dipping zoas

[canadianbudz604]

I bought 15 zoa frags a few weeks back and just chucked them in my tank. Now I am paying for it, nudibranches are everywhere. I took the frags out of the tank and dipped them in a RO/DI bath. One thing I didnt do was check the ph of the RO/DI water. I dipped the frags in for like 2 mins each frag. On a good note all the nudis fell off and are long dead. Now hopefully the zoa frag come back to life because I didnt just dip the 15 I bought, I dipped all 20 different types I have. None are open and none are looking too good. Looks like my first mistake in this hobby is gonna be a costly one.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by canadianbudz604

I bought 15 zoa frags a few weeks back and just chucked them in my tank. Now I am paying for it, nudibranches are everywhere. I took the frags out of the tank and dipped them in a RO/DI bath. One thing I didnt do was check the ph of the RO/DI water. I dipped the frags in for like 2 mins each frag. On a good note all the nudis fell off and are long dead. Now hopefully the zoa frag come back to life because I didnt just dip the 15 I bought, I dipped all 20 different types I have. None are open and none are looking too good. Looks like my first mistake in this hobby is gonna be a costly one.

dude im going to give you the crash course for zoanthids that everyone should know, first off, most lfs do not dip for corals , if they did, dipping once is no good as they need to be dipped weekely as dips do not kill eggs. the eggs hatch i think its like every week or less.most stores dip their new arrivals at best only when it first comes in. although alot of stores are smart to keep some predators in these tanks.


the nudis are strong to dips be it fresh water or stronger, most are just stunned by the dips not actually dead.

you have to attack them in several ways in order to get rid of them, and even then its a lonnnnnnnng process.


manual removeal has to be done as often as you can.

freshwater dips are harsh on zoanthids , use coral rx ten mins and flatmorn exit for 30sec is all i do.

youll want fishes that hunt for these type of things if you want to keep zoas.....wrasses are your friend.


the dips need to be done weekly , so do the manual removeal or more often then weekly.


they are strong....they can live through lengthly dips, its rarely dips do anything for most of them but stun them cold for a while, they need to be dipped and thrashed to get them off the zoas.


all your zoas are going to have to come out of your tank, as you need to treat them all in a seperate container, adding them back to the origional display is pointless and will take twice as long.


always dip your own corals no matter what, its something you can do as easily as adding it to the bag the corals in, keep the zoa on a shelf for a few weeks while you repeat the dip.

without doing the above its going to be very hard to get them gone

[Myka]

I use Coral Rx too...good stuff. I actually rinse all my new Zoas under a strong tap water jet after they are done the Coral Rx dip. I haven't had any trouble with this, but I'm not sure I would recommend it for some of the more sensitive Zoas. Try at your own risk!!!

[chandigz]

I use a dip of 10 parts tank water to 1 part 3% hydrogen peroxide for 10-15 minutes for all my zoas/pallys. It seems to work great for nudis and their eggs as well as zoa fungas and algaes.

[canadianbudz604]

thanks alot for ur help. I did give them a pretty good thrashing like slamming them down on the container i was dipping them in. im going to get some coralfx and flatworm exit and dip them once a week? for a while. I have been manually removing as many of them as i can. I actually have a decent collection of these things so i would like to get rid of this problem. I have a 30g long so what type of wrasse should i get that will hunt and murder these nudis. Any suggestions?

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Myka

I use Coral Rx too...good stuff. I actually rinse all my new Zoas under a strong tap water jet after they are done the Coral Rx dip. I haven't had any trouble with this, but I'm not sure I would recommend it for some of the more sensitive Zoas. Try at your own risk!!!

i find its not only good for dipping but it also brings new life to zoas so great after a long transit ride or fragging

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by canadianbudz604

thanks alot for ur help. I did give them a pretty good thrashing like slamming them down on the container i was dipping them in. im going to get some coralfx and flatworm exit and dip them once a week? for a while. I have been manually removing as many of them as i can. I actually have a decent collection of these things so i would like to get rid of this problem. I have a 30g long so what type of wrasse should i get that will hunt and murder these nudis. Any suggestions?

yes every week, the flatworm exit i only do for new arrivals as its harder on the zoos then coral rx.


there is nothing on the market that kills the eggs %100 all the time, so weekly is necessary in order to get rid of them....they populate very fast as im sure you noticed.

in my new arrivals tank i keep a melanarus wrasse, a leopard wrasse and a green mandarin.

these three fish keep critters out of my tank but like anything else by themselves is useless.


your gonna have to pick these little buggers out daily and dip every week.


its also imprtant to note that while you may get the adults, the babies when born do no damage to zoas and that it may be up to 2 weeks before the new babies are of size to do any damage or even be seen by us, this is another reason why they are hard to erradicate.

since the babies are so tiny,they feed on the zoos untill they are larger and reproduce...its a vicious circle that guarantees if you find an adult then the reproduction cycle has begun and theres def babies at every stage of their growth......yup weekly dips are in your future lol



the first step is knowing you have them, now that you know it doesnt mean they will eat your colonie over night ,IME nudis are a bit slow to destroy polyps meaning that if you inspect your colonies everyday its a good chance they wont do any harm.


zoa eating nudis also take on the color of their meal its a defense thing in the wild so predators do not see them, to us its very helpful, because when you close the polyps with your fingers the colored nudis are left exposed to see.

eggs are important to remove, the grow in a spiral and are uber tiny, you need bright lights in most cases to find them.

zoa nudis ntend to go after red to oranges first, they love bright vibrant colors , its easier for them to hide in.

zoa eating nudis only eat zoas not palys . but they will hide in any rock they can , so liverock is place they hide alot.



now that you know what they do, its important to keep them out of your display, all new zoas should be qt and dipped every week for a month.
your display now has to remain zoa free for a month (minimum)


zoas compared to other corals are very dirty , they hide alot of critters and ditrius, their skirts and polyps make for great hiding places, so just about all zoa colonies from the wild will have some sort of pest or another.

[Enigma]

Originally Posted by chandigz

I use a dip of 10 parts tank water to 1 part 3% hydrogen peroxide for 10-15 minutes for all my zoas/pallys. It seems to work great for nudis and their eggs as well as zoa fungas and algaes.

I do the same. I've become a big fan of H202 dips. It also kills bristle worms. They basically eject themselves from the frag.

The zoas and palys I've dipped have also really aggressively grown new heads: particularly my Mohawk Palys.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Enigma

I do the same. I've become a big fan of H202 dips. It also kills bristle worms. They basically eject themselves from the frag.

The zoas and palys I've dipped have also really aggressively grown new heads: particularly my Mohawk Palys.

h2o2 does not kill the eggs trust me , even at 100% it wont kill even a small fraction...the zoos will die before the eggs do.

i experiment with every mixture of h202 i can , i use it for many things.i choose the coral rx because it promotes growth, heals tissue and kills pests.there are alot of other dips you can use on the market , but none are 100% in killing eggs.



mohawks are the fastest growing paly available i use to get on average 20-30 polyps a month from my pinks:P

[reefwars]

i use 3/1 solution as my reg mix , anything after that is hit or miss if it can make it.


ive had zoos and palys survive 100% h2o2 and some die in less. i find with 3% a 3:1 ratio of tank water to peroxide works well for me.

ime palys do better with the peroxide dip then zoos do , micro zoos have an even lower tolerance to it then the others do.