Nudibranch damage recovery?

[Fink]

So I had my first nudibranch hitchhiker that must have come in on a small mixed colony I picked up at my LFS last week. I haven't had any issues with anything I've ever bought from them, so I didn't do my due diligence.

Long-story short, I lost one whole polyp and the tentacles from two other polyps before I found and removed the little bugger. I very carefully scraped off a small circle of eggs that I found on the colony and put them back in the tank (i don't have QT).

MY question is: Will the damaged polyps re-grow their tentacles, or are those polyps going to die off eventually. Also, what should I be doing in the next couple of weeks to protect my newly planted zoa garden? Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[ahiggins]

Personally I would take a sharp knife and cut off the affected one. They might grow back but that will slow the growth of the rest of them. I battled zoa pox for months before I eventually had to cuz out the infected and let the healthy ones grow.

 

[Fink]

Do I need to remove the colony from the tank, or can I safely snip off the two affected polyps while they are still in the tank?

 

[ahiggins]

You can cut them off in the tank if you want. Or you can take the rock out. I usually do it out of the tank so the flow doesn’t take the frags/coral away never to be seen again. Lol

 

[Fink]

So, I just noticed this tiny green fella on that same colony of ZOA's, when he goes up near the heads they close. Is this a juvenile nudi, or a harmless pod?

 

[ahiggins]

It’s hard to tell but nudis are super hard to get rid of, wouldn’t surprise me. Do you also have hydroids or are those strings on the glass?

 

[Fink]

Honestly... this has been enough to make me want to quit the hobby... I patiently let my tank cycle with a pair of ocellaris clownfish, then about a month ago I started adding coral. I may have added too many too soon, but I immediately got a ton of different kinds of pests. I've had Zoa eating nudibranchs, asotrina starfish, hydroids, and vermitid snails all in the first month of adding coral.
I really started to notice all of these pests when I started broadcast feeding with reef roids, but because I added a good number of coral all at once, I don't know which piece they came in on... Does everyone experience this extreme frustration and disappointment at the start? I know a QT would have helped me avoid some of this, but I didn't have one, and now this is where I am...
Oh yeah, and the royal gramma I added right after the cycle brought in Ich... ***

 

[MohrReefs]

Honestly... this has been enough to make me want to quit the hobby... I patiently let my tank cycle with a pair of ocellaris clownfish, then about a month ago I started adding coral. I may have added too many too soon, but I immediately got a ton of different kinds of pests. I've had Zoa eating nudibranchs, asotrina starfish, hydroids, and vermitid snails all in the first month of adding coral.
I really started to notice all of these pests when I started broadcast feeding with reef roids, but because I added a good number of coral all at once, I don't know which piece they came in on... Does everyone experience this extreme frustration and disappointment at the start? I know a QT would have helped me avoid some of this, but I didn't have one, and now this is where I am...
Oh yeah, and the royal gramma I added right after the cycle brought in Ich... ***

Let your tank go fish less(fallow) for (dont quote me on the days) about 76 days. That will keep the ich from resurging.

As for corals, if your LFS has pest infested corals, they probably dont give a rats about their end users. I'd spend more on aquacultured corals and dip them after you receive them. Still can bring pests but there should be much less and a dip will kill most things.

I'm not convinced reef roids brought anything into your tank. I use it myself. But it likely fed the little critters already present from your rock and corals.

 

[Fink]

Let your tank go fish less(fallow) for (dont quote me on the days) about 76 days. That will keep the ich from resurging.

As for corals, if your LFS has pest infested corals, they probably dont give a rats about their end users. I'd spend more on aquacultured corals and dip them after you receive them. Still can bring pests but there should be much less and a dip will kill most things.

I'm not convinced reef roids brought anything into your tank. I use it myself. But it likely fed the little critters already present from your rock and corals.

I agree that the pests were probably already there, but through reef roids was a feast that brought them out of the woodwork.

 

[MohrReefs]

I agree that the pests were probably already there, but through reef roids was a feast that brought them out of the woodwork.

Most definitely, its hyper concentrated nutrients. To a smell pest, you basically rained burgers on them lol.

Go fallow, keep dipping your corals until you get the pests gone. Once you cleared the fallow days from ich(dont add anymore corals either until after that passes or the days reset) you can look into hardy fish that are resistant to ich. If they're still alive, you need to remove the clowns into a separate tank and medicate them or you'll never get rid of it.