help!!!! my fish is eating my zoas

fl_izzy · #1 11/30/2007, 07:31 PM

i have some Zoas that i traded with and have not openned yet after a few days. i suspect temp shock. anyways just today i noticed my magnificent foxface eating some of those zoas. is that normal? does this type of fish eat zoas? he is only eating the ones that are closed.

delsol650 · #2 11/30/2007, 08:13 PM

Foxface and rabbit fish have been know to take a liking to them once they get a taste of the slime that the zoos release from time to time... Luckly for me my foxface and scribbled never had/have a taste for any zoos or palys.

mfinn · #3 11/30/2007, 08:52 PM

Yes they do develope a taste for zoanthids.
Tangs will also do this.
Once a fish has decided that that coral is a food source, they will go back and back untill the colony is gone, then move on to another.

MUCHO REEF · #4 12/01/2007, 06:39 AM

I agree with Mfinn.

If anything in your tank is in decline, dying, dead etc, just about anything in your system will feast on it, fish, even reef safe fish, inverts, pods etc.

Mucho Reef

fl_izzy · #5 12/01/2007, 10:03 AM

i think i will start feedng heavily and let my skimmer help with the rest. hopefully that will slow it down or stop it. it looked more like he was eating the glue than the zoas but time will tell.

fl_izzy · #6 12/01/2007, 10:04 AM

i think i will start feeding heavily and let my skimmer help with the rest. hopefully that will slow it down or stop it. it looked more like he was eating the glue than the zoas but time will tell.

mfinn · #7 12/01/2007, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by fl_izzy
i think i will start feeding heavily and let my skimmer help with the rest. hopefully that will slow it down or stop it. it looked more like he was eating the glue than the zoas but time will tell.

You can try that, but fish graze all day long and even if you keep something in the tank for them to eat all the time they will eventually will go back to a known food source. Not to mention the pollution the uneaten food will cause in the tank
I did try that with a second tang, didn't work for me.
If it works for you keep us posted on the progress.

MUCHO REEF · #8 12/05/2007, 07:03 PM

Any new details on how things are going with the polyps?

Mucho