Amphipod eating BTA!!!

[SashimiTurtle]

So I have had this Rainbow BTA for about 2 months. Everything has been great up until the point where I had to remove my fish to QT and treat for velvet. Since then I have gotten a VERY large population of HUGE amphipods.

First thing I noticed was my purple pallys were staying closed. I moved them a few times and they would always turn and face the light, but never open. I decided to dip them just in case there was some pest bothering them but all I saw in the dip were the huge amphipods. I didn't think anything of it, but the next day my pallys were open.

Now it seems the amphipods have taken a liking for my BTA. I went to check on the tank and it was not in it's normal spot. It was on the underside of an overhang, closed up and COVERED in amphipods. I gently pulled it off and made a makeshift container so it can reattach without getting sucked into a pump.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Here he is yesterday.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Here he is today after I put him in the container.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Here is a picture I found that is the exact size of my amphipods.

 

[samnaz]

Are you sure they were eating it?

I have a massive amphipod overpopulation in my tank. Sometimes they irritate corals by crawling all over them, but besides that they haven't been a major issue.

If you are sure they are eating your coral or BTA, starve them out if possible or consider adding an amphipod predator to lower their population.

 

[Barrett]

I have large pods like that as well but they don't bother my corals or BTA

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I have a six line who was leaking then in line, but I have had to remove all my fish to QT from a velvet outbreak.

I treated for 30 days, left the DT fallow for 6 weeks and put my fish back and and in 2 days, 2 of them were flashing and swimming into flow. So I'm fallow again and waiting until mid October to return my fish to the DT.

If they are not eating it, they are doing a great job of killing my pallys and BTA by smothering them.

 

[Katrina71]

Wow. I only have a few of the really big ones like that. Thank goodness. Mine don't eat my coral, but they do creep me out a little.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I have large pods like that as well but they don't bother my corals or BTA

Which is what I've been told over and over, but I've seen them all over it before and they swarm the BTA. Literaly dozens of them either on or right beside the anemone.

I gotta ask why they are pestering the anemone if they aren't eating it, and why does the anemone always close up and move when I see them on it?

 

[SashimiTurtle]

@Amoo @OrionN Have you ever seen anything like this?

 

[Amoo]

I can only assume you clowns usually prevent this from happening, whether they are physically eating the tissue off the nem or not I don't know, but it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that the nem would start moving when it gets all kind of crap all over it.

 

[Amoo]

Also fwiw I believe 72 days fallow is required to remove ALL possible ich incubations. I'm curious what you treated with that your Nem tolerated?

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I can only assume you clowns usually prevent this from happening, whether they are physically eating the tissue off the nem or not I don't know, but it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that the nem would start moving when it gets all kind of crap all over it.

My clowns do not go in the nem, they could care less that it was in the tank for the short time they were in there together. The nem is about 2" in the first pic, and the size of a nickel in the second pics when closed. The male clown is about 3" and my female is larger than 3". My only guess is the six line was keeping the pod population down. That and maybe they are scrounging for a food source since I'm not feeding any fish in the tank.

Also fwiw I believe 72 days fallow is required to remove ALL possible ich incubations. I'm curious what you treated with that your Nem tolerated?

I had velvet, and according to the awesome guys over in the fish disease forum I was to remain fallow for 6 weeks. I'm going past the 6 weeks fallow this time since my fish started showing signs of velvet after returning to the DT. It'll be closer to 10 weeks. I did not treat the nem with anything. I dipped the pallys in Coral RX because they had been closed for some time. They'd react when moved by turning their stalks towards the light but never opened. After a dip, they opened some, then fully the next day. All I did with the nem was remove him from where the amphipods were swarming it, place it in a small tub with holes with a piece of rock from my sump. It is zip tied in the flow of a powerhead and the rim of the tub is held above the waterline so it couldn't get blown out. I'm pretty sure it attached to the rock almost instantly, but I had to leave for work in a hurry and didn't want to risk it getting blown off and getting sucked into a powerhead or down the overflow.

 

[Amoo]

Wait, what were you feeding your nem on previous basis and how frequently?

 

[Bonfish]

May be worth looking into. https://phrynus.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/shrimp-like-amphipods-found-in-sea-anemones/

Good luck!

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I haven't fed in about a week because of your recommendation, but I was feeding a mix of frozen food I made. It's fresh cod, scallop, shrimp and oyster blended and frozen in a ziplock. It's a flat sheet and I just break off small chunk and thaw it in one of those two little fishies defrosters. Then I'd grab the piece and set it on the nem's tentacles and it would pull it in. Never fed more than about 2 times it's mouth, except that one time when the piece of squid was way bigger than I thought it was. I haven't fed it since then.

 

[Amoo]

do you have a link to your Velvet thread? I'm kind of chasing something here which isn't really related to your original question directly but more so indirectly.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

May be worth looking into. https://phrynus.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/shrimp-like-amphipods-found-in-sea-anemones/

Good luck!

"One amphipod, however, does things a little differently. Instead of scavenging, it lives as a parasite, feeding on the flesh of its sea anemone host..."

I do not like that sentence. I may move my nem over to my amphipod-less nano while my tank is fallow. I just don't have much room in there and I'd rather it not sting and kill my acros.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

do you have a link to your Velvet thread? I'm kind of chasing something here which isn't really related to your original question directly but more so indirectly.

Sure do
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/round-2-with-velvet.312697/

 

[Amoo]

Essentially I'm trying to make a connection in my brain which would link velvet to feeding "fresh" foods, to possibly prolong the fallow period because you're reintroducing a host depending on the type of velvet. I may need to call in the Dr. on this one, but I want to check a few things first.