process. Zoos are back open again today.

 

[mrkrispy]

IF you have lots of flow, turn the pumps off. Suck the slugs out off the zoos or whatver. I put them in a cup of water while I am working, then put them down the garbage disposal. Not one tear shed! It is most productive to work at night with a flashlight, but you can still find them with the lights on. I gently spray water at the zoos with the turkey baster to get them to close up, and then you see lots more. The bigger nudis acquire the color of the zoos, making them harder to find when the zoos are open.

patientence and just keep at it.

 

[lunarlanderboy]

Has anyone noticed that the little dark brown "extentions" on the nudibranchs break off and then wriggle around for like a half an hour. I don't know if its just a reaction of the nerves or what.

 

[nalbar]

i also did it the mrkrispy way, except i used a stiff quarter inch tube with flex tube attached and just sucked them right out. they try to hold on but have no chance against the pull.

it took me a month before i no longer saw any. but i still keep watch.




nalbar

 

[mrkrispy]

wow its nalbar!

 

[reelfreak]

for those of you that have had these.......Do you think this is one of the scumsuckers??? I caught him cruising on the front glass today, and promptly sent him to a quarantine till I knew what it was....I have had several smaller zoo colonys that are either disappearing or closing up.....Last night I did a fw dip on one of the ones thats been partially closed, probably too short though....only a couple minutes, and all I got were bristle worms and copeopods, and alot of other little things I couldn't even see w/ a magnifying glass.....this little sob was about 2 cm long and mostly white/off white....

I have been looking for signs of them for a while as I have lost several different frags.....never see them, guess they were too small and the zoos are too far back to see w/ mag.glass.....what do the eggs look like??? This is probably an adult?? so I'm certain to have eggs and smaller ones??? This sux, but is what I have suspected since loosing some zoos.....

 

[mfinn]

That does look like one. Most of the ones I have found usually had some color.
Here is a picture of the eggs.

 

[reelfreak]

those are the eggs in the center of the pic? do they lay them in a circular pattern.....and the one I caught today, on the tips of the wavy limbs( for lack of better words) appendages, were kind of light green or so....

and if those are the eggs in the center, are those directly on the polyp in that pic?? I thank you for your response, cuz I've been stumped on why I've lost some zoos?? Everything else in the tank never shows signs of anything bad, just a few of the zoos.. thanks again....

 

[crpeck]

Great pictue mfinn! Thanks!

I saw some of those on mine when I was fighting this and thought they were eggs, but wasn't sure till now. On my small zo's, some of the eggs were laid all the way around the base of the polyp like a necklace.

Knock on wood ... I seem to be clear but it is still too early to let my guard down. The colonies looked a little wimpy for a while after all the dips, but they've all recovered ... even the little colony I accidentally left in the freshwater for over 40 minutes. I would recommend that though .. they looked really bad and shed what looked like a layer of skin before they started to recover.

Cathy