Possible Nudibranch. Good or bad?

Syoung · Nov 7, 2017

I found (What might be) a nudibranch in my tank, after lights out on one of my closed zoas.

Photos and video from my phone. Hopefully you can shed some light on this critter!

*fork to help focus camera!*

Here is a video of it:

Is it actually a nudibranch? Is it one to get rid of?

Thanks!

Kremis · Nov 7, 2017

yes, and being that you found it on your closed zoas it is most likely a zoanthid eating nudibranch.

Kremis · Nov 7, 2017

telsonman · Nov 7, 2017

better break your tank down and start over...

Syoung · Nov 7, 2017

Greaaaat. Just found two more this morning. Definitely zoanthid eating nudibranches.

However, I don't think it'll require a full tank breakdown. Or at least won't consider it yet haha.

All my zoas are still on independent plugs, I plan on dipping them in a stronger dose of CoralRx individually (I'm not sure why it didn't work when I dipped them initially). Then I'll follow: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-eradicate-zoa-eating-nudibranch.225859/

I have no pods or brittle stars to worry about using Flatworm Exit. Hopefully I can hit them at the right points of their lifecycle and be rid of them in 3 weeks!

DracoKat · Nov 7, 2017

My yellow coris wrasse took care of my nudibranch problem. I haven't seen any since adding him

Syoung · Nov 7, 2017

DracoKat said:
My yellow coris wrasse took care of my nudibranch problem. I haven't seen any since adding him

I've heard that, and would love to do it, but my tank is only 25 gallons. Too small to host a yellow coris long term

Kremis · Nov 7, 2017

You could try a possum wrasse

Syoung · Nov 7, 2017

Kremis said:
You could try a possum wrasse

I actually like that idea. From LA, they are reef safe. I was under the impression wrasses were not reef safe, which is why I never looked into them (plus tank size).

However, is there a reason you guys don't suggest nuking the nudibranches with Flatworm Exit?

MiguelCS71 · Nov 12, 2017

Crap!!! Been seeing a small group of zoas closed for a few days now. I rub pretty hard on them today to get any possible astrea star slime off and I ended up finding a worse answer to the problem!

reeferfoxx · Nov 12, 2017

If zoas is what they eat, then zoas they will eat. I would get rid of the zoas if you are wanting to avoid a tank breakdown. Might have to wait a year before adding any.

Heibel · Nov 12, 2017

I solved my problem with these guys with adding a Yellow Coris Wrasse and also freshwater dipping all the zoas in the tank. Process took about a month to be 100% sure I got all of them.

Syoung · Nov 12, 2017

MiguelCS71 said:
Crap!!! Been seeing a small group of zoas closed for a few days now. I rub pretty hard on them today to get any possible astrea star slime off and I ended up finding a worse answer to the problem!

Shoot! Looks like you have them too.

What I'm doing is:

Manual removal
CoralRx dip (blow out with Turkey. baster)
Flatworm Exit the entire tank

Repeat weekly for 3-4 weeks to get the entire cycle.

I'm only a week in, however I think I have gotten all the beginning adults, as I have not seen any for 5 days. From others experience, this was the safest route outside of adding an additional fish.

Syoung · Nov 12, 2017

I've got a close up of exactly what's been in my tank!

It was dead for a few days before an entomologist friend of mine could get it under the microscope, I think it bloated a bit.

I also found this during the CoralRx blast. It almost appears to be a forming snail, maybe stomatella? Anyone have insight on this?

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 12, 2017

Just keep dipping the frags when you see an adult. Rx is unfortunately not that great. Peroxide is better but harsher in the zoas. Bayer is best but RINSE WELL. Like a four stage with poweheas. The bayer will break down in oxygen ', thus the gas exchange from the powerhead.
.

Folks avoid FWE bexuse it kills all the worms and a lot of the bugs. So it realizes ha bye a mount of bug timing in the tank. The sample r the tank the the harder they react.

I did the repeated dip to clear them up.

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 12, 2017

Syoung said:
I've got a close up of exactly what's been in my tank!

It was dead for a few days before an entomologist friend of mine could get it under the microscope, I think it bloated a bit.

I also found this during the CoralRx blast. It almost appears to be a forming snail, maybe stomatella? Anyone have insight on this?

Bottom one is a tube worm. Prob a vermatid.

Heibel · Nov 13, 2017

I personally do not like to put any kind of chemicals into my tanks to kill things, YOU ALWAYS END UP KILLING THINGS YOU DID NOT WISH TO DO SO and you might/will get ammonia or nitrite spike due to all of the possible death. That is why I used freshwater dip for this process. Zoas are VERY VERY hardy, I dipped them for 30 seconds and put them back in the tank, to be honest, they almost looked happier after the freshwater dip.

DracoKat · Nov 13, 2017

I also dipped in addition to my wrasse. Considering a wrasse is not a good fit for your tank long term, do you know anyone that'd be willing to lend you a coris wrasse? (a friend lent me a pair of file fish to help with my aiptasia problem). A wrasse for a few months should be OK if its small enough.

Syoung · Dec 12, 2017

December update:

I followed three weeks of:

CoralRx dip (zoas only)
FWE entire tank
Water change

I never saw any nudibranches after the first treatment, but kept going to ensure I'd get the eggs and juvenile's. I chose to use FWE because I did not have a large micro-fauna population to be concerned about accidentally killing.

It's been almost a month nudi-free, and everything is doing fantastic!

zoso · Nov 18, 2018

When doing a fresh water dip do you use fresh water from the tap or RO water ? And 30 seconds at a time , how often and for how long ? I’d rather not spike my tank with chemical and I’ve only seen 2 nudi,s so far .
Thanks