Sea spider

[Shawnman]

Last night during lights out i observed a tiny sea spider amongst my zoa colony. Should I leave it, no biggie or perhaps remove the entire colony /rock and dip in Coral Rx?

 

[Shawnman]

Bump

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Without being able to see the spider for an ID, it's hard to say if it's a harmful one or not. That said, there are zoanthid eating sea spiders, so it may be a good idea to get it out if for no other reason than to try and get a decent ID on it.

 

[exnisstech]

^agreed^ I can't see it in the image

 

[VintageReefer]

@Reefkeepers Archive

 

[MoshJosh]

Maybe I am paranoid, but I say try to remove it if possible.

 

[VintageReefer]

Can you capture it and get it in a jar or cup? While we await for the jury to decide it’s verdict - tank, sump, or flushhhhhh

 

[areefer01]

Last night during lights out i observed a tiny sea spider amongst my zoa colony. Should I leave it, no biggie or perhaps remove the entire colony /rock and dip in Coral Rx?

Friendly tip - it would help those you are asking help you if you could circle or and a pointer to the item in question. It will more readily point them to it rather than spend time playing Dora the Explorer and trying to find it.

 

[Yang’s Blue Paradise]

Yeah if it looks like a spider it is mostly a zoanthid-eating spider. They look like this, I also had one of this in my zoas and you can easily pick them out at night. But I blieve they may lay eggs so I would be careful and keep mointor them. Although I haven't seen any since my first spider.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Yeah if it looks like a spider it is mostly a zoanthid-eating spider. They look like this, I also had one of this in my zoas and you can easily pick them out at night. But I blieve they may lay eggs so I would be careful and keep mointor them. Although I haven't seen any since my first spider.

Good pic there! Yeah, some species will lay eggs (sometimes physically inside corals) while other species will carry the eggs underneath them - I haven't looked into Zoa Eating Spiders specifically enough to know which they do though.

 

[Shawnman]

I just caught my sea spider with a pair of tweezers. I wasn't able to provide a picture of the actual spider because I didn't have one. The pic was just illustrating where it was residing and what I would have to dip if I went that route. Hopefully this is the only one.

 

[Shawnman]

Thanks for your guys' help.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

@Reefkeepers Archive

How did I not see this earlier.


Yes, kill them all, dip the coral, watch it after the lights go out for any more and pray you don't have an infestation like me

 

[MCL in SD]

Good pic there! Yeah, some species will lay eggs (sometimes physically inside corals) while other species will carry the eggs underneath them - I haven't looked into Zoa Eating Spiders specifically enough to know which they do though.

sorry for replying to an old post, but can confirm they carry eggs on underside
I had a zoa chunk that seemed to be slowly losing polyps

took it out and used loupes to find a dozen spiders
one of them had eggs (I think)

I think the different color is because their digestive tract extends into the legs and the colored ones are filled with the digested zoas