Help! Pod infestation - need nano fish for 3G

[NYfishies]

Hi all,

 

I have a zoa garden which is a 20 gallon total system split into 3. DT is 10 gallon and has 4 fish including a spotted mandarin, the FT is 3 gallon and has no fish and the Sump is 7 gallons. I have way too many pods. Especially Amphipods which are harmful to the zoas. Any injured zoa I try to save gets destroyed by the pods. Besides that it looks like they just irritate the heck out of them.

 

Below are some pictures from the FT. The ones on the glass i am really not sure about.

 

This seems to be a brittle worm?

On the left of the plug there is some sort of pods.

On the stalk in the middle you can see a pod climbing around on my KH Sunbursts - these never open.

Here you can see the Amphipods just hanging out.

I need a small fish which will eat these darn things, but will not jump out of the shallow 3 gallon FT. It is driving me nuts. I have lost over 15 frags to these guys (mainly speaking about the Amphipods who will eat the flesh of an injured zoa).

I know all about all of the other diseases and pests and see no signs of anything else which would be causing the zaos to die off.

Is this even possible?

[mystersyster]

I wonder if treating the system with a coral dip would be feasible since it is so small... then doing a 50 percent water change. Let other people chime in though, because I could be wrong.

[TFish77]

Best think to eat the pods off the top of my head for something that small would be a red ruby dragonette. Scoots along the bottom so shouldn't jump out and stays really small.

[mystersyster]

Best think to eat the pods off the top of my head for something that small would be a red ruby dragonette. Scoots along the bottom so shouldn't jump out and stays really small.

BINGO. You will probably have to take him back after he decimates the population though.

[NYfishies]

We have a regular scooter in our bigger tank and love her. Not a ruby as we were too nervous about not having enough pods in that tank and the one we found at our LFS was eating pellets. I hadn't thought of adding a ruby to this tank.

 

The idea of taking it back would kill my gf. She doesn't want me to add a fish to begin with. I have been dipping frags as I can. I also fresh water dipped all of the rank in the DT a few weeks ago.

 

Earlier tonight I removed 70% of the Chaeto in the Fuge.

[righttirefire]

What about a yellow clown goby? The will eat pods right? I'm certain mine does... can't find a pod In my tank any more

[mystersyster]

We have a regular scooter in our bigger tank and love her. Not a ruby as we were too nervous about not having enough pods in that tank and the one we found at our LFS was eating pellets. I hadn't thought of adding a ruby to this tank.

 

The idea of taking it back would kill my gf. She doesn't want me to add a fish to begin with. I have been dipping frags as I can. I also fresh water dipped all of the rank in the DT a few weeks ago.

 

Earlier tonight I removed 70% of the Chaeto in the Fuge.

You're gonna be hard pressed getting them out just by dipping corals, and I wouldn't recommend moving your scooter to this tank, as she is established in her current tank. You could definitely keep it if you put good pods in your tank later.

[ajmckay]

So I'm curious why the pods are munching the zoas... I mean they certainly can, but in most of my experiences they don't mess with corals because there's enough other stuff to sustain them.

 

Got an FTS? Is it possible that there's not enough other stuff to scavenge so they turn to the polyps? If it is, maybe add some more rock or something? Then again the last thing you want to do is encourage the population to grow. Hmmm...

 

I would also check out those flatworms... They could be messing with things as well and they would be a lot harder to catch in the act as well 0 though you have impressive large close up shots.

 

Good luck! Lots of fish eat pods - try to get one that will also munch on the larger amphipods.

[metrokat]

oh boy!

 

These are Flat worms - they aren't the red planaria kind which aren't very tasty and are extremely toxic when they die. These are more edible by many fish but what they do is smother corals. Smothered corals don't get light and die. I thought you had an amphipod only problem, when did these happen?

 

The worm looks like a fireworm, get rid of it with tongs/tweezers.

 

Do you want to try to move the dragonette to the frag tank temporarily to eat the pods? don't feed her when she's in there though. A temporary net over it while she is in there would help escape attempts.

 

A wrasse is great for these bastards but the 3G shallow makes any fish able to jump so easily unless you consider a net cover.

In the meantime siphon the flatworms out. I use a toms aqualifter pump and suction them into a filter sock so i don't lose any water.

 

Another option is flatworm exit. It works more effectively for these FW than the red planaria. The instructions have to be followed very precisely, but it will kill the bastards, might even kill the amphipods , also beneficial bacteria and feather dusters. The bacteria can be re-established.

[KurtS]

What about a yellow clown goby? The will eat pods right? I'm certain mine does... can't find a pod In my tank any more

 

Same but a green clown goby. Used to have a huge pod population and it went to no more visible pods in a matter of days.

Haven't seen a pod day or night in ages now.

[metrokat]

OH I forgot!! Springers Damsel. Such a small and gorgeous blue fish, they love flatworms.

[Steensj2004]

OH I forgot!! Springers Damsel. Such a small and gorgeous blue fish, they love flatworms.

 

oh boy!

 

These are Flat worms - they aren't the red planaria kind which aren't very tasty and are extremely toxic when they die. These are more edible by many fish but what they do is smother corals. Smothered corals don't get light and die. I thought you had an amphipod only problem, when did these happen?

 

The worm looks like a fireworm, get rid of it with tongs/tweezers.

 

Do you want to try to move the dragonette to the frag tank temporarily to eat the pods? don't feed her when she's in there though. A temporary net over it while she is in there would help escape attempts.

 

A wrasse is great for these bastards but the 3G shallow makes any fish able to jump so easily unless you consider a net cover.

In the meantime siphon the flatworms out. I use a toms aqualifter pump and suction them into a filter sock so i don't lose any water.

 

Another option is flatworm exit. It works more effectively for these FW than the red planaria. The instructions have to be followed very precisely, but it will kill the bastards, might even kill the amphipods , also beneficial bacteria and feather dusters. The bacteria can be re-established.

Good advice here. I have some of these flatworms, or did at one time. They never really multiplied and eventually went away( or something ate them). Only saw them in my Fuge, and FWE didn't even phase them. I dosed the ever living crap out of just my fuge by turnign off the water inlet to it, dosed like 6x the recommended dose by the time it was all over. Nada, didn't do crap to these aholes. Threw a baby six line in the fuge for a month or so, don't see em anymore. The wrasse as fat and happy as hell when I took him back to my buddy, so I assume he munched the heck outta them.

[Mkus]

Friends tank is infested with flatworms also crazy amount!

[metrokat]

Friends tank is infested with flatworms also crazy amount!

What kind?

[NYfishies]

Wow, thanks everybody for the great input!

 

Kat, the worm I shot the pic of is dead - I think a snail actually killed it? I will suck it out. I do not know how these effers got in the FT. I dip absolutely everything. I can rig up a net cover. Do you think Cleo would be ok moving? Sarah will NOT be happy. I really do not want a permanent cover over the FT either as the top down view of the zoa's is really amazing.

 

As for the scooter dragonet I would not move the one we have from the big tank, but instead buy a new one for the tank with the issue. We have trained the one we have to eat pellets, but she still eats pods. My concern with those little guys is they bury in the sand at night to sleep and the FT is bare bottom.

 

So I'm curious why the pods are munching the zoas... I mean they certainly can, but in most of my experiences they don't mess with corals because there's enough other stuff to sustain them.

 

Got an FTS? Is it possible that there's not enough other stuff to scavenge so they turn to the polyps? If it is, maybe add some more rock or something? Then again the last thing you want to do is encourage the population to grow. Hmmm...

 

I would also check out those flatworms... They could be messing with things as well and they would be a lot harder to catch in the act as well 0 though you have impressive large close up shots.

 

Good luck! Lots of fish eat pods - try to get one that will also munch on the larger amphipods.

 

I have actually cut back on my feeding of both the fish and the zoa's to try and starve out the pod population. The DT has a lot of rock work (see my signature).

 

We have a yellow clown goby in the DT (Sammy). He is awesome. I do not think he really eats the pods though. We have a helfrichi firefish (Emmie) and I do think she eats them here and there. Cleo our spotted mandarin does, but also loves bloodworms.

 

Can anybody ID the first picture of the little things on the glass? They slide around like little slugs.

 

Maybe we should add a Green Clown Goby to the FT? He wouldn't need a net right and should eat the pods? He could just perch around on the frag rack.

 

Thanks all!

 

 

[metrokat]

The slugs are flat worms

First picture

Springers damsel is a cool little FW eating fish.

[NYfishies]

Ohh, the pic you had didn't come through. Now I follow. I usually scrape them with the glass cleaner in hopes it kills them. I will start siphoning them out. I do think they are smothering the zoa's. They are not the only ones. There are pods that "crawl" on the zoa's. I can see their tenticals. I have seen them climb out of a half closed polyp.

 

Yesterday I also noticed a very tiny worm (looked like a snake) which come out of a closed polyp. Could not get a pic.

 

I need something to eat all of these bastards. Maybe I should just get a baby six line and then eventually have to return it?

[metrokat]

If the FW are in the display, turn off all pumps and turkey baste them into the water column, the fish should eat them. In the FT the 6 line or Springers damsel will be good. You will need a lid for the 6line more than the damsel but any fish is probably going to try to scale a low fence.

[NYfishies]

If the FW are in the display, turn off all pumps and turkey baste them into the water column, the fish should eat them. In the FT the 6 line or Springers damsel will be good. You will need a lid for the 6line more than the damsel but any fish is probably going to try to scale a low fence.

 

What would you do in my case given you know the setup so well? Sixline or Damsel?

 

Is a Green Clown Goby with no screen an option?

[metrokat]

6 line is an aggressive hunter, there is no doubt he will make short work of the Fw. It is an active fish however, and the 3G is too small of a space for him. Plus they need sand to burrow in. Try a Springers damsel, Josh at AF knows his fish. The Springers can be difficult to ID if the guy bagging doesn't know his fish.

[NYfishies]

I will speak with Josh. I think they are also called Sapphire Damsels.

[metrokat]

There Are 2 kinds and I have them both. The one Josh picked out for me is the real deal.

[JavaJacketOC]

The slugs are flat worms

First picture

Springers damsel is a cool little FW eating fish.

 

Springers/Sapphires are garbage disposals and aren't all that aggressive compared to other damsels...might be a good option

 

[ajmckay]

If you're checking into getting a fish to take out your pod population make sure you get something big enough to take out the amphipods!! I can't completely tell the scale of your pics but I regularly see those guys 1/2" long.

[Tamberav]

Best think to eat the pods off the top of my head for something that small would be a red ruby dragonette. Scoots along the bottom so shouldn't jump out and stays really small.

 

Dragnets are known jumpers. Bad idea. People seem to be misinformed that dragnets aren't prone to jump out of the tank.

BINGO. You will probably have to take him back after he decimates the population though.