mystery muncher...

[brighteyes_cm]

I have suspected something in our tank of eating polyps but due to their growth patterns it was hard to verify. Well the proof was right in the middle of the tank today...
we had a little piece of rock with some polyps on it, hoping to mix up the colors a little on our rocks, and this morning the big beauties were completely gone!

What could be eating my polyps????!!!!
We just bought some peppermints to clean up the aiptasia, would they attack my polyps too??

Im sad, and yesterday i noticed that one of my christmas tree worms is missing too!!

Someone is not playing nice!

[squid]

look very very close at your colonies. I'm sorry, I don't remember the name of the nudibranch, but they change color and body pattern to match the corals. At the shop, we would inspect every new coral that came in for these little munchers. They are very hard to see, so inspect closely. Look under rocks of the polyps. They don't necessarily "hide", they just change to their environment color.

[brighteyes_cm]

the little sprig of rock would be very difficult to hide on. it has a 2" branch that the polyps were growing on. and there were not that many of them on there.

But just in case... what should i look for??

[Alice]

I have seen nudibranchs that so closely matched the coral in texture and color that I couldn't tell there was one there until I touched it and realized it was squishier than the rest of the coral. They are masters at disguise.

It could also be a crab or a snail. There is a flattish, round snail with a checkerboard pattern that lives to eat zoanthids. I can't remember the name right now for the life of me but I know it starts with an "H."

Take the rock out and look at it carefully, using a cotton swab stick or similar to move the polyps apart. Also look underneath the rock for not only slugs but their egg cases.

You also should check the tank overnight with a flashlight to see if you can spot the muncher.

Good luck!

Alice

also look for sundial snails they eat pollyps as well.

[Alice]

Here's a pic of the Heliacus or Sundial Snail

[digital_dragon]

I have even seen some of my copepods that look like mini shrimp chow down on some of my polyps. Caught them in the act when the lights where off with the red flash light moved the polyps to the sump where the little boogers were not and they have been recovering ever since. It seem that they were feastion on the real small ones that where unique that i only had about 5 poylps on and now I am down to two hoping that they come back.

Earl

[digital_dragon]

Thank you for the pic Alice I was wondering what it looked like. I have these little snails that have a brown and white checked pattern on their shell about the diameter of an eraser head that don't seem to mess with anything but the algea on my tank. I was getting worried thinking that they might be a sundial.

Earl

[Toadfish]

Look at the encrusting of the polyps. I have had nudibranch's that hide in a detached area. And even when they come out it is hard to tell b/c they can camoflauge themselves to look exactly like the corals that they munch on.

[brighteyes_cm]

thanks guys for all your help

tonite maybe i'll catch the little bugger