Zoa eating copepods

[reynaldoramon]

Recently, about a month, one or two zoa have been irritated. At first they would be half closed. Not it spends most days closed. I did a coral revive dip last weekend with no improvement. Last night I recorded this video. You can see several "inch worm " like worms. Look like strands if algae until u look closer and see it move. Then I see what look like copepods. They are fast and crawl along. I don't think they are nudibranch. They have small legs. The one zoa you see is new this month. That's why I wasn't initially concerned. I heard zoa that give bud to new zoas will sometimes be irritated and can close for a bit. Any truth to that? Any help would be appreciated. Worm and copepods id: Worm and copepods id - YouTube

 

[nelson.jdautobody]

dang that sucks bro. cant say i recognize what they are but i dont like any critters in my tank for any reason. hope someone on here can help you out with a suggestion on what might be able to control their population-there is always something out there that eats something else

 

[reynaldoramon]

Thanks. Me either. Pretty sure the worms are harmless..though not positive. Here is a picture of them now under the blues. Kind of puckered. The only one that looks normal is the new one. But there are more new buds from all of them. Could that be that cause of all this?

 

[Birddog]

Not sure I see everything in the video that you're describing, but the fast movers appear to be mature copepods. I started a new build about three months ago and the first items I stocked after the cycle were zoas and tisbe pods. The pods were for the long term potential desire to stock a Mandarin... long story short, the pods multiplied beyond my expectation and my zoas were starting to stay closed more than they were open. Upon closer inspection they were covered in pods along with all of my LR and LS!! Mandarin has been stocked and gaining weight, zoas are open and I continue to have a very healthy population of pods. Stock a fish that will hunt them and eat standard fish pellets like a Flame hawk, I wouldn't recommend a Mandarin unless you have a decent size tank, alot of LR, refugium and a commitment to fostering the perpetuation of your pod population.

 

[tonkaoz]

those worm like legs look like mini star fish to me . they hide In the rocks and just there legs come out until Its dark

 

[650-IS350]

Its AMPIPODS that eat Z's and P's not copepods.

 

[reynaldoramon]

Can verify they are not worms. They move around just like inch worms. When they are in a hurry they will tumble along on the rock end over end unto it gets where it wants...then continue on line an inch worm. Will fish like a mandarin eat ampipods?

 

[650-IS350]

wrasses like GreenSea Grass or Yellow Canary wrasse are great for that. Last one I would pick for pod erradication would be a 6line.

 

[reynaldoramon]

wrasses like GreenSea Grass or Yellow Canary wrasse are great for that. Last one I would pick for pod erradication would be a 6line.

I think the Yellow would be my best bet. My tank is too small for a green sea. Why would the six line be your last choice?

 

[RafaelAtkinsonJr]

Same thing is happening to my 10 gallon nano. Same battle we here Mr.Rey.,

Seems like my zoas are just closing and slowly dissapearing. I've seen ALOT of these little critters on my live rock during the day and night crawling fast around and in my live rock. I did a hydrogen peroxide dip and they went crazy running around the zoas and rock! Some floated to the top. Killed alot of bristle worms and those little critters copepods or amphipods or whatever it might be. Zoas look better now and are slowly re opening. But I do still see those critters on the other liverock that I have in my tank.

What would be my option to keep these under control in a 10 gallon??

 

[reynaldoramon]

Same thing is happening to my 10 gallon nano. Same battle we here Mr.Rey.,

Seems like my zoas are just closing and slowly dissapearing. I've seen ALOT of these little critters on my live rock during the day and night crawling fast around and in my live rock. I did a hydrogen peroxide dip and they went crazy running around the zoas and rock! Some floated to the top. Killed alot of bristle worms and those little critters copepods or amphipods or whatever it might be. Zoas look better now and are slowly re opening. But I do still see those critters on the other liverock that I have in my tank.

What would be my option to keep these under control in a 10 gallon??

I was considering a HP dip. I just want to give them a chance to recover. That one next to the new one is slowly shrinking. Such a shame.

 

[RafaelAtkinsonJr]

Well like i say, mine shrunk and were dissapearing so I had to take drastic measures. Since the HP dip they have stopped shrinking and dissappearing. Which is good. But I know their is still alot of those little critters on other live rock.... so dont know what to do.

 

[reynaldoramon]

Well like i say, mine shrunk and were dissapearing so I had to take drastic measures. Since the HP dip they have stopped shrinking and dissappearing. Which is good. But I know their is still alot of those little critters on other live rock.... so dont know what to do.

Strange thing is that I have some people eaters on another rock that are completely fine. Was looking at them at the same time and there was zilch on them.

 

[RafaelAtkinsonJr]

Very strange indeed.

 

[reynaldoramon]

Same thing is happening to my 10 gallon nano. Same battle we here Mr.Rey.,

Seems like my zoas are just closing and slowly dissapearing. I've seen ALOT of these little critters on my live rock during the day and night crawling fast around and in my live rock. I did a hydrogen peroxide dip and they went crazy running around the zoas and rock! Some floated to the top. Killed alot of bristle worms and those little critters copepods or amphipods or whatever it might be. Zoas look better now and are slowly re opening. But I do still see those critters on the other liverock that I have in my tank.

What would be my option to keep these under control in a 10 gallon??

Would you mind telling me how you did your HP dip..like ratio of water to HP..dip time..etc?

 

[fishroomlady]

I am having trouble with my zoas slowly withering away as well. I'm not sure what's wrong.

 

[RafaelAtkinsonJr]

I did 2:1 ratio. (SW:HP).
5 minute dip, blasted with turkey baster and shook around a little at the end.
Than shook around in freshwater for about 10 or so seconds to rinse.

And wala thats it. They opened up. I last did it 2 days ago. Ive read to dip at least twice. I did it sunday and a week later the following sunday.
Crossing my fingers.

 

[reynaldoramon]

Now I just need to decide if I want to dip the whole rock or if I want to break off only the pieces with the zoas. I'm assuming the best works be to do the whole rock, but I can't imagine the Coralline algae is not Gonna like the HP. But to save the zoas it's worth it.

 

[650-IS350]

if you still have some in your tank, you can use a magnetic frag rack to put the healing attacked frags. Having them in the frag rack keeps them away from the sand bed and main rock work where most ampipods like to hang out. They're less apt to go the glass walls in the open as fear of predation.

I've purchased 1" size YCR and GSR before. when they get big for my tank, I just donate them to other fellow reefers. But if your not planning to add any more fish after, then a 6line can be plausible.

 

[bmoore92]

Look up digitate hydroids. Sounds like your "inch worms." They pack a sting and could be what's irritating your zoas. Sadly I had them survive on frags after 2 separate dips and have yet to find a way to get rid of them