ZOANTHID EATING NUDIBRANCH

[Bergy]

OK, what else can go wrong with my life..???

I was fishing out some corals to bring and give to Renee and Greg, when i noticed this nudibranch lookin critter crawlin up the tank wall, and said, hmmm. i dont recall getting anything like this before...


It is really small, (and yea, i got pics, just not uploaded right now), about 1/3" and kinda cool lookin')

lots of little details/legs/fins/ etc...

And i package it and all the other corals up and head out...

as soon as i hand it to renee, and without lookin at it she said, zoanthid eatng nudi... and then she showed me pics of them, and yup.. that is exactly what i got...


i came home and checked out a couple other coloies of zoas that were kinda closed up/irritated and dang it if they were a couple hangin out on top of the polyps...

I pulled another one off by hand.. just pinched the bugger and put it into a tupperware for pictures, (to be uploaded later on today)


you can search the web for 'zaoanthind eating nudibranch to get your picture before i get it uplaoded...

[Bergy]

im not sure how i got them btw.. i absolutely dip everything in lugols or iodine...


I did fresh water dips tonight on the two colonies i noticed were somewhat irritated... nothing jumped off, at least not any nudibranchs...

I did pluck a couple off and used some wooden skewers to scrape off what didnt fall off

[lmgt]zoanthid eating nudibranch[/lmgt]

[Just_Greg]

Bill, the iodine doesn't always affect any egg masses IIRC.  oddly enuff, the Berghia nudies that eat appies are related to them.

Aeolid nudi:



here's another nudi that eats coral...this one preys on Colt corals (i found the sucker just crawling around our reef one day):

[Bergy]

Bill, the iodine doesn't always affect any egg masses IIRC.  oddly enuff, the Berghia nudies that eat appies are related to them.

Aeolid nudi:

yup, you are correct, the iodine does not affect egg masses...

I did a couple fresh water dips last night, and this AM i read that some folks are doing HOT water fresh water dipss...


hmmm.. not sure i am ready for coral soup yet...

and yea, thats the nudibranch that i caught...

(I got another one when i went home last night and have him in a tupper ware in case someone wants to check him out)

[Learner]

You couldn't make it up eh? ???

There's me, looking for my nudi's that cost a fortune, and poor you trying to get them out of your tank!!! :(

[RandyFolds]

There is only one way to deal with them IMO. Hit your tank with maybe a 4-8x dose of Salifert's Flatworm eXit. I did battle with them after my giant ultra infested zoanthid purchase and it worked well. I dosed half a bottle once, did maybe a 15% water change and then hit it again about a week later. Haven't seen them since. A bunch of vendors at the last IMAC told me to use it, as well as my favorite vendor, The Happy Coral, or THC as he refers to his company. His phone number also spells KUSH on his business card. Actually, I think Steve from Garrett's Acropolis is my favorite vendor ever. Man that guy knows a lot about coral.

 I had no trouble with my corals. Read up on it, since you have nicer specimens than my infested tank did, but it worked for me.

[Bergy]

i actually dont have that many zoanthids anymore...

the ones i am most bummed at right now is the nuclear greens


I finally got REAL NUCLEAR GREENS, and they were growing and multiplying only to get munched and munched.. now i have three polyps


arrrrghghh

[OCtrackiepacsg1]

huh, didn't think that a non moving creature can eat a moving one.

[RandyFolds]

I plopped those green fellows you gave me in my 50g under T-5s on the bottom and they bleached. They must have been somewhere all sorts of shady. I am not sure which ones they are (if the are "the real deal"), but when they perk back up, I can bring 'em back.

Also, above comment: nudibranchs are basically snails without shells, and this particular variety feeds on zoanthids, which are stationary. nothing too crazy.

[Bergy]

i would not have given away the nuclear greens.. and if you bleached the other green ones, then you must have some serious light going on...

[Just_Greg]

huh, didn't think that a non moving creature can eat a moving one.

you have it bass-ackwards...the nudies are motile and eat the appies, not vice versa.

as for sessile critters eating motile critters, it happens all the time.  corals and nems are a good example of sessile organisms that eat motile prey.  in fact, carpet nems can eat large fish...

[RandyFolds]

i would not have given away the nuclear greens.. and if you bleached the other green ones, then you must have some serious light going on...

Surprisingly, no... 2x54w T5s and 2x65w PC on a standard 50g. They are coloring up again, but they were not happy right off the bat.

[Bergy]

if they were the zoas im thinkin of, they are pretty hardy and rugged and all that.. but they arent the nuclear greens

nuclear greens have a slightly more brite green disk, and the fringe is a 'grey'blue color with small short tentacles.

the disk is usually flat and more 'circular'


yours are a little more dark green, and if i recall the fringe is a green color too, different green with longer tentacles then the NG

I also had a camoflage green polyp that were also very hardy and they grew FAST...

I had a couple hundred polyps of those...

[OCtrackiepacsg1]

Ohh! I read it as A zoanthid that eats a nudibranch not as a nudibranch eating zoanthid

[Bergy]

hjhhehehehe

i get it now


makes sense


hahah, i love the english language.. nothing can be more clear... it took like 4 messages before we figured out how / what