Zoa Eating Nudis

Anybody have experience with these little buggers? I am 90% sure they came in about a week ago on a new zoa colony. I was in a rush and didn't dip like normal and am now paying the price.
I have pulled out a couple larger colonies to dip, but unfortunately it isn't possible for a number of colonies. I know that 6-lines are very popular in help controlling populations, but what other options are there? Evidently flatworm eXit works as a tank treatment for them, any first hand experience? Is it as (reasonably) safe as the common thought seems to be?
A couple days ago I noticed a section not fully opening and then today *WHAM* full blown infestation. Not a good day

 

i got some in on a new zoa frag also

i have just been taking them off with tweezers, now i dont see them any more but im still looking to make sure. works fine on a frag but i know its not practical on a colony of zoas.

what do you dip the frags in when you first get them to prevent this?

 

I use Reef Dip by Seachem. I think its an iodine type dip. It works good on corals. Any little bug or parasite on the coral gets freaks out when you dip them.

BTW, I am curious to know what these little Zoa eating Nudis look like. Does anyone have a good detailed picture of one??

 

I believe that was a zoa eating nudi, at least they look something like that. I saw that guy way back when and took him out, I never had a problem with them so I don't know if he was the only one or I just got lucky.

 

Yup, looks like one to me. I just pipetted and tweezered them off, I had them on a large colony. I keep checking on it, but seem to have got them all now, it took about 6 weeks.

 

Let me preface this with a warning. If you try this at home it is at your own risk. In this case with my tank things worked out for the best, but I take NO responsibility if you try this and kill something.

The reading I have done about FWE has led me to believe two things:
FWE is reef safe as per manufacturer and will kill zoa's.
FWE gets a bad rap on occasions. Not because it is a bad product, but because treating flatworms can be inherently risky. Because of the toxins released on death, killing off large numbers even under perfect circumstance can cause a massive meltdown.

I tested this out with a large, heavily infested colony of zoas. Submerged them in 16oz of tank water with one drop of FWE, all visible nudis were killed inside 90 seconds. Zoas were rinsed and placed back into the tank and opened up in minutes.

So today I officially declared war on the little pests. Picked up a bottle of fwe and geared up with my turkey baster and tweezers.
Step one was plucking/siphoning out as many as possible. After that, I killed my skimmer and unhooked the carbon reactor.
Started out by dosing 2 drops per gallon(50% strength) and watched for about 15 mins with little reaction from the nudis and no adverse reactions in the tank. Repeat with two more drops, wait. Some of the visible nudis started dieing off but many remained. Dosed two more drops per gallon(150%) and waited.

Nudipocolypse. The ones that didn't completely fall apart would do so when you brushed/jetted them. As of now no visible nudis are around. I have been watching the tank carefully and so far there are no signs of stress from any inhabitant. Skimmer went back on line after 2 hours, carbon will follow tonight.

Current plan is to retreat weekly for 3 unless any show up before then.

 

I have dealt with them alot as a LFS and once I have time I am planning on writing an article in regards to parasitic pests of corals....

I would take out the colonies if you can and do a simple freshwater dip every 3 days. Dip them for about 5-10mins then swish the piece to dislodge the nudis. Also watch for egg clusters, the eggs are small but are always in decent(1cm) sized clumps. Brush them off!! They will not fall off from the dip! Also halichores wrasses can help but it can be hit or miss, I would love to post more but the daughter is angry!! Worse than nudis!!

Good luck!!

PS ALWAYS DIP NEW CORALS!!!!

 

I dipped the colonies that I could last night, but getting many of them out of the tank is unrealistic. Usually good about dipping my corals, just goes to show you how missing just one can bite you in the...well, you know

 

Update: Post D-Day

One *small* nudi found, and I think it may have been dead because it didn't move when I tried to pipette it out. Zoas are once again open and thriving, polyp extension on all corals is great and fish are doing wonderful. Skimmer is working over time, but everything seems normal. Will retreat the tank in two days, then again at the week mark and once a week post.

 

These nudis are very slow moving and stay still when you pipette them, if you put them in a container with some tank water and give them a few mins they start moving around.