Baby crabs?

[Lolli631]

:help: A few days ago I noticed my zoa colony closing up. Looked at the polyps but could see nothing crawling on them. Today when the lights went out I took another look and found what seemed to be tiny crabs. They are too small to take a pic, about the size of a pinhead. Ive looked a Melevs id page but couldnt find anything on them. I have hermit crabs and havent had emeralds in months. Could someone give me an idea of what they are?

Pics further down in post #10

 

[KathyC]

Take a look here

http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=384

 

[Lolli631]

Kathy
Thanks for the link... They dont look like anything there either. When I squeezed one with tweezers, it crunched. Thats the reason I am leaning towards some sort of "crabs".

Scott

 

[marki24]

:help: A few days ago I noticed my zoa colony closing up. Looked at the polyps but could see nothing crawling on them. Today when the lights went out I took another look and found what seemed to be tiny crabs. They are too small to take a pic, about the size of a pinhead. Ive looked a Melevs id page but couldnt find anything on them. I have hermit crabs and havent had emeralds in months. Could someone give me an idea of what they are?

Wow you must have good vision. A picture would really help us help you. It could be baby snails since you heard a noise when you squeezed it. Be mindful that whenever there is something touching a zoa then it sends "neurons" to the rest of the colony and it just closes up, it doesn't necessary mean that its being killed or eaten it's just protecting itself from "harm". I wouldn't worry about it if it opens up later. Does it?

 

[Lolli631]

Wow you must have good vision. A picture would really help us help you. It could be baby snails since you heard a noise when you squeezed it. Be mindful that whenever there is something touching a zoa then it sends "neurons" to the rest of the colony and it just closes up, it doesn't necessary mean that its being killed or eaten it's just protecting itself from "harm". I wouldn't worry about it if it opens up later. Does it?

Some of the colony opens then close again, most are staying closed at this point. I am trying to get a pic but it is not clear. These things move too quick to be snails. Will be dipping all zoas in lugols shortly.

 

[NYreefNoob]

pull the colony and dip it to be on the safe side

 

[marki24]

Ok i am a newbie what is lugols?

 

[KathyC]

Lugols Solution (made by Kent) is a potasium iodide/iodine solution that is used buy reefers for dipping corals to rid them of hitch-hikers..most especially zoas.
The directions on the bottle should be closely followed as it is very easy to overdose your corals/tank with this stuff.

 

[marki24]

Lugols Solution (made by Kent) is a potasium iodide/iodine solution that is used buy reefers for dipping corals to rid them of hitch-hikers..most especially zoas.
The directions on the bottle should be closely followed as it is very easy to overdose your corals/tank with this stuff.

Thanks draling :splitspin

 

[Lolli631]

Dipped the zoas last night but now notice these things on my live rock also. Got some pics, dont know if an id is possible...

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm240/Lolli631/HPIM1821.jpg
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm240/Lolli631/HPIM1818.jpg
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm240/Lolli631/HPIM1788.jpg
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm240/Lolli631/HPIM1784.jpg

 

[Josh]

Sounds/looks like a copepod, but can't be sure until we see it up close.

Can you catch one and put it into a glass or something and take a nice closeup photo?

 

[Lolli631]

Thats as close of a shot and clear as I could get. Kinda move like hermits, but as I posted earlier, they crunched when I squeezed it.