Zoanthid issue..
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Help
Forum Name: General Help
Forum Description: The place to ask about pest, problems, hitchhikers, etc.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=45161
Printed Date: December 27 2024 at 8:10pm
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Topic: Zoanthid issue..
Posted By: ptronsp
Subject: Zoanthid issue..
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 3:58pm
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Ok guys a few weeks ago I posted having problems with my Zoas and I couldn't figure out why they were not opening and dying off. Today I noticed little like bugs like this going in and out of my huge colony of Zoanthids that I am now losing. There are a ton of them on there but I don't know what it is?? We did a dip on these two particular colony's and it doesn't seem to have helped. PLEASE HELP! Pam |
Replies:
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 4:05pm
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Oh and the lights are on and I can see them all over.. it's not at night.Troy and I have looked it up and they appear to be amphipods? That's what they look the most like. They are so tiny it's hard. Sorry to sound so dumb. |
Posted By: davser
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 4:24pm
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this is happening to mine to but mine arent deing so i dont know maybe the light? oh and did you took the maroon clown? ------------- It's not about what you know but about who you know |
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 4:28pm
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I don't really think they are actually eating them or anything I think they are just annoying them to the point they are not opening and are dying off.. who knows.. I am frustrated because all of my other Zoanthids are doing great it's just these two in particular and of course they are my largest colonies. Ugh. Yes, we went and picked up the maroon yesterday.. she is HUGE.. she is loving the tank with her tiny little companion..my little maroon is about 1 1/2 inches and she is a monster but they love each other.. why Davser? |
Posted By: Aquaristnewbie
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 4:56pm
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What color are the bugs and what type of lighting do you have. If they are pods I would think they would be fine. Maybe annoyed but should not be dying off. If they are pods I would think it would be another cause. Are they melting or disappearing when they die? ------------- 150 gallon Reef Millcreek Utah |
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 4:58pm
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They are brownish white bugs. The zoas when they dye off seem to just disappear.Also out lights are MH 150 and the zoas are in the sand bed of the tank on rocks. |
Posted By: Aquaristnewbie
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 5:03pm
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If they are disappearing I would suspect some sort of predator in your tank is eating them unless the bug is something else. Do they look like little shrimp or more sluggish like? If they are shrimpish probably a pod and if sluglike may be some sort of zoa eating flatworm ------------- 150 gallon Reef Millcreek Utah |
Posted By: davser
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 5:37pm
just wondering because i wanted it to  i hope your corals get better mine are closed to------------- It's not about what you know but about who you know |
Posted By: badfinger
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 6:51pm
| Do you dose iodine? Or you can just do an iodine/iodide dip.... has saved a few of my zoa colonies |
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 6:57pm
| We dose with Vibrance? Also my husband said more shrimp looking. He also did a iodine dip today. I am just sick about it. The one rock was full of watermelons well over 100 and we are down to half and they won't open :( |
Posted By: Luckedout
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 7:06pm
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Do they look like this? http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/mobile-inverts/42248-zoanthid-eating-nudibranch.html - http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/mobile-inverts/42248-zoanthid-eating-nudibranch.html or this: http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b294/mantisfreak/nudiandpenny.jpg - http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b294/mantisfreak/nudiandpenny.jpg I was losing zoanthids like crazy then I noticed these little guys. I sucked about 5 off 1 colony, but quickly realized I couldn't keep up. That's when I bought my yellow coris wrasse and now I don't have the problem. ------------- -Ben 90g Mixed reef www.body-balancechiropractic.com |
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 7:22pm
| Neither one :(! |
Posted By: Aquaristnewbie
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 7:25pm
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If you buy some sort of wrasse they will take care of them in a hurry. Does not really matter what they are. They are awesome for getting rid of little pests. My sixline quickly takes little guys like this out. ------------- 150 gallon Reef Millcreek Utah |
Posted By: SGH360
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 8:37pm
| perhaps if you can take a the best pic if you can, or perhaps if you can sketch the bug to your best knowledge |
Posted By: bstuver
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 9:38pm
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When you dip them do you pull all your zoas and dip them? I know when mine were having issues that's what I was told to do not just the ones being effected. And as said wrasses are awesome little bug eaters:)
------------- Jackie Stuver "wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas? I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart |
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 10:28pm
| Yep we dipped them all. We already have a 6 line Wrasse?? |
Posted By: Luckedout
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 10:34pm
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my sixline didn't touch the nudi's I had.. the coris wrasse took care of it
------------- -Ben 90g Mixed reef www.body-balancechiropractic.com |
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 10:46pm
| That is interesting Ben.. good to know. Thank you everyone for all your suggestions!! |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: December 05 2010 at 11:48pm
In the other thread we helped you see that the snails, stars and worms you thought were a problem were all good but we never really got around to discussing the Zoanthid problem. Now we are working on a certain bug, a "shrimp looking thing". Here is the common Grammerus/Amphipod. Does it look anything like this? The head and antennae are on the right. They are usually about 1/4 inch but I have seen some up to 1/2 inch long. Sometimes the grammerus stretches out as it crawls around. It does not harm anything but eats dead flesh, algae, leftover food and detritus. If Grammerus is not what you see, then we need to keep going to find the cause. In the other thread we never saw a pic of the Zoanthids, yet we have crossed off a few animals that are not the problem. At this point we really need to stay on this if we are to help you save the zoanthids. Please post some pics or email them to [email protected] They do not have to be show quality pics, even just cell phone pics can often give us what we need to know. Please provide a pic of the entire tank and a closer shot of the problem zoanthids. Did we already talk about brushing the zoanthids with a toothbrush? Also, please give some information about water parameters. Thanks, Mark ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: December 06 2010 at 1:39am
 AS far as parameters all my husband says is they are spot on. I just enjoy the hobby and let him do the work :). Yes, we did the toothbrush wash as well and they didn't seem to come out of it from that at all. I will take more pics tomorrow. |
Posted By: Tresa
Date Posted: December 06 2010 at 7:16am
| It looks to me like the rock they are on was covered in sponge and the sponge is dieing off and taking the zoas with it.... I have had this happen a lot lately. I am not sure if this is the only way to handle it but once it starts I usually razor blade the zoas off the rock and glue them to a new one.... |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: December 06 2010 at 8:11am
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That's an interesting observation Tresa. Pam, Could that be an issue here? Thanks for the one pic. Looking forward to more.
About the brushing, if I had not asked would you have bothered telling us the result? Please come back to tell us the result of every action you take with regard to the problem. The combined experience of the many people on this MB really can resolve the problem, but only if you provide any information you can think of regarding the Zoanthids.  That causes me to ask what the Zoanthids were dipped in? Was it freshwater or an Iodine dip?Also, how long have you had these 2 colonies and where did they come from? Did they have any problems on the way to your tank, like being left in the bag for 3+ hours.Another thought is that they have been sunburned. Going into a brighter lighted tank can burn them. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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ptronsp wrote:Posted By: Sitaga
Date Posted: December 06 2010 at 11:20am
Also, how long were they dipped for? ------------- Tons of livestock including fish, coral, and inverts currently in stock. We also have Reeflo pumps, SeaChem additives, Brine Shrimp Direct foods, and ATI lighting in stock. |
Posted By: arthuriv
Date Posted: December 06 2010 at 11:53am
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Hello Pam and Troy,
My name is Arthur, I live in Tooele and can stop by one night after work if you would like and take a look. I also have a large test kit like the ones they use at the Fish store to test your water if you would like as well. Feel free to give me a call anytime on my cell at 435-830-4514. During the day you might have to leave me a message and I will call you back because I can't have my cell phone in my work area but I do check it throughout the day.
Also here is a good website that shows some of the common hitchikers good and bad!
http://www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm - http://www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm
Questions?
1. Are all your zoo's in the sand or just these? Do you get a lot of sand on the polyps?
2. You meantioned they were just disappearing, do you have emerald crabs or possibly any rock crabs in your tank? What type of crabs do you have?
3. Do they seem to disappear at night? Have you watch to see if anything is messing with them hours after the lights are out?
3. What fish do you have in your tank?
4. Have you seen any string look stuff or any slime or mucus on your zoo's?
5. What size is your tank and how long do you run your lights? ------------- Quality Marines Aquaculturing & Captive Breeding program! Presented by Ashley & Chelsea from Reef On Thursday 6 Oct 2016 |
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: December 06 2010 at 3:34pm
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Ok guys this is getting too overwhelming for me. I will have Troy post tonight or tomorrow when he gets a chance as he is the one that knows more. He is out of town all week. Arthur that is so nice of you thank you! I think we will take you up on that offer . Tresa you might be right because that is what we noticed was there was a substance on the base of the Zoanthids and that was my concern it was something coming from the bottom. I think I will try and get those fragged and put on its own tiles. Mark, we thought after we did the toothbrush think it would help and we wouldn't have any other issues. Guess not. That causes me to ask what the Zoanthids were dipped in? Was it freshwater or an Iodine dip? *Iodine* Also, how long have you had these 2 colonies and where did they come from? *Individual on the board.Did they have any problems on the way to your tank, like being left in the bag for 3+ hours. *Less then 1 hour*Another thought is that they have been sunburned. Going into a brighter lighted tank can burn them. * I don't believe so because they are in our sand bed and the lighting was the same. We did frag some off when we first got them as they were loose on the rock and those ones are doing great so I am wondering if Tresa is spot on. 1. Are all your zoo's in the sand or just these? Do you get a lot of sand on the polyps? Most of the Zoo's are in the sand.
2. You meantioned they were just disappearing, do you have emerald
crabs or possibly any rock crabs in your tank? What type of crabs do you
have? Nope none.
3. Do they seem to disappear at night? Have you watch to see if anything is messing with them hours after the lights are out? We have watched them recently and nothing seems to be bothering them.
3. What fish do you have in your tank? 2 clowns
4. Have you seen any string look stuff or any slime or mucus on your zoo's? NO
5. What size is your tank and how long do you run your lights? 110... 7 hours. |
Posted By: Pinner Reef
Date Posted: December 06 2010 at 6:12pm
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Seeing as there are other colonies nearby which are happy I'd say its a fungus or invasive sponge. The sponge would be easily seen in between the polyps. The fungus would show as a dusty slime much like cyano only thinner spread across the polyps. Either way I'd do a Lougals Iodine dip using RO water... This seems to cure more problems in zoanthids than any other solution. You've prolly already gone over those in the previous thread. -pinner ------------- In SLC Near Downtown |
Posted By: davser
Date Posted: December 07 2010 at 1:52pm
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you guys are talking about bugs i was looking at some of my polyps that had being closed and i noticed a brown sponge like growing around them it looks kind of like the dirt when the ants build their nest i used a tooth brush to brush it of like mark said and the rock looks clean and the polyps didnt get damaged, so pam you should check if you have this "sponge" looking thing ------------- It's not about what you know but about who you know |
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: December 07 2010 at 3:10pm
Here is another photo of the other colony. |
Posted By: CapnMorgan
Date Posted: December 07 2010 at 8:10pm
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I agree with doing an iodine dip. It seems to work more than anything else. A couple quick questions about your dosing schedule: Do you dose Iodine/Iodide in your tank? Actual numbers on your parameters would help us to help you more. It also sounds like these polyps have been through a lot of stress with the various treatments. Sometimes it takes them a week or two to recover from being brushed, dipped, moved, etc. Feel free to call me if you need any help with anything 435-830-8855 P.S. I still have TONS of macro for you and I should be around all day Saturday and Sunday this weekend, or if you like I can bring it out to you. ------------- Steve http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=40637&PID=356246" rel="nofollow - My Old 180G Mixed Reef Currently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8 |
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: December 07 2010 at 9:41pm
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Thanks Steve. Yea the one colony seems to be doing well so I am hopeful we may have dealt with the problem. I will have Troy get a hold of you Sat when he is back in town. Thanks so much for the help. Pam |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: December 09 2010 at 9:52am
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Please don't wait for your husband. You can do this, and the sooner the better. Next thing we need is a full tank pic please. That second pic makes me think it's invasive sponge, not dieing but growing.  It's good to have sponge growing, but we don't like it when the battle results in the death of the loser.  Brushing it off in the sink and then rinsing it under the tap may be my suggested treatment, but only after seeing the entire tank. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: December 09 2010 at 3:19pm
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Issue seems resolved. After waiting patiently they are coming out once again :). Thanks everyone! |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: December 10 2010 at 10:55pm
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That's a relief, but it might be temporary. That 2nd pic really looks like an invasive sponge problem that could be brushed off. Funny, I just watched an episode of Star Trek - Enterprise where the alien organism looked almost exactly like that kind of sponge. http://www.allstepisodes.com/googlevideodatabase.php?n=5122 - http://www.allstepisodes.com/googlevideodatabase.php?n=5122 ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: December 11 2010 at 2:19pm
| Oh Mark my friend.. you watch too much Tv...*grins* |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: December 12 2010 at 9:27am
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I'm not a Trekkie/Trekker but I love space sci-fi. For the past few months I've been going back and watching episodes of Star Trek online. This one just happened to be next in line. My wife teases(complains  ) that I'm addicted to this, along with a few other things, like this MB.  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: December 12 2010 at 10:01pm
 I feel your pain! |