Jump to content
Innovative Marine Aquariums

zoanthid eating nudibranchs


ElectroTT

Recommended Posts

Hey everyone,

 

I was wondering how the zoanthid eating nudibranchs go about eating the zoas?

 

Do they start at the head of the zoa and work their way down ?

 

or do they attack the outer skin of the zoa and work their way in?

 

I've caught and killed about 2 so far, and I've been closely monitoring my zoos, it would be a great relief to find out that they attack the head of the zoo and work their way down, so i can actually see when they are on the prowl and I am able to re-act, where-as if they were to attack the base, I would be completely clueless and would not be able to help my poor zoos :(

 

does anyone have any experience with these pests >,<;;

 

freshwater dip at this point seems overkill, there are no visible eggs anywhere

Link to comment

I think they eat the stalk..im not to sure.. though.. make your zoanthid's close up and the Nudi's will be the same color as your zoas.. they will stick out.. among the patch of closed zoanthids.....

freshwater dip isnt overkill... b.c. you prob are just missing them (i had zoanthid eating Nudi's) ......... also do u know what the eggs look like?? IME the only way to see the eggs is to take the zoanthids out of the water and look through with a pair of tweezers ... also do a FW dip to get them all (i lost nearly all my zoanthids to these b.c. i cought them to late)

Link to comment

I am in a constant battle with these buggers. I cannot fw dip because my zoas are on every rock (big ones) in my tank. So my only option is to suck them out w/ a turkey baster. This is time consuming and a pain.

 

The eggs are small, circular and white. The stand out pretty easily on the stalks of your zoas. Besides using the turkey baster I have found it easier to syphon off each zoa colony when I'm doing a water change. This gets most of them and allows my zoas to grow and multiply despite the fact that some are still being eaten by these pests.

Link to comment

awesome shaggydoo ^_^, hey could you take some pictures of the zoos infested with the nudis ? I would like to see what I am looking for !

 

also, do zoos usually stay closed when they are being attacked ?

Link to comment

I don't have any pictures myself but I will try to find some and post back later. To give a word description they look like little slugs with spikes on their backs. These spikes are going to be the color of the zoas colony they are feeding on.

 

All my colonies look good and healthy, but that is only because of my rigorous syphoning and turkey baster manual removal techniques.

 

The zoas will start to close once the nudi population gets a little too big. If your zoas are closing then I would syphon then entire colony immediately as this will get rif of most of the nudis. When there are only a few of the nudis the colonies will look almost completely normal with maybe a polyp or two closing when a nudi moves around a bit, but for the most part the zoas will be fully open and no sign of danger.

 

After syphoning the few that are left will lay eggs and they you are back to square one. It is a tough battle and if I could fw dip I could win. But since it is not an option I just have to keep doin what I'm doin.

 

Ok here are some pics of the nudis.

 

http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?module=pnGa...m&g2_itemId=415

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...