Unknown Nudi in display tank

[m28cruiser]

I found a nudi in my display tank glass tonight. It has a little bit of an orange/redish fluorescent under my blue LEDs.

Please help me id it. More importantly is it a friend or foe? It's in the sump now.

http://img714.imageshack.us/i/imageefx.jpg/
http://img823.imageshack.us/i/imageejn.jpg/

Thanks!
Matt

 

[Exotic Reef]

idk man just by looking at it i will call it a foe ...dont take my word on it tho id even no wut it is

 

[skene]

have any orange/red zoa polyps that you are missing?

 

[jerl77]

1+ not a good one i can tell you that look around on your zoos see if you see any more :smash:

have any orange/red zoa polyps that you are missing?

 

[Fitch4]

That is a zoa eating nudi. Tough to get rid of. Best bet is to try to check your zoas every night. The zoas close up, the nudi's dont and you can suck them out with an airline tubing siphon. If possible, it helps to pull the colonies out and check them for eggs. They are white "patches" around the stalk of the zoas. I've had luck pulling/scraping them off with toothpicks. I was able to clear my tank with a little work for a few weeks and have not seen them since.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

It's going to be a long battle to get rid of them. The nudi's cn be seen but the eggs are very tough.

 

[bigcapct]

Get a yellow wrasse. It'll take care of rm before they eat your polyps!

 

[jerl77]

Pm me I got a secret to get rid of them lol

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Yellow wrasse is a great idea. I did when I had monti eating nudi's and it worked very well.

 

[m28cruiser]

Thanks everyone for the input.

I do have some zoas that started to closed up and wither recently. Will dipping the zoas in Lugo's iodine help remove the nudi and eggs? I will do some research about the yellow wrasse. I currently have a territorial six line wrasse along with two orchid and neon dottyback.

Skene- Are you implying the nudi got it's color from eating orange/red zoas?

Thanks everyone.

 

[KathyC]

Thanks everyone for the input.

I do have some zoas that started to closed up and wither recently. Will dipping the zoas in Lugo's iodine help remove the nudi and eggs? I will do some research about the yellow wrasse. I currently have a territorial six line wrasse along with two orchid and neon dottyback.

Skene- Are you implying the nudi got it's color from eating orange/red zoas?

Thanks everyone.

Zoa eating nudis do what the name implies, and they are incredible little eaters
Yes, they turn the color of the zoa they have most recently eaten, which sometimes makes them difficult to see in your tank.

You definitely DO want to remove your zoas and dip them in the Lugol's Solution as that is the only way to kill the adults. (follow the directions on the bottle)

Unfortunately the eggs will NOT die from the dip. Those need to be scraped off of whatever polyps you find them on (easier to sacrifice the entire polyp). The eggs are not hard to find as they lay them in a tight circular pattern, but it might be easier if you have a magnifier, and you will have to look between every polyp.

It is suggested thst you redip the zoas again in 2 weeks to kill any eggs you might have missed that may have since hatched.

The use of a wrasse to eat the nudi's is very hit or miss and I would not depend on them. Wrasses often are sleeping when the nudis are the most active (at night) ans if the wrasse is well fed (as it should be) they may not bother to look for live food.

Additionally, in the amount of time it may take for the wrasse to find & eat the nudi's, you may lose a lot of zoas

***Note - also see Post # 14 below for a special warning!

 

[Exotic Reef]

wow how do those things get in your tank ?

 

[cybermeez]

Yep, looks like a zoa eating nuibranch, especially if they are really little - like 1/4 inch or less. They take on the hue of the skirt color of the zoas they have been eating.

I found a couple on some frags I got one year at a frag swap (from a vendor so I'm not naming names publicly). I noticed them as I was getting ready to dip the frags before putting them in my tank. One was on zoas with bright a orange skirt and he had an orange hue while the one on the bright green skirt zoas had a green hue. They will also fluoresce like the zoa they had for dinner.

Best way to avoid them is dip everything before it goes in your tank. Quarantine if you can, but dip for sure.

 

[KathyC]

Eek! The one bit of info I failed to include in my post - when you are dipping, scrsping the eggs and handling zoas DO be sure to wear gloves and eye protection..and may I add, keep your mouth closed (seriously).

The fluid from palys/zoas can contain an EXTREMELY powerful toxin (palytoxin) so you do need to be very careful when working around them and protect yourself.

Here is some info about it:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/n...adliest-poison-in-an-aquarium-store-near-you/

 

[m28cruiser]

KathyC- thanks for the detail instructions. I went and dipped the closed zoa frags with Lugol's solution. I did find a strand of eggs, and was able to scrape it off.

Exotic Reef- I suspect the nudi hitch hiked from a few frags I brought from a vendor recently. I suspect it came with a freebie zoa frag. Regardless, it's my fault for not dipping the corals first.

cybermeez- that explains why it had a nice orange/red fluorescent . I thought a small zoa polyp was gowing on the glass when I first spotted one last night.


I saw an adult nudi causally slither accoss the sand right in front of the 6 line wrasse and neon dottyback. They did not even care for a curiosity nibble. Hopefully the other adult I dropped in refugium yesterday will starve and not make it's way back to the main tank. I will continue to monitor the zoas closely and move them to the QT tank if see other zoas wither.

Anyone know how long it takes to starve out the nudi? Thanks!!

 

[KathyC]

I'd be looking in the fuge for the nudi..maybe place a small zoa frag in there to catch him

You want to repeat the dip in a week or two to be sure you got them all.

Do take a look at your glass each night, not sure why but they are often found there. certainly easier to find them there than on the zoas which they are munching away.

btw..your zoas aren't withering from the nudis, they simply devour them

I saw an adult nudi causally slither accoss the sand right in front of the 6 line wrasse and neon dottyback. They did not even care for a curiosity nibble.

..and that is why fish are a poor choice to eliminate nudis

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Lugols will do nothing. There is some information about this and the best way to kill them is with a high concentration of garlic to freshwater dip.

 

[cybermeez]

I used Coral Rx for my dip and that seemd to do the trick for these beasties (and others).