Another thing on my zoas ...

[BL1]

I was checking out my tank today and saw something else in my zoas ... I think it may be the pest nudibranch ... what do you guys think?

 

[Bifferwine]

Good call. It's definitely a pest nudi.

 

[BL1]

Damn, I thought so, I hope I can find it now I took that like 4 hours ago. Can I just pull it off, or do I have to dip it? And if so, how long do I dip it in fresh RO water?

 

[Bifferwine]

Dip it. It will most likely have laid eggs on your zoas as well. Look for them, and pull them off with tweezers. You only need to dip it for 10 seconds or so. You may have to dip the zoas multiple times.

 

[BL1]

thanks Biff, first flatworms now this!

 

[Bifferwine]

Be careful where you get your livestock from. Although sometimes pests are unavoidable, good, reputable stores won't sell you rocks or corals with pests like those, because they should be dipping corals and treating pests as soon as they see them. My LFS dips all new corals before they go in the sale tanks. True, this won't catch 100% of pests, but it will take care of the vast majority of them, and prevent them being passed on to their customers. When you buy a new coral, dip it. I dip all my new corals.

 

[BL1]

Be careful where you get your livestock from. Although sometimes pests are unavoidable, good, reputable stores won't sell you rocks or corals with pests like those, because they should be dipping corals and treating pests as soon as they see them. My LFS dips all new corals before they go in the sale tanks. True, this won't catch 100% of pests, but it will take care of the vast majority of them, and prevent them being passed on to their customers. When you buy a new coral, dip it. I dip all my new corals.

I'm going to have to start dipping them all now to be sure. All these zoas are from Mr. Coral

 

[Bifferwine]

That sucks. An online retailer should be more careful than that. It's easy to dip them quickly when they first arrive. Much easier than having to deal with them in your tank!

Maybe you could send them an email with pics and let them know that they need to up their housekeeping a bit.

 

[Bifferwine]

It's funny because in my city, there are pest epidemics that go through people's tanks, usually in the weeks and months after a frag swap. People want to sell their corals, so they neglect to mention pests that they may have in their tanks. Sure enough, the buyers of their frags find those pests down the road, and everyone that bought something from that person's tank is infected now. A couple years ago, one guy brought in a bunch of SPS to the frag swap. He didn't tell anyone that he had been battling red bugs. After the frag swap, over a dozen people's tanks had red bugs out of the blue! Last frag swap, a guy brought a bunch of leather frags in. Everyone that bought his frags ended up with aiptasia. I bought some of his stuff when he tore his tank down. I've had aiptasia ever since! Dips don't kill everything. ;)

It's not usually on purpose though. Sometimes pests slip by the best of us. Even though I have dipped all my corals, I still ended up with flatworms. Of course, they came on a giant football sized mushroom rock that I didn't want to dip because I didn't want to kill the rock. Go figure, the one coral I don't dip.

 

[BL1]

I might do that ... I can't be totally sure that it came from them but, almost all the corals in my tank came from them

 

[BL1]

I'm glad that one frag isn't glued down yet, I'm worried about the other 5 frags that I did glue down

 

[Bifferwine]

Just keep an eye on them... Watch for dying or receding polyps.

 

[BL1]

Thanks again, will do

 

[eclipse_001]

found a great dip that gets rid of almost all pests and you use salt water so there is no killing of rocks!! CoralRX Additives & Supplements I get the pro cause it is more concentrated and ships easier

 

[BL1]

found a great dip that gets rid of almost all pests and you use salt water so there is no killing of rocks!! CoralRX Additives & Supplements I get the pro cause it is more concentrated and ships easier

Thanks eclipse, I actually picked up some Lugol's last night

 

[eclipse_001]

i have used Lugol's it contains iodine, not really the best stuff for color and some coral tissues, the Coral RX has no iodine, it is completely natural, plant extracts, does no harm to the coral or the colors. by far a much superior product, If I were you I would use the Lugol's for this right now but I would also get some Coral RX for future use you will not be disappointed I promise. Plus using the Coral RX you use saltwater and it will not harm anything that you don't want it to

 

[reeffreak]

Think about what iodine is...it is use for bacterial and fungal infections.It doesn't work on hitchhiker nudibranches and sundial snails,which are the two most common predators of zoas.

I went through this years ago.I had to freshwater dip all my zoa colonies and pic off the eggsacks with tweezers.The freshwater dip consist of tapwater set to the pH and temp. of the display and of course dechlorinator.You dip them for 5-10 minutes while searching for eggs to be removed.Afterwards you really should put them in a QT and then repeat the process several days later.

Seeing that the nudi has orange frills tells me they have been munching on orange zoas.Do you have orange zoas in the tank?They take on the coloration of the zoas after awhile which is a good indication that more then one colony is being attacked.

 

[BL1]

Yea I do have some orangish ones, they're all the way on the other side of the tank

 

[reeffreak]

They move from colony to colony.They will lay eggs and then move to a new colony to infect.They had me pulling my hair out,it's bringing up nightmares again.LOL

 

[BL1]

They move from colony to colony.They will lay eggs and then move to a new colony to infect.They had me pulling my hair out,it's bringing up nightmares again.LOL

Yea, you're telling me