Zoanthid eating nudibranc?

[spaulr]

Are there such a thing?

My girlfriend kept telling me that this zoanthid brach I have was getting smaller (meaning polyps dieing or disappearing). I've moved it a few times due to addition of more live rock, corals, etc. Today, I noticed 2 nudibrancs on it. They glow flourescent yellow. Badass looking. The smallest no bigger than a few mm. The biggest about the size of a small polyp of zoanthid. I got this colony from Dr Forester and Smith. Pretty surprised its there- BUT it does LOOK EXACTLY like the Zoanthid colony. I mean freaking identical. When I was moving the branch they all closed up revealing the nudibranc.

removal or ??? I don't have a QT tank BTW.

 

[spaulr]

ok, screw this. I removed the tiny one, as I'd never find it again.

Now I see 2 more. 8O 8O 8O

 

[spaulr]

I have a very BADDDDD feeling about this..... :evil: :evil: :evil:

 

[bleedingthought]

:x :x :x

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... ight=nudis

I feel your pain. I pulled close to 40 last week. Haven't seen any this week though. What really sucks (but is also really cool at the same time, in one aspect) is that they pull pigment directly from the zoa polyp and "put it" on their 'spiny' backs to camouflage themselves! :x

I use a turkey baster to suck them out. Works pretty well. Problem is, I can only pull out the ones I see. The ones under the zoas might stay there and any potential eggs/spawn that are too small to spot. :x

When I move tanks (hopefully soon) I'm probably going to either QT my zoas or do a freshwater dip. But still, I can't say that I'll get all of them out since some might be somewhere else in the live rock! :x

 

[spaulr]

That's crazy how they look just like them. Nature is pretty amazing that way. I thought I saw something a few weeks ago, but corals and soft corals are a new thing for me. I was a FOWLR guy for 12 years. New creatures, new problems.

Should I do a fresh water dip to attempt to kill the others and kill the eggs? For how long? 5 minutes today, 5 minutes tomorrow? I only have 1 four inch colony of zoos to worry about.

 

[trido]

do a freshwater dip. But still, I can't say that I'll get all of them out since some might be somewhere else in the live rock!

The chances of the nudis being in the LR are there but there would only be a couple in search of more zoas. If you do a FW dip you will most likely kill a vast majority of the nudis. Then, after the zoas recover from the torture you put them through, you could do the dip again and repeat weekly (or however long it take for recovery) until you are confident the problem is gone. IMO After the first dip the nudis numbers will be reduced to the point that you should be able to relax a little bit.

 

[spaulr]

I figure that these nudis came in on the only branch of zoas I have. I'm pretty surprised that they weren't discovered at DFS though. But then again, they were so small.... Next time I get zoas I'll do a dip prior to putting them in my tank.

How long for the dip? 5 minutes?

 

[spaulr]

Did the 5 minute freshwater dip on the main colony and 2 zoa frags. I'd say about 8 other nudi's came off. I swear no bigger than the thickness of a pin. After I replaced the colony and frags I brought the water over near the actenics. Definitely nudi's - glowed yellow. I guess I'll do this one more time Thursday and then just see how things go from there.

 

[bleedingthought]

Keep me/us posted.

 

[Anonymous]

I caught one of these snacking on my zoas the other day :-(

 

[spaulr]

I don't have those...yet. Things just seem to start appearing out the woodwork. NExt time I get zoas, they are getting a 5 minute freshwater dip and inspection for these types of things. If I had a QT tank they'd be in there for a bit prior to moving to the display tank.