Corals - I am ready to throw in the towel!!!

[globaldesigns]

As many of you know, I have had my issues with SPS... Well now my Blue Tang has taken a liking to my zoas. In the past couple weeks it has eaten about 35% of them. For those thinking she is eating around them, she is not. She actually grabs them and forces them off the rock, sometimes whole zoas are floating as she yanks them off and the gobbles them up.

I have been feeding 3 types of pellets everyday (2-3 times a day) with Nori a couple times a week. Thinking that wasn't enough, as I feed lightly to not pollute the water, I bought an auto feeder and am feeding 4 times during the day, then a couple more times at night. But nothing has changed, she continues to dimolish my zoa population.

Any ideas? As I have given up and will just let her eat them all and not buy anymore.

I am ready to through in the towel with the coral thing. Maybe FOWLER is meant to be!

[Coleus]

As many of you know, I have had my issues with SPS... Well now my Blue Tang has taken a liking to my zoas. In the past couple weeks it has eaten about 35% of them. For those thinking she is eating around them, she is not. She actually grabs them and forces them off the rock, sometimes whole zoas are floating as she yanks them off and the gobbles them up.

I have been feeding 3 types of pellets everyday (2-3 times a day) with Nori a couple times a week. Thinking that wasn't enough, as I feed lightly to not pollute the water, I bought an auto feeder and am feeding 4 times during the day, then a couple more times at night. But nothing has changed, she continues to dimolish my zoa population.

Any ideas? As I have given up and will just let her eat them all and not buy anymore.

I am ready to through in the towel with the coral thing. Maybe FOWLER is meant to be!

Trader her in for different one? Maybe she tries to spread out the zoa in your tank. How big is she?

[The Grizz]

Dori is being a bad girl, she is huge and very beautiful regal. Sorry to hear Rick.

[fencer]

Does she eat palys? I could use that fish...really

[Coleus]

Does she eat palys? I could use that fish...really

maybe you can then train her to eat some apitasia too :-) That would be some thing

[kien]

Hippo Tangs are omnivores. I've heard many reports of Hippos going after softies and LPS as they mature. I guess you could say they are Hungry Hungry Hippos! :lol::lol::lol::lol: Thank you, thank you, I'm here all week.

[The Grizz]

Hippo Tangs are omnivores. I've heard many reports of Hippos going after softies and LPS as they mature. I guess you could say they are Hungry Hungry Hippos! :lol::lol::lol::lol: Thank you, thank you, I'm here all week.

Oh man that was BADDDDD :razz:

[reefwars]

Does she eat palys? I could use that fish...really


I like paly's lol

[The Grizz]

I like paly's lol

ME TOO .....specially one's with color!!!! HINT HINT

[Zoaelite]

Maybe it's time to push the restart button?

Why not sell off pretty much everything you have, change out some of the LR, do a massive water change and remove the pellet reactors?

[Douglas]

What's that other saying..."there are plenty other fish in the sea". Catch her, and trade her in for a new model. (maybe two twenty year olds). Thearapy maybe?

[Delphinus]

Sorry to hear Rick. I'm afraid with your fish vs corals situation you are screwed. I know a lot of people suggest to the contrary but I believe that you cannot compensate for bad feeding behaviours by feeding heavy. Once they learn that something is "food", they will never unlearn it. I'm afraid you might have a choice to make in this regard.

To be honest your coral issues sound eerily similar to my own and I'm now of the belief that my fish are responsible for a lot of damage that I don't necessarily see them do. I think they do a lot when we're not looking. Besides my two butterflies (whom I know damage a lot) I'm no longer 100% trusting of my potter's angel or my rabbitfish. Every now and again I see them take little nips at my remaining gorgs.. You have the same rabbitfish .. I dunno - maybe there's something there that needs to be examined a little closer.

[Coleus]

Sorry to hear Rick. I'm afraid with your fish vs corals situation you are screwed. I know a lot of people suggest to the contrary but I believe that you cannot compensate for bad feeding behaviours by feeding heavy. Once they learn that something is "food", they will never unlearn it. I'm afraid you might have a choice to make in this regard.

To be honest your coral issues sound eerily similar to my own and I'm now of the belief that my fish are responsible for a lot of damage that I don't necessarily see them do. I think they do a lot when we're not looking. Besides my two butterflies (whom I know damage a lot) I'm no longer 100% trusting of my potter's angel or my rabbitfish. Every now and again I see them take little nips at my remaining gorgs.. You have the same rabbitfish .. I dunno - maybe there's something there that needs to be examined a little closer.

got to agree with whatever Tony just said. I never seen my angels pick on my corals but i know they do when i am not looking. Once the fish like the taste of corals, not sure how you can revert that.

[kien]

Ya I would also agree that they probably do a lot of damage or just simply irritate corals while we are not looking. I used to have a flame angel in my mixed reef that I swore was reef safe. Never saw him do anything to make me think otherwise. Then one day I decided to put him into the aggressive tank instead to make room for new fish. Wow, what a difference that made. All of a sudden I had insane polyp extension. I really didn't know what I was missing.

[spawn]

It can't be that bad. Just lose the blue-ser.

[globaldesigns]

maybe you can then train her to eat some apitasia too :-) That would be some thing

She is about 6-7 inches in length, as Grizz said very beautiful fish... I also thought the same thing about the aptasia. i do have quite a bit of aptasia in the sump, but the nudis are taking care of them. Found some nudi eggs and now see some little babies.

I don't see any aptasia in the DT, so maybe she is eating those also.

But it is frustrating, as I have alot of nice colorful zoas. I can't catch her, so oh well I guess.

[globaldesigns]

Maybe it's time to push the restart button?

Why not sell off pretty much everything you have, change out some of the LR, do a massive water change and remove the pellet reactors?

Nope, not going to do it.:biggrin:

Worst case, will just let all coral die and have a fowler. Fish are doing great and I like my aquascaping.

SPS die off seems to settling down, and most SPS are now showing signs of growth with alot of white tipped growth... It is just frustrating when you seem to have one thing covered, then something else happens.

What happened to blue tangs being reef safe! Damn it!

[globaldesigns]

Sorry to hear Rick. I'm afraid with your fish vs corals situation you are screwed. I know a lot of people suggest to the contrary but I believe that you cannot compensate for bad feeding behaviours by feeding heavy. Once they learn that something is "food", they will never unlearn it. I'm afraid you might have a choice to make in this regard.

To be honest your coral issues sound eerily similar to my own and I'm now of the belief that my fish are responsible for a lot of damage that I don't necessarily see them do. I think they do a lot when we're not looking. Besides my two butterflies (whom I know damage a lot) I'm no longer 100% trusting of my potter's angel or my rabbitfish. Every now and again I see them take little nips at my remaining gorgs.. You have the same rabbitfish .. I dunno - maybe there's something there that needs to be examined a little closer.

Great advice Tony, but I also thought of that. I even took some coral to Red Coral to investigate that maybe I have bugs, critters, crabs, fish that may be eating things. But under the magnifyer, there are no signs of any of the above.

With the SPS issues, you have to be here to see it. When things died it wasn't over a longer period of time. For example a SPS coral I had for over 2 years, just suddenly started losing flesh. I took it to Red Coral, we investigated and fragged what was left. By the time I got home, the frag lost half or more of the remaining flesh, and within an hour in the tank, the rest was gone. This isn't from any fish or critter.

Other SPS, same thing... They start dieing, I would break them off and lightly move them in the water and sheets of flesh would just peal right off. So this is nothing to do with anything eating them.

If Dori, only eats the zoas, then I can live without them, as there is no way of catching her, and I won't destroy my tank to do it. I just hope see doesn't develop the taste for the SPS.

This hobby just SUCKS sometimes!

[DiverDude]

I'll take your corals Ricky !! :becky:

[daniella3d]

There goes the myth about zoanthids being poisoned with palytoxine! lol!

That fish would be dead by now if they were poison.

Maybe you should exile your zoanthids to another tank, build a small frag tank and maybe with time this habbit of eating zoanthids will pass?

Only other thing I could think of is to try to cover the zoanthids with come mesh or protect them with some egg crate cage or something. Not very pretty though.

I would leave nori sheet each day all day.

[Delphinus]

Great advice Tony, but I also thought of that. I even took some coral to Red Coral to investigate that maybe I have bugs, critters, crabs, fish that may be eating things. But under the magnifyer, there are no signs of any of the above.

With the SPS issues, you have to be here to see it. When things died it wasn't over a longer period of time. For example a SPS coral I had for over 2 years, just suddenly started losing flesh. I took it to Red Coral, we investigated and fragged what was left. By the time I got home, the frag lost half or more of the remaining flesh, and within an hour in the tank, the rest was gone. This isn't from any fish or critter.


Rick your coral losses are due to RTN, but RTN is a symptom and not a disease in itself, there are many potential causes. It's like saying you have a broken arm, there are an infinite list of potential causes for that, but the end result is the same: your arm hurts.

RTN can most assuredly be caused by stress induced by predation.

When you eliminate the impossible, of whatever remains, regardless of how implausible, the explanation is in there. You think it's implausible that the fish are to blame, for the longest time I held the same view in my tank .. but realistically it cannot be eliminated in either of our tanks. Things don't die for no reason, there is a reason. I'm sorry if you don't like to hear this :p but I'm calling it like I see it: for the longest time you've had inexplicable losses, now we're getting a glimpse of something that could explain other things that previously thought to have no explanation.



Other SPS, same thing... They start dieing, I would break them off and lightly move them in the water and sheets of flesh would just peal right off. So this is nothing to do with anything eating them.

I still disagree. Once RTN starts it is it's own little beast.


If Dori, only eats the zoas, then I can live without them, as there is no way of catching her, and I won't destroy my tank to do it. I just hope see doesn't develop the taste for the SPS.


You can always a catch a fish, it comes down to techniques you employ if the need is there.


This hobby just SUCKS sometimes!

Yes it does!

There goes the myth about zoanthids being poisoned with palytoxine! lol!

That fish would be dead by now if they were poison.


What's toxic to one kind of critter (mammals) might not be for another (fish). Fish have evolved alongside zoannthid for millenia, it's entirely possible they have built up immunity or resistance to the palytoxins that other critters might not have.

[daniella3d]

It is entirely possible although just speculation as zoanthids have never been proved to contain palytoxin to date, at least according to Coral Magasine.

The fact that fish eat it and don,t die is another step in that direction, that's all. If palytoxine is that toxic, eating it should not be very good for the fish and I seriously doubt that so many species of fish have adapted to it, especialy that blue hippo are not exactly coral eater in nature. Mine don't toutch any of my coral. Amphipods also eat zoanthids as well as many other fish like the filefish and many angelfish....

What's toxic to one kind of critter (mammals) might not be for another (fish). Fish have evolved alongside zoannthid for millenia, it's entirely possible they have built up immunity or resistance to the palytoxins that other critters might not have.

[globaldesigns]

Tony, I do have to agree. don't like to, but have to. I guess I can't really say what has caused any of my problems. If it was that easy, then myself with the others wouldn't of had these issues this summer.

Funny thing is that the hippo was sniffing around the zoas yesterday, but wasn't munching on them. He basically ate what he wanted, but doesn't seem to like the others. Maybe he got a tummy ache!

Tony, you still taking the 2 bar? Just keep me posted.

[The Grizz]

I don't think there is an easy answer for many of our issues with our home set-ups. I some times have to use the old saying ' if it's not broken........' but with coral issues we can never be sure what the problem / culprit is. I have a beautiful pick face wrasse that Kien gave me but it is causing issues as well and sadly will be going to a new home in the next week when I catch him. It is just to active and likes to knock things around and cause a rodeo with all the other fish.

[globaldesigns]

As I just posted on another thread, to someone else having the same problem.

It is now day 2, and Dori isn't eating anymore Zoa's... She has hovered over them looking at them, but no more attacking them, not even a little bit.

I am thinking some may be toxic and some may not be... and if that is the case, I think she ate the tasty (non-toxic) ones. If that is the case, I can live with what is left, as they are very pretty.

I have also changed feeding to include a sheet of Nori everyday now, done that for 3 days. Can't say that is the reason, but the fact she is hungry, then why not. So I am now doing 4 auto feedings and one nori feeding per day.

[globaldesigns]

Its been another 4 days, and my hippo still hasn't eaten anymore. SHE HAS STOPPED!!!!

Wierd, but oh well, I guess the zoas I have left will be left alone. Not sure why she ate whole colonies of others and not what is left. But I am happy it stopped.