zoo eating nudibranch. - Page 3

reefkeeper59 · #51 04/11/2005, 01:06 PM

if I could only invent a nudibranch trap, I'd be rich.

Speckled Grouper · #52 04/11/2005, 11:20 PM

Just finished my dipping exercise for the night. Got only one tonight but it was "the mother of all nudis". I praise myself, I am getting so good at this, I mean spotting them, they are truly masters of disguise.
My beloved LFS has gotten some Sea Grass Wrasses in, but they are in hiding in the sand still, so I got to wait until they can catch one for me......I sure hope that will be the answer to this agony.

reefkeeper59 · #53 04/19/2005, 04:20 AM

another pic of nudi.

FragFarmer · #54 04/20/2005, 02:18 AM

yeah they suck arse alright. They retain the color of what ever polyp they are eating to so they blend in perfectly as well as look like part of the polpy they are eating.

reefkeeper59 · #55 04/20/2005, 03:01 AM

hours after total darkness, get a flashlight out and you may be surprised at what you see. The population of these things can get to the hundreds or thousands befere you catch it.

If you have a zoo rock and some of the zoo'z are not open for several days while other 1/2 inch away are fine. You better be checking.

clown fanatic · #56 04/20/2005, 09:17 PM

ive asked this question almost 3 times and gotten no answer. can you just see these guys walking around. i have what looks to be a head of a nudibranch sticking out of my zoa's. upon further inspection it looks to be living in a clear plactic tube. the tube has to be created by that little bugger because i destroyed it once and with a couple of days there was another one. ive done SEVERAL FW dips and nothing but copepods come off....what do i have?

crpeck · #57 04/20/2005, 09:31 PM

The "clear plastic tube" part throws me. I don't know what that would be. There are a number of creatures that build tubes, maybe feather duster or fan worms. I have a lot of those obnoxious snails that build tiny hard tubes. I don't know clear.

As far as the nudibranchs go, the pictures on this thread are excellent and there should be no more doubt what they look like. Yes, you see them crawling around. They are extremely difficult to spot in the zoanthids because they adapt. They take on the color of the zo colony that they're in and the little ruffles on them look just like the skirts on the zoanthids. If you look carefully, though ... you can see them. The polyp will be closed but you still see a ruffle like a skirt ... hmmm .... look close and you will see that it is the nudibranch instead of the zoanthid. By the time you see them crawling on the glass of you your tank, your zoanthids are probably full of them and sheltering eggs as well.

They don't build tubes. You must have something else. Try Dr. Ron's forum, but you'll get more help from him with more specifics ... a picture would be ideal.

Good luck!
Cathy

Speckled Grouper · #58 04/20/2005, 09:43 PM

I have the tubes too, I don't believe they are nudis. I think they are some kind of worm that catches food by releasing a spider like string. I have found it very difficult to find the nudis, they take on the colour of the zoo they are eating. Also, when I dip, nothing seems to happen in the first 3 minutes, then they start emerging...

reefkeeper59 · #59 04/21/2005, 01:08 AM

Turn tank lights out,room light out, wait several hours. shine flashlight on zoo's. If they are there you should spot them. Hard to see during day, hide in skirts. They are nocternal.

The do get on glass at night. Thats how I found mine. Not a sign of them and then one day fifty or so on the glass, early AM.

I had a lot of tubes in a zoo colony. They wher soft tissue and whitish looking. Spounges. I pitched the colony rather than working for weeks to rid. It was a all brown colony and I didn't want spounge to spread too others colonies.

thrlride · #60 04/21/2005, 01:25 AM

Here's another decent photo of one. I don't see any zoo's closed up but I have pulled out 5 of these over the last month.

reefkeeper59 · #61 04/21/2005, 02:45 AM

These are extremely common hitch hikers. I'm thinking a chem company would have come up with something by now. I spoke to one and they said no miricle cure. lugol's super strenght iodine is only thing available. It is a dip only, so it becomes a project.

I'm a certified member of the INTERNATIONAL DIPPING SOCIETY.
A trulely prestigous group, If I must say so myself.

After my first breakout of these pest, realizing that superstrenght iodine kills them, I've dosed my tank with Kent Marine Iodine weekly. There reproduction seems to be deminished considerable.

thrlride · #62 04/21/2005, 02:47 AM

After posting that pic I decided to take a closer look at my few zoo colonies.

One in particular that isn't quite the same had 6, I repeat SIX nudis on it! I dipped for 5 minutes and pulled these nasties off. I may see two more on a different rock but I don't quite feel like pulling that one out yet.

thrlride · #63 04/21/2005, 04:20 AM

Wonderful... 4 more were found and eradicated.

thrlride · #64 04/21/2005, 04:30 AM

Are these guys only going to be on zoo colonies or frags or hiding in other locations?

I have some zooanthids with lots of other coral on the same rock, how would diping that work?

reefkeeper59 · #65 04/21/2005, 10:57 PM

pretty much just the zoo's. They can eat on some spounges. They will travel in search of food however.

thrlride · #66 04/21/2005, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by reefkeeper59
pretty much just the zoo's. They can eat on some spounges. They will travel in search of food however.

Yeah, I found one on a rock in the middle of the tank. I pulled out four more today now that I am looking closely for them.

reefkeeper59 · #67 04/22/2005, 05:14 AM

I'm about to give up on this hobby. It sucks. Now there is a simular nudi species that eats SPS. I have $5000 in sps. At least.

thrlride · #68 04/22/2005, 12:11 PM

Wonderful...

Drewcipher · #69 04/22/2005, 12:22 PM

You have the SPS eating nudi too now? I guess this makes the case for quarantine tanks. Sorry you have been having so much trouble. Did you ever look into anything that might eat them, besides the wrasse? I know they are poison, but it seems to me that if nothing eats them, they would overrun a reef. There must be some critter somewhere that has evolved to help keep them in check.

reefkeeper59 · #70 04/22/2005, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Drewcipher
You have the SPS eating nudi too now? I guess this makes the case for quarantine tanks. Sorry you have been having so much trouble. Did you ever look into anything that might eat them, besides the wrasse? I know they are poison, but it seems to me that if nothing eats them, they would overrun a reef. There must be some critter somewhere that has evolved to help keep them in check.

Exactly, There wouldn't be a zoo left in the world. Seems that with no control they would be so thick that reefs would never survive.

I don't have the sps type yet. Just read a thread about them. Tons of info shows up when typing "zoo eating nudibranch" in the search engine.

nudi's are the chicken of the , I mean AIDS of the sea.

GreshamH · #71 04/22/2005, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by reefkeeper59
I'm about to give up on this hobby. It sucks. Now there is a simular nudi species that eats SPS. I have $5000 in sps. At least.

Got a link for that one? I know about red bugs and the clear acro eating flatworms, but nudis? Damn.

Drewcipher · #72 04/22/2005, 02:25 PM

Do we know the actual name of these nudis? I am looking for predators and have found that sea spiders are known to eat some species of nudi. I will look for more info, but need to know the scientific name of the nudi we want to eliminate. If anyone knows, please post it. I will keep looking as well.

David4039 · #73 04/22/2005, 02:49 PM

When I got my nudi hitch hikers I went back into the LFS that I got them from and they swore up and down that they had never seen one. I spent the next two days looking over their tanks (I'm sure they were annoyed). I found one and pointed it out to them and now they have been spotting them like crazy. They suggested a six line wrasse to eat them. I really think it is a fish to fish kind of thing wether or not they will eat them. I did spot my blue legged hermits eating some of their eggs today though. That is a good sign I think. I caught two of these things and stuck them in a baby food jar. In less than 48 hours there were well over 20 egg clusters. The LFS has had them in that jar for another 48 hours and the eggs are everywhere, plus the adults are still alive. These are some tuff guys. Nudi's and cockroaches will own the world!

Drewcipher · #74 04/22/2005, 03:08 PM

I have found so far that sea spiders eat some nudis, and there are even some nudis that eat other nudis. Haven't got all the details, but maybe we can get some more people looking.

thrlride · #75 04/22/2005, 06:51 PM

That's a good idea to put them in a jar. When I catch some more I will start putting them in there to see if I can get some to hatch.