Something is eating my Zoa's

[shornik]

Some of my Z's aren't opening, some are gone, just a few polyps left on the plug, and others are noticeably thinner. What are common pests that I should be looking for to try to figure out what might be causing this?

 

[bevans116]

Fish, what fish do you have?

 

[steelheader.262]

I had Red/Blue legged crabs that would pick at the coralline algae around my zoas.

Maybe this is what's happening to yours as well?

 

[shornik]

Sorry should have mentioned livestock. I've had almost everything for over a year without any problems so I'll start with my most recent purchases:

Six Line Wrasse
Talbot's Damsels
Serpent Sea Star

Everything else, hermits, snails, fish have never caused an issue so I don't think it's them but here's the list (Bartlett's Anthias, Oscellaris Clowns, leopard wrasse cannary wrase, orchid dottbyback, starry blenny).

What's weird is that some of the Z's and P's are doing just fine while others are thinning, almost gone, not opening, or gone.

 

[bevans116]

Look at the zoas with a flashlight at night and see if you can see any nudibranch them

 

[ReefMadScientist]

I don't do zoa's anymore. After weeks of me losing them, I finally found a sundial snail and a zoa spider going to work.

 

[rossco]

I had a gorilla crab eat a bunch of mine years ago. And, as mentioned above, check for sundial snails.

 

[Reef_a_holiks]

If its not your livestock like fish or crabs. definatley check at night about 2-3 hours after the tank lights have been off. I had the same issue a couple years ago and it was a eunicid worm. I have also had gorilla crabs eat my zoas as well.

 

[Volpone]

If they shrins and get skinny ,check ur parameters and nutrients in ur tank ,check if u have nudi branch zoa ,if u saw brown algea growing might be zoa pox

 

[hybridazn]

Dip them in bayer and see what falls off. This will def help

 

[shornik]

I did check last night and didn't see anything, but I'm going to remove everything that I can and dip it and see what pest might be lurking. Its funny (well not funny) that some are doing just fine,while others aren't, maybe some are more tasty than others.

 

[renato120]

I lost lots of colonies couple months ago. The reason was I changed from IO Salt to Red sea coral pro salt. Since the rscp are more concetrade in CA , alk, mag. I shut off my doser and had an alk problem. I didnt catch it right away... I thought it was something eating my zoas as well. It took me a month to make my parameters back to normal. Right now they all look good, but I lost a few. Some were very nice. I did dip mine but nothing changed.... It was not a pest problem

 

[shornik]

I've been checking at night and haven't seen any bugs or other critters on the Zoas but tonight I saw a lot of this brownish / yellowish stuff growing around them. Could this be what the problem is and what is it? It almost looks like a sponge, maybe?

 

[shornik]

Bump

 

[renato120]

Are they open when your lights are on?

 

[renato120]

I see you have bumble bee snails! I had five of those, and they ate a beautiful clam In one night. Check if the snails are on top of the zoas during the night.... Could be them... They are carnivorous..

 

[twilliard]

What kind of nudi is that on the right center of the picture?

 

[yeah2311]

I had a red eyed devil crab eat some zoas and most of my green star polyps. He came in on a piece of coral.

 

[shornik]

The polyps are mostly open during the day, but sometimes look thinner (closed) then other times. The nudi is a lettuce nudi, it eats only green hair algae, it's been doing a great job on my bryopsis. I have those bumble bee's for a while now but will keep a sharper eye on them, I didn't even notice them until after I posted the picture.