dapellegrini Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 I am considering adding one or two GBG to my nano tank - but under one condition - they must attack my overwhelming amphipod population. It has gotten so bad that they have literally devastated multiple small colonies (5-15 heads) of zoos and at this point I really have it out for them. Here is a semi recent shot showing how my amphipods work on my zoos: plus I think these would be REALLY cool little fish... AND IF these guys don't fit the bill, any other recommends on something that would eat these things - and stay at or around 1-inch in total length as an adult? Link to comment
BKtomodachi Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Oh, the carnage! That is terrible actually! Although I cant say whether a GBG will or will not eat the pods. Link to comment
reefdan Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 sixline wrasse will eat every pod in your tank Link to comment
tubatime1010 Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 I have a pair of GBGs... I have NO IDEA what they eat...they ignore EVERY food I've tried (I now have a very...diverse selection of foods for my other tanks)...I have mine in a tank where I've only ever seen ONE pod and he lives under a rock...lol So basically I have no clue if he will eat the pods...all I know is mine don't eat pods...or anything else that I've seen, for that matter... Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 You should ask c est ma about this, she has a pair of them. From what I understand they do eat pods, but I don't if they would be able to eat the larger ones, and it is usually the larger amphipods that attack zoas. Are you sure you don't have nudi's? I ask because I saw what might have been a nudi in the first pic, on one of the polyps near the top. Link to comment
reefone Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 imo id say those r not pods doing that to ur zoos. i had a tank full of zoos that died from the same thing ur showing and i didnt have any amphipods. my sixline made sure of that. i have a pair of gbg and i only see them pick at the rock but whatever they r eating is to small to see with my eyes. Link to comment
dapellegrini Posted March 31, 2008 Author Share Posted March 31, 2008 Thanks for the replies so far. I got rid of my Sexy Shrimp when I say her picking at the zoos, but I can't get rid of the amphipods! I think I have photos with the amphipods eating away at some zoos, but they may be blurry, I will dig around tonight when I get home. I have seen them doing it with my own eyes, though I cannot guarantee that they started the job, they definitely like to eat my zoos. It is really quite infuriating.. I don't think I have any nudibranches and am not sure what you are talking about int he first picture, but you definitely have my attention No other corals in the tank are affected... (GSP, Clove Polyps, Rics, Monti Cap, Green Birds nest, etc). I was not going to add any fish to this little 5g, but after reading about Diane's success and all of these problems with amphipods, I am attempting to put 1 and 2 together. Heck if fly paper would work, I might give it a try! Link to comment
Dooderino Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 I was having an amphipod problem as well. My first frag of zoans were victim of the deadly pods. My six line took care of that. Now my zoans are growing great! Link to comment
dapellegrini Posted March 31, 2008 Author Share Posted March 31, 2008 I don't think a sixline is an option in a 5g, right? Maybe I could borrow one for a few days ... Link to comment
miniwhinny Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 an overwhelming "YES" they will eat them. I have one who loves Rods Food and anything else I feed him but he spends his day hunting and devouring pods...to the point where I never see and pods in my 29. In fact I now have to run a fuge to grow more hahahhaa. Yes, they will devour them. Link to comment
dapellegrini Posted March 31, 2008 Author Share Posted March 31, 2008 Oh - what great news! Thank you. I am hoping I can get one or two more confirmations before I go and add this fish - just to make sure that yours aren't acting out-of-the-ordinary. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Thanks for the replies so far. I got rid of my Sexy Shrimp when I say her picking at the zoos, but I can't get rid of the amphipods! I think I have photos with the amphipods eating away at some zoos, but they may be blurry, I will dig around tonight when I get home. I have seen them doing it with my own eyes, though I cannot guarantee that they started the job, they definitely like to eat my zoos. It is really quite infuriating.. I don't think I have any nudibranches and am not sure what you are talking about int he first picture, but you definitely have my attention No other corals in the tank are affected... (GSP, Clove Polyps, Rics, Monti Cap, Green Birds nest, etc). I was not going to add any fish to this little 5g, but after reading about Diane's success and all of these problems with amphipods, I am attempting to put 1 and 2 together. Heck if fly paper would work, I might give it a try! I was looking at the first pic. At the very top of the pic, there is a polyp that is open, but you can only see the stalk and just a part of the face of the polyp cause the top part of it is cut off in the pic. If you look at the base of that polyp there is a brown thing on the right side that looked like it might possibly be a nudi, but I'm by no means certain of that. I just wanted to make sure you ruled out that possibility first. Do make sure you check for nudi's first. They can be the exact same color as the polyps and really blend in as a result. If you're sure you don't have nudi's, then pods probably are the culprit. You could try some GBG's and see if they work. Even if they don't they're really cool fish to have, esp in a tank that size. You could also try getting a six-line with the intent of only keeping him in there for a week and then returning him to the LFS. They don't take long to wipe out a pod population. You'd just have to keep a close eye on your ammonia, nitrite etc while he was in there because of the additional bio-load in such a small system. I think it's doable if you're careful though. Link to comment
dapellegrini Posted March 31, 2008 Author Share Posted March 31, 2008 Thanks for the clarification on that - I will bust out my huge magnifying glass tonight and give everything a thorough looking at - in search of nudibranches - is there a specific color or size I should be looking for? If that brown spec might be a nudi, that is VERY small... as a reference, the half-eaten zoo there is smaller than a pencil eraser... As far as fish, I wasn't planning on adding any, but I like the GBGs and was thinking that might be a fun addition, especially if s/he eats my amphipods - like a 2 for 1 deal Link to comment
miniwhinny Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Mine is an active little guy too and a perfect size for a small tank. Hope you get more input on them and good luck. Link to comment
tubatime1010 Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 When it comes to Nudis on zoas, I didnt even know i had them until I saw them moving one day...they change color depending on the color of the zoas they are on. (mine looked almost exactly like the "tentacles" on the polyps) Link to comment
dapellegrini Posted April 1, 2008 Author Share Posted April 1, 2008 ya, my tank is quite like like an underwater flea circus... and i am sooooo eager to put the fear of god back in them.... I think I will try a GBG and see how it goes - I hope they aren't jumpers - my rimless will not be friendly for them if they are... I studied the zoos and I can't find anything that I might suspect as a nudibranch, but that is inconclusive at best... do fish eat nudis? Link to comment
Smurf Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Are you sure your PODS did that? Link to comment
dapellegrini Posted April 1, 2008 Author Share Posted April 1, 2008 I have seen the amphipods snacking on the zoos, but I can't say for sure whether they start the problem or just make it worse. Here are those same zoos in the early stage of being picked apart, you can see how they get little puckered sides, where they are starting to get eated: Here is another colony that was completely killed, in its final death throws, note strange worm thing (actually the subject of the photos) and amphipods!!! I had a number of really small zoos and the larger amphipods would actually detatch them from their rocks and haul them away! Back then I thought maybe they were just making a cool fort or something... Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 I have seen pods attack zoas, but they eat the whole thing from start to finish....Those look sick and like the pods are picking at them. Are you sure the zoas arent sick?.....Pods will be all over dying zoas like white on rice if given the chance. Link to comment
dapellegrini Posted April 2, 2008 Author Share Posted April 2, 2008 I don't know. The small dying colony might looks sick because it was in its death throws... The other colony still looked pretty vibrant while getting picked apart... I dunno, but I thought zoos were easy? Maybe they do have some kind of weird illness, not sure... I kinda hope not and I haven't found any common illnesses with the same symptoms. I know the pods are tearing them apart, but I can't say if they are causing the problem or exasperating it... Link to comment
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