Amphipods DESTROYING zoas

[spencer75088]

Ive have a red sea max nono g2 up and running just over a year. Everything was going great until amphipods we're introduced to my tank. The tank was started with dry rock and sand. Everything was dipped and fish were all quarantined. I suspect they came with a cleanup crew.

Problem is, they won't stop eating my zoa's. Yes I know some say they don't but I've watched for over an hour as one munched on my fruit Loops(zoa's). Frag after frag slowly disappears. I've lost 20 frags. They don't touch palys. These are missive amphipods some almost 1/2" fully extended.

I thought my problem losing zoa's was a water parameter problem at first. Ive tried super clean water, super dirty water and everything in between. I have a wrasse. I have a dragonet. They can't keep to population down. Ive tried feeding less. They end up eating the zoa's faster as a result of a lack of food. I feel more so they don't eat the zoa's and the population explodes. The I have to feed more and more as the multiply.

At this point, I'm ready to remove everything and nuke the tank. Any ideas before I resort to that? Take everything out and starve them out?

 

[spencer75088]

I will add, I have 25 zoa frags in the tank on a rack away from any rocks. Those have zero problems growing. I've even taken zoa's I know are being eaten, almost down to nothing, put them up in the rack where the pods can't reach and they slowly heal back up and start growing again

 

[Tahoe61]

You could use interceptor.

 

[therman]

Sentinel is even stronger and lasts in the system longer. I personally hate those big amphipods, they chew on corals and definitely eat zoanthids. Was thrilled when past treatments cleared them out of my systems.

 

[spencer75088]

Sentinel is even stronger and lasts in the system longer. I personally hate those big amphipods, they chew on corals and definitely eat zoanthids. Was thrilled when past treatments cleared them out of my systems.

Ordered some interceptor from Canada. Fingers crossed

 

[Alexraptor]

I feel your pain and know exactly what you are dealing with.

IME frags for some reason are especially tasty, but they won't touch my mature colonies, thankfully, and they actually do my tanks a service in keeping them aiptasia-free.

 

[Lavey29]

I've got a thousand of those same amphipods in my tank and a thousand zoas and they have never bothered anything in 4 years. Now, will eat alage on coral or dead and or dying corals as any member of the cleaner crew will also.

 

[spencer75088]

I'm on dose 3 of interceptor. The first round killed some. Handful of them floating within 30 minutes of treatment. Checked with a flashlight last night and still have tons of them. Doing a 3 week treatment so hoping the prolonged exposure will finish the rest of them off. Also hoping that the interceptor is killing off eggs before they can hatch.

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

Man send some my way

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

Also just do a double tripple dose of interceptor. I wiped mine out that way dosing for acro bugs. Wish I have them back. Amphiboles not acro bugs

 

[spencer75088]

Also just do a double tripple dose of interceptor. I wiped mine out that way dosing for acro bugs. Wish I have them back. Amphiboles not acro bugs

I wondered about nuking them with a stronger dose. I was worried about doing too much and hurting the remaining livestock I haven't relocated to a different tank. I pulled out all the clean up crew and shrimps before the first dose. Ive been doing 1/3 of a small chewable (5.75 mg) eash dose as per instructions from other forums.

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

Ah yes I mean your crabs and shrimp will be smoked pretty much regardless. But I had no other affects other then copepods and amphipods being smoked as well

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

Also. A dough rolling pin works great to crush them up!

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

I feel your pain and know exactly what you are dealing with.

IME frags for some reason are especially tasty, but they won't touch my mature colonies, thankfully, and they actually do my tanks a service in keeping them aiptasia-free.

I’ve had this exact same experience.

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

Ah yes I mean your crabs and shrimp will be smoked pretty much regardless. But I had no other affects other then copepods and amphipods being smoked as well

I don’t think it’s cool to just wipe out all your shrimp and crabs like that.

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

I don’t think it’s cool to just wipe out all your shrimp and crabs like that.

No it’s not. You can capture them and put them in a bucket of tank water with a heater and wave maker. I believe he is already dosing interceptor

 

[spencer75088]

No it’s not. You can capture them and put them in a bucket of tank water with a heater and wave maker. I believe he is already dosing interceptor

I pulled all of em out before dosing. Living in a biocube overrun with hair algae. They're all living their best life.

I crushed up 2 - 5.75 chewables and added it to the tank. Mass casualties amongst the amphipods. Hopefully that did it. Thanks for the advice

 

[spencer75088]

Well, what I thought had worked, didn't. Interceptor knocked them down but I still had some living at the end of dosing.

Thought of something else when planning the nuke my tank approach. When I was on vacation last month my heater quit in my small BioCube which I had pods in as well. The temperature in the tank dip to 60°. Upon inspection in that tank I didn't have any pods left. They must have died from the cold water temp.

With nothing to lose I pulled all livestock from my main tank and dumped mass amounts of ice in dropping the temp to 60. Right away I could see pods floating. I haven't seen one since doing this.

Moved All my livestock back to my main tank after a few days. All zoas are open and happy. Haven't had any disappear either. Parameter levels seem fine as well

 

[MikeyZo]

Why not get fish thst eat amphipods? A six line wrasse and a firefish will make a big dent in them

 

[Tahoe61]

Well, what I thought had worked, didn't. Interceptor knocked them down but I still had some living at the end of dosing.

Thought of something else when planning the nuke my tank approach. When I was on vacation last month my heater quit in my small BioCube which I had pods in as well. The temperature in the tank dip to 60°. Upon inspection in that tank I didn't have any pods left. They must have died from the cold water temp.

With nothing to lose I pulled all livestock from my main tank and dumped mass amounts of ice in dropping the temp to 60. Right away I could see pods floating. I haven't seen one since doing this.

Moved All my livestock back to my main tank after a few days. All zoas are open and happy. Haven't had any disappear either. Parameter levels seem fine as well

Back in the day hobbyist used to lower the tank temp to treat for red bugs. I hadn't thought about that intervention for a long long time.