Zoo's rapidly disappearing!

[nmocean]

I have some blurry photos of some critters that are rapidly eating all of my zoo's! They seem to resemble a amphipod, but I know they arn't. They are out in the daytime eating the zoo's and getting pretty good size, the one I saw today was probably about 1/2mm. Will something eat these, like a six line wrasse maybe?
-Jen

 

[nmocean]

bump :help:

 

[bronco300]

which part am i looking at??

 

[nmocean]

In the very center of the picture there are a few zoo's left and two bugs crawling on them. I know the pictures are blurry (sorry), but I had to zoom just to get the critters to be visible. Any idea's??
-Jen

 

[bronco300]

can you try taking a close enough pic to where it is focused, then open it in paint??? when i edit my pics in paint, it makes the pics about 100x bigger, so then you can cut that specific part and past it in a new paint thing...i have to study the pic more,lol...hopefully someone will know right off the bat

 

[murph145]

i will have outbreaks of zoo eating nudibranchs a small slug like creature whos diet consist of zoo's!!!!
they can be very colorful some are vibrant green and orange and none are more than a few millimeters big ... ill have to take out the affected zoo's and try to pick them off one at a time but some have laid eggs so they keep coming back....
could be those sounds like thats the case

 

[nmocean]

Thank You!!
Bronco300- I don't have paintshop. I am not really computer savvy, but I will try to get a clear picture.
Murph145- I have heard of the nudibranch's that eat zoo's, but to me these don't look like nudibranch's. These more resemble an amphipod. In the Pocket Guide to Marine Invertebrates by Ron Shimek on page 231, there is a picture of an amphipod, and that is what they resemble. Do you think a six line wrasse would take care of it either way? I have read about a Sea Grass Wrasse that will eat the nudibranch's, but they will also eat smaller fish, so I am thinking a six line wrasse might be the safer way to go, since we have small fish in the tank. At the rate these things are consuming the zoo's, I imagine by the time I get and quarantine a fish, all the zoo's will be gone. Anyway, what do you think?

 

[bronco300]

are they to big to pick off with tweezers or knock off?? if you put them in a seperate tank and knock em off...replace them untill you can get something to take care of the little creatures?

 

[nmocean]

Bronco300- They are fast little buggers', so picking them off isn't going to work. Might be a good idea though, to put them in a bowl and give them a good shake. What about a FW dip?

 

[murph145]

interesting i never new of an amphiopod type eating zoo's
that really sucks but hey ive found wierd hitchickers that eat my stuff so i would never say its not possible.... id try a freshwater dip and see what u can do im confused to what they are then.... sorry to hear about that i hope u can save some of your zoo's!!!!

 

[bronco300]

what about takeing a powerhead to it...getting some stronger current to blow them away...but then again, doesnt mean they wouldnt come back..

 

[ophiura]

Keep in mind, though, that amphipods are scavengers. You WILL see them around dying animals, or they may just be there by chance, eating other stuff in the area. So I would be sure to eliminate other issues, such as sundail snails and nudibranchs...or even just basic water quality, lighting, etc. The amphipods may be the wrong trail. From that picture at least, it seems they would be amphipods.

 

[shnabbles]

Want animals do you have in your tank?
Did you just have a temperature spike?
And Temp spike is a sure fire way to kill zoos.

 

[nmocean]

Thanks everyone!
This tank just went through an ich outbreak, and was left fallow for 30 days (which I know gives the amphipods a good chance to grow). So far the only animals added back to the tank (after quarantining) are a yellow clown goby and 7 green reef chromis. I have in quarantine now a pair of percula clowns, foxface, powder blue tang, bi-color blenny, and a flame angel. There are also dwarf red legged hermit crabs, astraea snails, turbo snails, nassarius snails, nerite snails. All water parameters are consistent and normal. I have not had any temp spikes.
I know they are not sundial snails, I don't believe they are a nudibranch. I am not even sure they are an amphipod, but they sure do resemble them. I have never seen amphipods out during the day, these "critters" are out in the day. If they could possibly be amphipods, would they irritate the zoo's. Most of the zoo's that are left (which is not much at this point) are not opening fully, like they are irritated. Also, if it could be amphipods, maybe a mandarin-fish would be a better choice.
Do you think I should get that six line wrasse and a mandarin-fish in QT a.s.a.p, meanwhile do the FW dip and see what comes of that? If I could get something to fall off the colony, I might be able to get a more clear picture. I'll try the FW dip tomorrow and let you know what I find.
Thanks all for the help!! GREATLY appreciated! -Jen

 

[dea_mt]

i had the exact same problem as you in my nanocube and i couldn't put anything in there to eliminate the pods. i actually could watch them eat a way on perfectly healthy zoos. i just can't put anymore in there i guess...

 

[nmocean]

WOW!! DEA-MT, your sure they were pods? What all did you do to try and get rid of them? That is exactly what we were doing the other day, just watching them crawl all over the zoo's and we knew that is what had to be eating them!! It sounds so crazy, doesn't it? So you don't have any zoo's left? Thanks for posting, maybe we can come up with something!!
-Jen

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by Nmocean
Thanks everyone!
This tank just went through an ich outbreak, and was left fallow for 30 days (which I know gives the amphipods a good chance to grow). So far the only animals added back to the tank (after quarantining) are a yellow clown goby and 7 green reef chromis. I have in quarantine now a pair of percula clowns, foxface, powder blue tang, bi-color blenny, and a flame angel.
IMO, you are on your way to another Ick outbreak, considering this rate of stocking. How large is this tank? How old is this tank? Any ideas on what the stress was in the tank previously that caused the outbreak of ick?
They might have been given already but what are your specific water parameters??? If you have an ick outbreak, and now some die off of zoanthids, etc, I would look primarily to some sort of issue in the tank...water quality, possibly stray voltage, or something.
I do not believe, personally, that the amphipods are the cause of the loss zoanthid loss.

 

[funkyman]

How many degrees of fluctuation define a temperature "spike"? :notsure:

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by funkyman
How many degrees of fluctuation define a temperature "spike"? :notsure:
It depends how constant your temperature is. Ideally, there would be little fluctuation in temperature...maybe a degree or two at most each day. So in that case if you go 3 or 4 degrees out of that, it could possible be considered a spike. But in many cases (heater malfunction or something) it could be 10 or more degrees.

 

[dea_mt]

ocean - yes they were large amphipods!!! i just hadn't put anymore zoos in my nano and i can't put any in my 75g because my sally lightfoots will tear em up. i'm eventually gonna get rid of the sallies so i can get some