Zoanthid Eating Pods or a Bad Nudi?

[aquawolf]

I noticed earlier this week that one of my zoanthid frags was starting to dwindle. Tonight when I got home I noticed the frag was even smaller. I checked it for the dark gray asterina stars and did not see any on it so figured I would wait until lights out to see what is happening.

What I found is very interesting. There are pods on the frag. They have little stripes on their backs. I did my best to get a picture of them and this is all I could get.



Then, as I was backing away from the tank the flashlight hit a white thing on the glass and I had to take a closer look. It appears to be some type of a nudibranch. It is solid white and it was only on the glass, but I am wondering if it could be a bad one. Here are the best pictures I could get of it.






If anyone has a clue as to if these nudis are harmful or not it would be appreciated. Of course, if they turn out to be harmful then I am going to need to know how to eradicate them as well.

[Hop]

Well they are different that the nudis I have, but my guess is that if they are in your zoa they are trouble!

I've been doing TMPCC dips weekly with good results. I'm hoping the wrasse will help me out a tad and I've hear FWE will also help, but not with the eggs

[Hop]

I guess I should add that the nudis will camo themselves to match the zoa they are munching on. Mine are brown with green and really hard to spot on my zoa. they don't seem to touch the green zoa, but the eagle-eyes are apparently yummy. Mine seem to be brown if I dislodge them and find them in the sump or after a TMPCC dip. Not sure if that helps with your identification.

[aquawolf]

Thanks for the info Hop. These are bright white and stand out like a sore thumb now that I am shining the flashlight around. I have found a total of 3 of the nudis but am sure there are more. They are definitely not on the zoas though. The zoas that are having a problem are covered in the pods though. When I shine the light you should see how many pods run away from that frag.

Should I try to remove the nudis that I am seeing just to be on the safe side? I have no idea where they may have come from, but I could start Lugol's dips if need be.

[Hop]

Originally Posted by aquawolf

Thanks for the info Hop. These are bright white and stand out like a sore thumb now that I am shining the flashlight around. I have found a total of 3 of the nudis but am sure there are more. They are definitely not on the zoas though. The zoas that are having a problem are covered in the pods though. When I shine the light you should see how many pods run away from that frag.

Should I try to remove the nudis that I am seeing just to be on the safe side? I have no idea where they may have come from, but I could start Lugol's dips if need be.

Well you got me on the removal portion, since I'm just starting my education on the suckers. At this point my belief is a nudi is a bad nudi The pod issue I've seen in the past (years ago) when I had a dying colony. You may want to check with CRVZ about his FW dip routine that really brought his around

[aquawolf]

Hopefully Chris will chime in soon on this as well.

I have to be up at 4 for work and it is 11:15 now so I had better try to get a little sleep. I will check everyone's suggestions when I get home tomorrow. Thanks in advance for any help with what to do about this.

[crvz]

So I essentially just did fresh water dips because I wanted to dip everything and didnt want to pay for a medication for that much water and that many dips. I wasnt certain what was causing the trouble on mine, but it started after I added a couple eBay colonies and I suspect they brought more into the tank than some nice new color (asterinas is my best guess).

I was really pretty haphazard in doing the dip, maybe more aggressive than was wise, but I didnt lose anything in doing it this way. I pulled all my zoas out of the display and into the grow out tank (not have space for any type of hospital tank), and then weekly I dropped them in a bucket of RO/DI water that matched the temp of the tank. I put them all in at once, and then let them sit for about 5-10 minutes (usually while doing some sort of tank maintenance). Then, before putting them back in the grow-out area, I shook them violently in the water to knock off any pests. No invert stood a chance.

After probably 4-5 dips, they all started opening up well, and just recently I started adding a few of the larger colonies to the display to see if they'll stay well recovered. A week later and everything still looks good.

[aquawolf]

Thanks for posting Chris. Freshwater dips are easy enough and I would expect that to cure any type of issue of the pods eating them.

Do you have any clue about the nudibranchs though? These are completely white and look like little fluffy things from a distance. I am prepared to revert to my days as a Marine and do the "kill them all" approach, but my new kinder side says if they are not harmful then let them live.

[aquawolf]

Well, I came home after working two 18 hour days back to back and got some sleep. The next morning I checked the tank and the one group of zoas was almost completely gone, only about 4 polyps left out of at least 40 before. So, I got the fresh RO/DI water and added a heavy dose of Lugol's to it. I then dipped all of the zoas that were in that section of the tank, as well as the montis I saw the nudis on, for at least 10 minutes. Then they were rinsed in fresh saltwater the zoas went into a different tank while the montis went back into the 75.

There was a huge assortment of dead critters in the bottom of the container when I finished. Small bristle worms, asterina stars, amphipods, baby snails, and so forth.

That was on Friday and some of the zoanthids are finally starting to open again. I was starting to worry that the treatment had killed them as well.

The montiporas are not so fortunate. They lost all of their color, but I am leaving them in the tank anyway to see if they are able to recover from it. Here are pictures I took of the montis today.

Superman frag:



Green cap:



Orange danae: