Zoanthid eating spiders!!

iMi

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This frag has been for sale on their site since when they said they said they fixed things you can clearly see a spider in the polyp, I was looking just last week and it was still there for sale

7F4DB9D7-723A-455A-9830-98505B207B8B.jpeg

Wholly s***

Now, that is absolutely crazy. Just unbelievable.
 

metzer

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What's really crappy is that this thread was left to die, just like I said it would without a single word from the vendor. Nadda, nothing, zero, zip. What a joke

Lets keep bumping this until they say something......
I had some DOA arcos and they never returned multiple emails.
 

Lopezag1994

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Will be posting more info after the WWC live sale. Gotta stay attentive for that! But spoke with the manager Ramon. Wow what a conversation. I would highly suggest not purchasing from AquaSD everyone. Such poor business practice. Got fed a bunch of family business bs. I help run a very large family business. Would never act like that over the phone to a customer. Yea my business maybe payroll and taxes. But still customer service is top priority no matter the issue. Very disappointed. Regret giving any money.
 

zoaprince

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Will be posting more info after the WWC live sale. Gotta stay attentive for that! But spoke with the manager Ramon. Wow what a conversation. I would highly suggest not purchasing from AquaSD everyone. Such poor business practice. Got fed a bunch of family business bs. I help run a very large family business. Would never act like that over the phone to a customer. Yea my business maybe payroll and taxes. But still customer service is top priority no matter the issue. Very disappointed. Regret giving any money.
Mind posting a bit of what he said?
 

uscggirl

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Yeah yesterday I pulled 6 more off the frags I got from them, I really annoyed and I have hundreds of dollars in zoas in my tank and I think it’s wrong for these online coral sellers have infested corals, i had better luck with petco corals than buying online, and it sucks dipping doesn’t take care of most of the pests that come in on these frags, AquaSD still has yet to email me back but it only has been a day or so, hopefully they will reimburse me for the lost frags “at least the ones they sold me”
I had one polyp that had 5 in it and the polyp was see through and you could see all 5 nesting in one polyp
Wow!!! Just when I thought I’d gotten a decent handle on all the horrifying things that can happen in a reef tank. Zoe Spiders?!?? Aaaahhhhh!!! Maybe I should go FOWLR!
 

ReefBeta

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hm, does R2R have any standard for sponsored vendors whatsoever? Or is that as long as you pay, no concerns are raised against their practice, and live sales as usually?
 

FishyFishFish

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Will be posting more info after the WWC live sale. Gotta stay attentive for that! But spoke with the manager Ramon. Wow what a conversation. I would highly suggest not purchasing from AquaSD everyone. Such poor business practice. Got fed a bunch of family business bs. I help run a very large family business. Would never act like that over the phone to a customer. Yea my business maybe payroll and taxes. But still customer service is top priority no matter the issue. Very disappointed. Regret giving any money.

Do tell!
 

mdb_talon

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hm, does R2R have any standard for sponsored vendors whatsoever? Or is that as long as you pay, no concerns are raised against their practice, and live sales as usually?

Cant expect R2R to get in middle of policing pest issues in my opinion. I am actually just happy they have left this thread open as often the slightest negativity toward a vendor leads to app posts except the OP removed and it moved to vendor feedback. When thay happens i think they do a disservice to those who use the site, but I dont expect them to referee transactions other than outright fraud(though some of the pictures i see might qualify as fraud lol)
 

FishyFishFish

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This is a thread about zoa spiders and not about a particular vendor ;)

On that note, is everyone winning the battle? I haven’t seen any more on mine for a while, but I’m paranoid every time a polyp doesn’t fully open or the skirt is slightly folded over.
 

iMi

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I am 100% certain I have eradicated mine. It actually went faster and was somewhat easier than expected. I‘ve lost a few frags and had seen damage to one small colony. I would have lost a lot less had I known and paid closer attention. To anyone dealing with an infestation, here are some tips.

- Manual removal is key
- Don’t keep taking frags out to dip and dip and dip. It will only stress your corals
- Spiders seem to be most active after lights out. Use a flashlight and look for them. Do this several times, each evening. Check several times during the day as well. Pull any you see.
- They don’t spread as fast as one may expect. They seem to stay on the same rock. I have had an island that was totally unaffected.
- Use a turkey blaster between polys and don’t forget to check other corals where they may be hiding. I found a couple just chilling between the branches of an organ pipe coral.
- Get a wrasse to help, if that’s an option for you.
- Be persistent. Don’t let up.
- Open polyps = no eggs inside
- Melting polyps = likely a new batch of spiders just hatched
- They can apparently feed on some other corals, specifically leathers. Keep an eye out
- Ask for help. Folks here are knowledgeable and helpful. At the very least, you’ll have a shoulder to lean on as you deal with these little monsters.
 

iMi

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Cant expect R2R to get in middle of policing pest issues in my opinion. I am actually just happy they have left this thread open as often the slightest negativity toward a vendor leads to app posts except the OP removed and it moved to vendor feedback. When thay happens i think they do a disservice to those who use the site, but I dont expect them to referee transactions other than outright fraud(though some of the pictures i see might qualify as fraud lol)

100% agree. The vendor, too. Yes, we’ve got a bad deal but the reality is that we don’t know how many corals they sell. It could be a very unusual situation for them with hundreds of thousands of happy customers. Would I buy from them again? Maybe. The other corals I got from them are beautiful and healthy. Time will tell. In the end, pests are simply the ugly underbelly of this hobby and likely unavoidable.
 

MagicMiller72

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I did a freshwater dip on every single zoa I have I the. Cut off the polyps that looked infested or were not opening for some reason, I will keep doing dips like you said and hopefully this will eradicate them, I hate having pests in my tank..
I have heard that there are some shrimps or other types of inverts and some types of fish or blennies will eat the spiders I do believe. Don't quote me for sure, but I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere. Not for sure what types are good for that though
 

Lopezag1994

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This is a thread about zoa spiders and not about a particular vendor ;)

On that note, is everyone winning the battle? I haven’t seen any more on mine for a while, but I’m paranoid every time a polyp doesn’t fully open or the skirt is slightly folded over.
I believe this entire thread started from a specific live sale from AquaSD....
 

Lopezag1994

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I’m not gonna sit hear and slander a vendor. But I will say the customer service, tone, and way the phone conversation I had with them was very poor. I do have other corals from them doing just happy and they replaced a DOA with no issues. So was happy with that situation. Unfortunately Ramon was either very busy or sick of this complain. Was super harsh on the phone. Fed me a bunch of “we sell thousands of corals, we can’t guarantee no pests” (I totally agree but these are horrible). I voiced same things I have here. I think it’s poor they didn’t attempt to contact people who purchased zoas during that sale with a simple blast email. Man would have said so much for how much they care.
I totally understand handling thousands of customers. I get it’s tough so like I said not going to just rip them out. But I will say I won’t recommend them nor purchase from them again. Just find the situation poorly dealt with customer service wise.
Also have not received any word after Ramon asked me to send an email with my concern s/photos for refund.
As for my spider issue. Still monitoring very closely. I seem to have gotten them with pulling AquaSD zoas and trashing literally the night I found this post. They only spread to one zoas plug which unfortunately only had two polyps to start so didn’t make it. I seem to be okay now, fingers crossed. I hope everyone else does well!
Hope everyone gets happy corals from them, pest free, and has a better experience then I did. Best of luck!
 

vetteguy53081

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There are more than 1300 known species of sea spiders as they are not zoa specific but favor zoa, and almost all of them are carnivores. Depending upon the species, they will feast on your corals, anemones, sponge, etc. These little spiders can decimate a colony pretty quickly. They may be hard to spot, some being as small as 0.04 inches in diameter. They will even crawl inside a closed polyp, making it very difficult to spot (and thats how tiny they are. Some commercial treatments claim to remove pycnogonids but often the case. The spiders tend to stay beneath the mucus layer of the zoas, and remain unaffected by treatments. The best method discovered so far is to physically remove the adults with some tweezers. Keep checking the coral for months afterwards to catch any that hatched over time.
Some crabs will kill them such AS arrow crabs. These spiders do have a few other known predators. It is important that you carry out research before adding any new livestock to your aquarium to ensure they are compatible with your existing stock, and that you can meet their care requirements.
Known predators but not guaranteed include:
-Copperband Butterflyfish
- Butterfly Fish
- Six Line Wrasse
- Melanurus Wrasse
- yellow Coris Wrasse
Additionally, they may live under the coral mucus layer, and this would further obscure them. They do not appear to be easily removed by dips, poisons, or potential predators. Frankly, if they are found on corals in any tank, it can come down to the the best option likely to be to remove the coral from the tank, and simply dispose of it.
 

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