Zoos and nudibranchs

[Crazysps]

I had something like that.........I found Little guy on my Zoos about 1/8 of an inch long bright orange with alsorts of lobes on it. It really look amazing. Anyway i pulled it out of the tank and have been inspecting my zoos every morning before they fully open i havent seen anything like that again but i have seen little things specs almost sooooooo small i have tried to blow them off with a pipet i have tried to suck them off of the zoo and it seems the only thing i am getting done is [profanity] my zoos off. Tell me what you guys think are these zoo eating nudibranches and if so are the specs babies?? Can these things attack any other coral (SPS, LPS, Leathers, Mushies) Tell me what you guuys think thanks

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

It is most likely Zoanthid Eating Nudibranchs; an Aeloid. Aeolid and Dorid Nudibranchs are typically specialized predators. They only eat a specific thing and often look like what they eat.

 

[Crazysps]

so do you think i have a bunch of babies in there I havent seen any eggs but like i said tiny specs not sure if they are more but the zoas dont seem bothered (only bothered by me cleaning them)

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

It would be a waiting game to see if any that you can't see hatch and grow up. I couldn't tell you. You'll need to take all of your Zoas out and manually comb them over for any adults or eggs and remove them as necessary. You might want to look around here on Reef Central for different dips that you can do. I know that the Zoanthid forum here on Reef Central is a great place to start

 

[Snakebyt]

did it look like this?

or this?

 

[TWallace]

Or this?

 

[dc]

I would also look for a dip. I lost all my zoos to them. I'll never add another without dipping.

 

[Crazysps]

yup that is just what they looked like they where a little smaller though

 

[dc]

The little ones look exactly like the big ones.

 

[Crazysps]

So I should dip them huh Just picking them off wont be enough?
Are they all going to be on the zoas or also in close on the rocks

 

[TWallace]

Well if that's what it was, then I wouldn't worry about your other corals. These will only eat zoanthids. Almost all nudibranchs have highly specialized diets, where they can only eat and digest very specific things. In this case, this nudibranch can only digest zoanthids. I'd keep an eye out for more, especially if you see any zoanthids not opening up normally. If possible, I'd pull all your zoanthid frags and dip in freshwater for 10 to 15 minutes, shake the frags vigorously in the water and look for eggs and scrap them off. FW will kill the nudibranchs, but not the eggs.

If that isn't enough, you may want to try a Halichoeres wrasse and/or Salifert's Flatworm eXit to get rid of them. Be careful with Halichoeres wrasses though, they can kill some crustaceans, but are otherwise usually reef safe (in fact they're known to prey on pyramidellid snails which are a tridacnid clam parasite). I have a Halichoeres garnoti which I think killed my blood red fire shrimp, but leaves everything else alone including two cleaner shrimp, many hermit crabs and an emerald crab. When my zoanthid frags were loose (and nudibranch infested) this wrasse was constantly hunting through the frags, flipping them over, looking for food in and under them. I don't know for sure that he ate the nudibranchs, but he was definitely eating something on the frags and it wasn't zoanthids. After adding him, I never saw any big nudibranchs again, but still saw small ones when I dipped the frags.

 

[Anemonebuff]

Do a dip in lugol's.

 

[Crazysps]

this wrasse sounds like a good idea although i do have a pair of harliquen shrim that i like a lot and would defend to the death. I have a cryptic sixline wrasse (pink lined wrasse) what every you would like to call it he takes care of most of my pests and what he misses the solar fairy wrasse was its way with do you think these fish would also go after the nudibranches and how will a fifteen minute dip in disstilled RI water affect my zoas (plus i assume i am repeating this prosses a week later incase there are more bugs hiding in the rock work)

 

[TWallace]

Zoanthids are very hardy when it comes to FW dips. You may want to shake the frag a bit inside the tank before dipping, this will cause the polyps to close up which will help protect them from the FW (I think). I've never had any zoanthids appear to be harmed by FW dips. A lot of zoanthids live in shallow water which is exposed to air during low tide, and occasionally get rained on. So they should tolerate FW very well.

I've only heard of Halichoeres wrasses eating the nudibranchs, so I don't know that you're existing wrasses would. If you value your shrimp, I'd avoid getting a Halichoeres.

And yes I'd repeat the dip no more than a week later, maybe even do it for several days in a row. The zoanthids will not be harmed by the FW, just try to match the temp and pH to your tank fairly closely. Take a close look at the bottom of the bowl or whatever you dip them in after the dip to check for nudibranchs. You'll probably see a few amphipods in there as well.

 

[Crazysps]

OK so i did the freshwater dip last night along with my water change. It seemed to work pretty well. I took my zoas out of the tank and put them in RO water for ten minutes after about five minutes the nudies started to pour off at ten snails started to fall off the rock. I did not see any eggs on the polyps so I put the zoas back in the tank they looked ****ed for a while but this morning (about 10 hours later) half of them where out and i saw no nudibranchs or ill affects on the zoas sooo thats that.

One more question. What is the gestation period for these eggs if there where any that i missed when should i dip again to be sure. And will the zoas be as resistant to another dip if i dont give them time to chill??

 

[TWallace]

Personally I'd dip them everyday for a few days in a row. I don't know the gestation period on the eggs, but I'm guessing it's relatively quick as those nudibranchs reproduce fast. I doubt the zoanthids will be bothered by daily FW dips, they're tough corals. I'd keep up the FW dip routine until you no longer see any nudibranchs fall off during the dip for at least a few days in a row.

 

[Crazysps]

cool thanks a bunch mayne