Amphiphods / Pods eating zoas

jw258

jw258

Sea Turtle
As above, my two Magician frags were doing brilliantly a week or so ago. But all of a sudden them and then alone have closed up. Just gone to dose my supplements manually and spotted 5-6 pods all over each frag as in the pics below (crap quality as lights are out).

The zoas have had a green-brown looking mark on them for a few days but I am now wondering if those are wounds from these pod sods!

The zoa responded well to a dip in aquaforest protect with three or four polyps opening within an hour of going back into the tank. Perhaps the dip moved the antagonists away for a while?

What do people think? I've had both frags from one frag which I broke up two months ago and had 6 polyps in the first instance up to 20odd.

I've only got a coral goby in the tank that eats frozen only. It actually runs away from pods! It's a 60l so I'm restricted to what I can put in. Have always wanted a scarlet scooter. Would this help cure my infestation?
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In the absence of fresh SW to rinse and top off with I've given the rocks a quick scrub and put the one frag amongst lots of SPS where the pods dare not venture perhaps the flow is too great? Then put one in a far corner away from all of the rock hoping that the pods won't risk open ground to get to it and put the final one on my magnet wiper. Will have to see how they are in the morning.

Thanks for your help and for following.

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Im pretty sure that if there pods, they will be going for the algae mate not your zoas, also is that an aiptasia on the left hand side tho? That may annoy it into not opening on the left side
 
davelee said:
Im pretty sure that if there pods, they will be going for the algae mate not your zoas, also is that an aiptasia on the left hand side tho? That may annoy it into not opening on the left side
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Aiptasia has been there for months and never stopped them openining. I did just flash boil it with a red hot knife for good measure though.

They are deffo eating the zoa, there are wounds to the flesh.

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They could be eating rotten flesh, as the rock is easy to remove from your tank I would give it a dip and see what comes off, you could have zoa eating nudibranch or something similar
 
CraigDoc said:
They could be eating rotten flesh, as the rock is easy to remove from your tank I would give it a dip and see what comes off, you could have zoa eating nudibranch or something similar
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+1
pods eat dead flesh (shrimps/corals, any meaty products left over), you are likely seeing the cleanup crew - result, not the cause of the initial problem.
 
The pods in my dt never touched the Zoas per sa but they did used to scavenge all the crap that settles between the polyps.

I’m after some pods if you want to get rid of any.
 
NaCl + H2O said:
The pods in my dt never touched the Zoas per sa but they did used to scavenge all the crap that settles between the polyps.

I’m after some pods if you want to get rid of any.
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If you have a way of catching/cultivating them I'd happily pop some in the post. How temperature dependant are they? Will that live in stagnated water?

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CraigDoc said:
They could be eating rotten flesh, as the rock is easy to remove from your tank I would give it a dip and see what comes off, you could have zoa eating nudibranch or something similar
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There has been lines of green on the flesh and the flesh isn't as plump but I'm not sure it's rotten. If you give them a day of no bother then they start to open. I wish I had a qt to put them in. Would they last in a bucket without any water movement if I changed the water daily? Wouldn't be too dissimilar to a rock pool?

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jw258 said:
If you have a way of catching/cultivating them I'd happily pop some in the post. How temperature dependant are they? Will that live in stagnated water?

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The temp and water in the post for a few days won't matter. Best way is too net some from the sand bed when the lights go out and they come out to forage. I'd happily pay the postage for some in a little pop bottle.
 
Pods aren't eating the zoa, they are simply doing their cleanup thing - as said above, you MAY have something else eating them, also, that Aip wouldn't be doing them any favours at all.
 
jw258 said:
There has been lines of green on the flesh and the flesh isn't as plump but I'm not sure it's rotten. If you give them a day of no bother then they start to open. I wish I had a qt to put them in. Would they last in a bucket without any water movement if I changed the water daily? Wouldn't be too dissimilar to a rock pool?

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Get yourself some dettol and pot 0.3ml in 1 litre of tank water, swish it around for 5 minutes and see what comes off.

Rinse in a little bit of old tank water and put it back in your tank and see if this helps
 
How long has the coral goby been in there for because I had too get rid of one because he had got the taste for nipping my zoas and also have seen a couple of posts on here with coral gobies nippy lps and sps corals
 
Pilsbury doughboy said:
How long has the coral goby been in there for because I had too get rid of one because he had got the taste for nipping my zoas and also have seen a couple of posts on here with coral gobies nippy lps and sps corals
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It nibbled my hirsuta and spat it our straight away. He doesn't go near the sand. It hangs out on my branching SPS and sleeps in the crater which is my green plating Monti.

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ph123uk said:
Pods aren't eating the zoa, they are simply doing their cleanup thing - as said above, you MAY have something else eating them, also, that Aip wouldn't be doing them any favours at all.
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aip is gone but it was there for about 3 months without causing them any closure, stunted growth etc. They were flourishing until the tank got over fed and nitrates went up to 5. All of the other zoa and SPS are fine even the forest fire that closes up if you so much as fart in the lounge.

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Fair enough then, but the pods aren't causing the problem with 100% certainty, otherwise no reef tank in the world could keep corals :) i'd go with craigdocs suggestion of a dip :)
 
About to dip. Some look like they've opened after I moved them to places I don't see pods (corners away from cover).

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The magicians are goners. Have some other perfectly healthy high end zoas that look to be getting nibbled this evening. Will be ordering a frag rack in the morning as they appear to be safer away from the sand bed. I'll also be buying a scarlet scooter to make a dent in the population. Can always take it back if it refuses other food once it's decimated the pod population (if it does).

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I've read a few posts online about amphipods eating corals, particularly zoas. maybe there's some truth to it
 
nm1204 said:
I've read a few posts online about amphipods eating corals, particularly zoas. maybe there's some truth to it
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Agreed. Not something I've seen, and certainly most CUC gets blamed for causing damage when in reality they are just clearing up, but amphipods eating zoas is a regularly repeated issue:
https://www.ultimatereef.net/threads/amphipods-eating-my-zoanthids-what-to-do.760289/#post-7456434

I suspect there are some rogue amphipods. The advantage is pretty much all fish will eat amphipods!

Tim
 
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