zoanthid problems

[hefner413]

My 55 reef has been up for 19 months now. I've been having problems with the zoas for about 4 months now. They just are NOT opening up much. And when they do, they seem to keep in their skirts. My levels are all perfect. pH 8.2, no2/no3/phos/amm all 0. All my other coral seem to be doing fine - the hairy mushrooms/ rics/ hammer/ frogspawn/ etc. The only corals with the problem are the zoas.
I thought it might be old lights, but I replaced them with new about 2+ months ago.
Any ideas?

 

[big]

Is Pox an issue? Google the term "Zoa Pox" and try reading the info. Good Luck..........................

 

[maxalmon]

You may have nudi's....evil little creatures that are about 1/8 to 1/4" look like little slugs with without the shell. They usually take on the color of the zoa they are feeding on. If the zoa's are on a rock you can remove from tank, take some RO water and put it in a zip lock bag, float the bag of water in your tank to even out the temp, then put the zoa's in the freshwater for about a minute, won't hurt the zoa's but will nuke any unwanted (all) critters.
I always freshwater dip my zoa's, no matter where I get them from and I've found many of them.
Nudi's are kinda hard to see, but if you look hard enough, you can spot them.

 

[spiderwoman]

Do 2 dips, one with Flatworm Exit and another with Lugol or any other iodine solution. Watch what comes out. You may find zoa spiders and even look for asterina starfish on the base of the frag.

 

[hefner413]

so whatever I find... is dipping all the rocks w/ zoas pretty much cure them? or do they end up coming back?

 

[maxalmon]

It's 50/50 if you'll get everything on the first dip...I had an amazing nano that got infested with nudi's...Took me 2 months of dipping to finally rid the tank. I'd dip the frags, then 2 days later I'd dip again and still find more of them. Things with Nudi's is the eggs, only they know where they deposit them...

 

[hefner413]

revisiting this topic. I'm FW dipping my zoa's.... if I am only able to dip 75% of my zoa's (25% has spread to huge rocks that I can't necessarily dip), will I still be able to dip the 75% and get rid of them? Or will the nudi's continue to spread from the 25% to the rest? also - even if I was able to dip all the zoa's... wouldn't the nudi's still live on other rocks, and thus just spread back onto the zoa's when I put them back in? In this case, is there a medication (like flatworm exit) like I can use to treat the whole tank? If not... is there any other way to rid the tank of the nudi's?
thanks!

 

[reefman1223]

QUESTION When you dip them you use RO/DI with a high Ph or straight RO/DI no Ph.. I have just encountered this problem within the last week as well. I caught 6 on the glass and took them out with a tweezer.

 

[hefner413]

I'm not sure - but I used the same pH as the DT.

 

[spinylobster]

I dipped mine in DI with a little Iodine, and it did the trick

 

[hefner413]

Originally Posted by Hefner413
http:///forum/post/2794665
revisiting this topic. I'm FW dipping my zoa's.... if I am only able to dip 75% of my zoa's (25% has spread to huge rocks that I can't necessarily dip), will I still be able to dip the 75% and get rid of them? Or will the nudi's continue to spread from the 25% to the rest? also - even if I was able to dip all the zoa's... wouldn't the nudi's still live on other rocks, and thus just spread back onto the zoa's when I put them back in? In this case, is there a medication (like flatworm exit) like I can use to treat the whole tank? If not... is there any other way to rid the tank of the nudi's?
thanks!
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