Parassite is irritating my Zoa

[thomasrusconi]

Can anyone help me to identify the parassite in the attached pic?

 

[Flowering Reef LLC]

Looks like a zoanthid eating nudibranch, usually tricky to find because they take on the color of the zoas they are eating and their eggs are hard to kill and find, i would dip the zoas immediately to get the adults off and monitor it closely for hatchlings, you might be dipping for a while...

 

[thomasrusconi]

Thank you for the quick reply. I will dip in CoralRX. Do you have any suggestions for how long and how many repeats over the next few days?

 

[Flowering Reef LLC]

Thank you for the quick reply. I will dip in CoralRX. Do you have any suggestions for how long and how many repeats over the next few days?

My pleasure! Yeah I would definitely try to dip and blow the adults off while their paralyzed, then inspect them and look for the eggs if you find the eggs i would dry them out with a paper towel (because they have a mucus membrane coating) and then get them off with a brush or something.. I would watch out and inspect the coral (dip if necessary ) until im sure there aren't any left...

 

[thomasrusconi]

My pleasure! Yeah I would definitely try to dip and blow the adults off while their paralyzed, then inspect them and look for the eggs if you find the eggs i would dry them out with a paper towel (because they have a mucus membrane coating) and then get them off with a brush or something.. I would watch out and inspect the coral (dip if necessary ) until im sure there aren't any left...

Thank you. I am preparing the solution right now. Do you have a good way to identify the eggs? Do I need to pull the parassite off right?

 

[thomasrusconi]

Thank you. I am preparing the solution right now. Do you have a good way to identify the eggs? Do I need to pull the parassite off right?

The bug come off with CoralRX and you were right the eggs are very hard to clean off the coral but I think I got them all.

 

[Flowering Reef LLC]

The bug come off with CoralRX and you were right the eggs are very hard to clean off the coral but I think I got them all.

Very happy to hear that! yeah the coral rx should stun the adults long enough to blow them off with a turkey baster or similar device. Yes sir those eggs can be tough to spot and difficult to remove, i would still keep an eye on that colony as well as the rest of the colonies you have to be on the safe side but it looks like you have things under control ! congrats!

 

[justinmatt79]

You may need to dip again down the road if the eggs hatch. Think of it like pest control, they generally only kill what’s living and crawling around. The eggs yet to hatch will need to get hit with another run by the pesticide. You have to break the egg laying cycle. I’d be prepared for dips for a couple months, just to be safe, and keep a watchful eye for irritated zoas. The baby nudis can be much harder to spot.