SPS Spiders!?!?!?! Any help recommended!

[Zechirian]

So i had some great pieces of SPS going and growing no problemo roughly 6 months ago. I ordered in some new fags and then did a water change and noticed some issues happening. My lovely sps pieces were RTN/STN'ing. I freaked and thought it was the water change. So i tested everything every day and kept all the parameters within an acceptable range CA 410-420, Alk 8.4-8.8, NO3 .10, PO4 .02 for months and still had an issue. Thought it was just my tank and it wouldn't be SPS friendly.

Still have lots and lots of LPS/ZOA's and while doing a flashlight patrol last night i saw something......

http://www.3reef.com/threads/sps-nightmare-pycnogonids.155311/

It was on my ZOA so i thought it was a zoa spider having never seen one. But nope it was the creepy crawly from the link above.

Putting 2 and 2 together, this was the reason for my SPS failures.... I tried to dip everything but it seems like the adult versions just get stunned by a dip unless extended periods. Needless to say i was slackjawed, heatbroken and beyond frustrated. Yet i was a little happy as it wasn't my tank parameters but a pest that needs to be killed with fire.

I went back to look again with the flashlight, knowing what they look like and what to look for i saw 5 to 10 more, not just around corals but around the substrate and liverocks.

So after throwing my hands up last night and just about swearing that i'd tear everything down, i did more research (what little there is) and decided to throw out a life line to the fine folks of reef2reef.

Current Tank:
120g w/39g sump
LPS/SPS/ZOA
Foxface Rabbitfish
BlueJaw Trigger
Tomini Tang
Lt Tang
3xLyretail Anthias
Midas Blenny
2x Snowflake Clowns
Royal Gramma
Rainford Goby

Right now i'm looking at this:
Option 1: Total tear down - fish sell off, dry out rocks and start it all over again with a much more vigorous dipping policy (perhaps with fire this time? )

Option 2: Bring in some recruits, specifically a Melanurus Wrasse and a Six Line Wrasse

Option 3: Partial tear down, start up a 29g tank, salvage what zoas will fit as well as fish and tear down the 120 along with sell off or fostering out my Lt Tang/BlueJaw/Anthias/Foxface. Rebuild 120 and start again.

Option 4: ????

 

[Sabellafella]

Wow sorry about the frustration man, those spiders are NASTY. From my point if view, if im not going to tear my tank down i would buy a melanurus or a 6 line. Or some kind of fish/invert thats interested in eating pods/worms and give that a shot. If i had to tear the tank down i would start anothertank with just all the corals fragged+fish and as little of rock as possible untill i can add cured rock to it, pulling the sand and preping the whole existing tank for a redo

 

[Vaughn17]

Yeah, think I would first try a wrasse, too.

 

[Zechirian]

That's what i've been reading, those two wrasse combined should give me a fighting chance. Since my rock is so darn porous there TONS of pods at night and i think these spiders have been feeding on them as well. At this point I am thinking of a six line, melanurus and possibly a mandrin. I know the six line and mandrine would compete but the problem with these spiders is they come out after lights out and hide during lights on. I need predators that are going to work around the clock, wrasse usually sleep at night but i think the mandrin may hunt during the night and with any luck would get a spider or eighteen haha. After the war i can supplement as needed with pods or re-home to the 29g as needed.

Oh the raw hatred for these dang spiders. Think i lost well over $600 in sps....

 

[KJ]

Option 4: ????

Interceptor!

 

[gacolt]

those spider suck.i had them in my 125 sps tank.the spiders in my tank only came out at lights out.i had 6 or 7 wrasse in the tank and they did not help at all.i had yellow coris,melanurus,cleaner,carpenter,flame ect.i think your best bet is interceptor if it starts getting out of control.i know when I took my tank down and all that was left in the tank was sand and a inch of water I could see thousands of them which was shocking as I would only see 4 or 5 at night when the tank was running.whatever you do good luck as those guys suck.

 

[blackgrouper79]

Would acro crabs help? They do protect their host and I wonder if they'd eat those little a$$holes (sorry but thats what you're dealing with). I've seen them for sale here and there. If anyone has any input I'd really like to hear some feedback about them as a possible pest solution? Sorry to hear about whats going on. If the crabs are a no go the ideas above sound great and a really good excuse to get a mandarin GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!
keep us posted--and check into the crabby ideal

 

[Zechirian]

After looking into interceptor some more i think that is the route i'm going to go. 3 weeks worth of dosing is what is looking like the plan calls for. This should be fun to watch them all perish! I do plan to pick up a six line and/or a melanurus to keep other things in check afterwards.