Zoa eating Nudibranchs
 

I noticed last night some nudibranchs on my zoas, after reading about them I realized they eat zoas, so does anyone know any good ways of getting rid of them without taking my colonies out of my tank?

A yellow wrasse cleaned all mine out.

I've done battle with these bastards in the past. The problem isn't the nudis, you can pick them off and fish can get them. It's the eggs that are the nightmare. I recommend taking the colonies out of the tank and spending time picking the eggs and nudis off. They can do some serious damage to your colonies before a fish could make a dent in the population.

absolutely , adult nudis themselves are slow to eat, easy to find and cant grow to adult stages faster then we can pick them out or dip them.

now the eggs.....are virtually indestructable.....too hidden between and around polyp stalks for predators to find, and then too small once they start to feed for us to find as well.


basically remove all you can, youll find them at night and they are easy to spot.


dip all your colonies or frags , then manually inspect for ay stunned nudis that may be holding on and pick off any eggs you see.


this needs to be done weekly for a few weeks or its a lost battle, you also should put your zoas either in qt or a acclimation basket while your doing the treatments, putting them back in your display just gives the adults new places to hide during the day.


add fish that scare and eat the nudis.....wrasses are your friend if your keeping zoas and palys.


nudis only eat zoanthids, but remember most ofwhat we call palys are actually zoas theres not a whole lot of actual palythoas going around.




heres your routine in short:



day1/week1:


remove all zoas from your tank
remove all visible adults and dip the zoas
reinspect after dipping ...important to remove eggs(lots of different dips i use coral rx)
place in a qt tank or basket off your sand and rocks.


add a wrasse or a couple depending on your tank size.....yellow corris and melanarus is what i use;)


every couple of days look at them at night or early morning and look for any babies that you may be able to see.



day 1 /week 2

look for adults and remove
dip your zoas....remove any left over adults and eggs


every coule of days look at them at night or early morning and look for any babies that you may be able to see.


day 1 week three:


pest control should be close to be had now so time to do the final dip and thourgh inspection.


remove all your zoas and dip them in a flatworm exit solution and followed by a legthly dip in coral rx .

use a magnifying glass to inspect the polyp stalks for eggs under a bright light(halides work great)





theres alot of different approaches you can take but this routine works well , some people say freshwater and h2o2 work but i use both all the time and freshwater baths are a bit harsh and h2o2 does not compare to coral rx IMO i see nudis sliding around in h2o2 for long periods of time while the coral rx when blasted at them stuns them within minutes. its important to note coral rx stunns the nudis....it may kill some but not 100% all of them , you need to use a turkey baster and blow in between the polyps...be rough they hold on tight;)



when your looking for them at night time remember that zoa nudis can change color to match the polyps they are eating , during the day this makes it hard but at night you can lightly touch each polyp with tweasers and then the bright nudis are visible...use a turkey baster to suck them up:) also using a actinic light helps spot the bright nudis ;)


on that last note , always dip your corals for pests , but with zoanthids they should have a qt period unless your absolutely sure no nudis or other pests are there , the polyps and the rocks make for great hiding places and since zoas dont eat live prey of size they can hide there safely.


good luck man ,if you stick to it they arnt hard to get rid of. if you need any in person advice drop over:)

Thank you for the great advice!

I am setting up the QT tank tonight and will be putting all zoas in there. I will follow your guidlines step by step. These are quiet the little buggers and want them gone for good.

Another lesson learned, thanks.

absolutely , keep your qt tank for when ever you get new zoos or any coral for that reason....better to play it safe then sorry.

the eggs are small and spiral around the polyp stalks:) yooull have to look close to find them.

googlw what they look like so you know what your looking for:)

Look into flat worm exit

I had Zoo Nudi infestation before. Although They look colourful they're the reason why almost 50% of zoo population on my rock were closed and shrinking. You could also see the eggs on the front glass and on the closed polyp zoo.
I tried with flatworm exit even tripple dosed, it did not work. I even finished the bottle in two tries.

Then I decided to buy 2 yellow coris wrasse after reading about them. I read that not every wrasse are guaranteed to remove aquarium pest so its kind of a gamble but for me the fact that I wanted some yellow in my tank made me buy these beautiful fishes.

I did my part with manually removing some nudis that I find by turkey baster or water jet/powerhead and scoop them out with fish net.

I dont know if they eat the eggs or the hatchlings but over time my zoos started opening up, the nudis and their eggs started disappearing little by little until they're all gone.

http://i47.tinypic.com/2im1bw8.jpg
http://i47.tinypic.com/29c15q1.jpg
my little 1.5 inch coris wrasse hunting.

doesnt kill the eggs

they are awesome, but dont eat the eggs. they will devour any babies but untill they are visible they will munch on your zoos.


best tool is a combination of everything i said , no one thing works by its self(usually)