what eats zoo eating nudis?

romeofoeve

Member
what can i add to get rid of the zoo eating nudis? i believe its a berghia verrucicornis, and there are tons of them.
 

teresaq1

Member
I found this
Zoo Dip
I take no credit for this, it's really no big deal to do. All of the items used are most likely underneath your cabinet already. I have performed this for years on hundreds, yes, hundreds of zoos and it has worked every single time. No I'm not being cocky or anything like that, this really and truly works as many -- members have PM'd me directly saying so. No I'm not looking for a that-a-boy or anything, I just see that a lot of reefers have ask about it so I thought I would post it in its own thread.
Each and every zoo that goes into my tank, healthy or not, gets a dip. This dip has worked for most every ailments my zoos have had. Some will require a bit of surgery and in some rare cases where I have received a colony with a very nasty fungus, I have deviated slighlty and placed several drops of Lugols Iodine directly onto the infected colony after a bit of surgery. I see that a lot of people are dealing with the whitish, opaque to yellowish fungus or some sort on your colonies. For some reason this happens alot during shipment and I'm sure a lot of you will concur. The key to saving a colony with this issue is to act immediately. You must remove all of the fungus with tweezers outside of your tank. Now using a very sharp razor blade, cut down and around the entire area that was affected. If you have a large rock and you want to be sure that you have irradicated the problem, remove 2 or 3 rows of good zoos around the area that was infected. Rinse the colony well with tank water using a turkey baster or the like, still outside of your reef, now perform the dip with the dipping brew below. I sent it to someone last week so i just copied and pasted it below.
"Here's the dipping brew that I have used and most people on -- are using it now as well. If it is performed as soon as you see the signs in the proper manner, success is always attained.
1. Using a 5 gallon white bucket, add 3 gallons of RO water.
2. Now add 1 or 2 drops of Lugol's Iodine per gallon of RO water.
3. Set your PH to 8.2
4. Set your water temp. at 78 degrees
5. If you have some Flatworm exit made my Saliferts, add
2 drops per gallon to the RO water to kill any Flatworms
Place the colony in the white bucket right side up. Leaving it there for about 5 minutes. Then grab the rock and invert it and place it in the water 3 inches below the water surface. Now twist the rock as fast as you can in a clockwise and counterclockwise motion for at least a minute. While the rock was sitting still in the RO water, it was killing off all bristle worms, Nudibranchs, flatworms and parasites. It will not kill off any Nudibranch eggs so you will have to inspect the rock for what looks like a tiny white 1/8 of and inch curly white piece of thread. They won't detach from the rock as the sack is very sticky. Inside this egg sack is up to 40 or so eggs just waiting to hatch. If you see one, just remove it with tweezers before placing the rock back into your reef. By the way, once you have finished twisting the rock in the water for a full minute, pull it out the water and dunk it back into the water a few times, splashing and swooshing is good, it dislodges anything that didn't fall off in the twisting motion. You are going to kill off a few copepds as well, but this is ok, as you have tons more already in your reef tank and your sump/fug. The dip will not kill your zoos, trust me, if you do exactly as stated above, you will be fine. If your colony is in declined and has been for some time, it may be too late to save them, but if you always do a dip on the first or second day of the problem, I have had a 99 % success rate at saving my own. I don't care what anyone else says, I know what has and will always work for the above issues. Zoos are all I know and I truly like to help out if and when I can.
Oh, I forgot, once you place the colony back into your reef, make sure they receive some current as they will be a little stressed and might slim a little, but that's ok, they will be fine. Your zoos will open in minutes.Always, ....always run your actinics only for the rest of that day. Actinics will encourage them to open. Try not to introduce any food into the system as well until the following day. On the following day, go back to your normal photoperiod. As I said, the zoos will be a little stressed and your 10 or 12k lighting will only try to encourage them to fully expand when they really don't want to right now because of what they have just experienced. I believe the bright lighting after a dip has and will discourage them from opening as soon. Trust me, you will not kill them my friend."
 

teresaq1

Member
It would be great if any of you who have tried this would post your results below. I know of several who have emailed or Pm'd me, but I prefer that you mention your experience with the above dip.
Safe reefing everyone
Mucho
PS, I chose Lugols for its medicinal/antiseptic properties. Please remember to wear reef safe gloves. The white bucket will allow you to see everything that you have just killed off. Two drops of Lugols will not hurt or harm the zoos. I use two drops most of the time myself. Best of luck to all of you.
 

smarls

Member
I presume this came from another site, posted by "MuchoReef"? (As a complete aside, his tank was a major motivation for me to set up my tank the way it is...it really showed me what you can do with a "simple" set-up, and the more "simple" soft corals - worht looking at his tank!)
OK, back to the topic - I have used this dip on my zoas ever since I got a colony with the zoa eating little bastxxxs on it. Anyways, I was lucky, noticed them early, did some research found the same article, and used it. I have used it on every zoanthid colony I have purchased since then, even if I notice nothing out of place on the colony.
I have lots of zoas, and no nudi's in my tank.
I had one bad experience after the dip, where a colony of zoas basically "disintegrated"...but I am pretty sure that was colony based event rather than a result of the dip (to explain - the sister colony at the LFS had also disintegrated when I went back to the LFS a few days later, and I do not believe that the LFS dipped this colony - so I cannot blame this on the dip).
Other than that, the only ill effect I notice is that the zoas are obviously a little stressed after the dip (understandably!). They may not open for a few days after the dip...but I can live with that to avoid nudis! Actually, one other ill effect is that the dip does kill indiscriminantly...so certain hitchhikers (like Amphipods, copepods, bristleworms, etc.) will get killed in the same way as the nudis. However, assuming you are putting the coral into an established tank, this is really not that much of a concern.
Also, if the dip is done correctly as created by Mucho (which I often forget to do) the addiiton of "flat worm exit" helps keep your tank flat worm free.
Basically, this method is great, and I would stongly encourage people to use it...mostly if you have a tank with many zoas - at that point, the risk of losing a few polyps during the dip is far more acceptable (at least to me) than the propsect of getting an infestation of nudis in an established tank full of zoas.
HTH
Stewart
 

romeofoeve

Member
the thing is i cannot remove each rock, it is in a large display tank i believe 75 gallon tall, and each rock is pretty huge. i was wondering if anythign ate them? perhaps an arrow crab?
 

db

Member
I've heard some people claim that a Six Line Wrasse will it them, but I can't confirm that information. Something to look into though.
 
Top