On going Zoa eating Nudi Problem...

Hey all,

Mods if you think this post would be better in different section please feel free to move it.

So, I have a Zoa Eating Nudibranch issue... I have tried the natural route with two wrasses and the to my knowledge they have not even touched any of them from just watching...(two 6 lines)

My next plan of action is using flatworm exit. I have read that it will do a number on them...

But I really don’t want to it in my whole tank...

My question on this is can I take all the Zoas out of my display and place them in a 10 gallon tank and treat them that way as a quarantine..

With that being said would a small 2 t5 light fixture be enough to supplement light for zoas and will the nudibranches die by not having any zoas to eat? Any ideas how long the life cycle of a nudibranch is with little or no zoas to eat? I know that the flatworm exit takes a few doses to totaly kill all the nudibranches since it will not kill the eggs....

Any other suggestions other then flatworm exit or maybe a different fish to eat the zoas?

They are nasty little buggers is all I can say!

Thanks for all the help!
Cole

 

Sorry to hear about the issues.

Curious do you have a ton of zoanthids? So much that you can not remove them and then manually remove the eggs and nudibranch every couple days.

I myself have never heard of a nudibranch eating wrasse, flatworms yes, nudi no.

For the sake of research can you put an image of the nudibranch and the zoanthids please.

Oh and I have heard people trying flatworm exit but I have never heard it being effective, only manual removal. May very well be wrong so I am curious.

 

Let me see what I can find as for pictures... We have been manualy removieng them from the Zoas for about 3 months or so... We get the big ones out and then for a while the Nudis slow down for a week or so then another big one shows up... The reason I was thinking about takeing them out is I dont have all that many and they are kinda stuck in the aquascape so I was looking for a more so one and done solution even if it ment keeping them in a smaller tank for an extended period of time.

I do know that the eggs are in little batchs and look like a curly q...

Ill see if I can get the pictures...

 

Thanks I appreciate it.

 

Nudi Pics

Here are some pics I hope they turned out ok...

Hope it helps...

 

This may not be a solution, but I recommend dipping your zoas in Coral RX.

Product Infomation - New Dipping Alternative|Soft Treatment|Revive Coral Dip - CoralRX

I try to dip every coral I get before adding it too my system. If its possible to pull out the zoa and place it in a cup mixed with coral RX, you will see parasites literally JUMP off the coral. This will not rid them, but its a good defensive line to keep them under control.

Best of Luck, and hope this is helpful

 

Thanks for the reply.... I did some time ago use the lugol's iodine solution to dip and it seemed to get a handle on them... I was reading that malachite green maybe a solution too... I dont know if that is available to the hobbiest...

I think I am going to possibly take all my zoas out and put them in a temp tank so maybe i can get them 100% under control...

 

Thanks for the images.

I used Q-tips to remove the eggs when I had a small issue with the zoanthid eating nudibranchs.

 

Has anyone used malachite green solution to treat corals? I read on an online fish and coral store site they recommend treating everything in it. But the directions seem to be fish specific and not coral related. Any thoughts? Some say they do a number on the eggs of the nudibranch also...

 

I just picked out a bright green one off my zoa last night, the zoa were closed most of the time for the past weeks, guess i found the problem.. guess i need to keep an eye out for them from now on (never heard of this nudibranch before)