Use paly-eating nudis on purpose?

Velodog2 · Mar 22, 2014

Anyone ever use paly eating nudibranchs to get rid of nuisance polyps? I have a lot of "Texas Trash" I am slowly killing with aiptasia-x and vinegar but it's very slow to avoid poisoning my tank and each polyp requires multiple treatments. Oh yeah and I think I am becoming hyper-sensitized to palytoxin since having bare hands in the tank for any period and/or disturbing the polyps too much causes me hours of tight chest and coughing fits.

Are there nudis that will eat them? How can I find some? Anyone have any? I don't have any other zoas or palys in the tank I care about so collateral damage is not an issue.

turbo21 · Mar 22, 2014

I have never seen paly eating nudis

Most of the nudis that come in the hobby are strictly zoa eaters

Can you take the rock out that they are on? Or use kalk paste over a section at a time

Velodog2 · Mar 22, 2014

Rats. I can only remove a little of the rock they are on. The rest is foundation. What I can take out I don't want to throw away and I am frankly afraid to try to physically remove them even with gloves and a mask. The kalk works about as well as the vinegar and aiptasia x injections. Slowly. I will keep it up.

turbo21 · Mar 22, 2014

Velodog2 said:
Rats. I can only remove a little of the rock they are on. The rest is foundation. What I can take out I don't want to throw away and I am frankly afraid to try to physically remove them even with gloves and a mask. The kalk works about as well as the vinegar and aiptasia x injections. Slowly. I will keep it up.

Good luck it will be worth it in the end

Have you tried kalk injections?

Make a little bit more of a watery paste and inject them with it. It usually works better than vinegar in my tank. Not sure of your tank size so just be careful you don't add too much kalk into the water because it can raise your ph

NanaReefer · Mar 22, 2014

Ever think of wearing gloves?

Velodog2 · Mar 22, 2014

NanaReefer said:
Ever think of wearing gloves?

Yeah, but I just can't find a color that works well with all of my corals.

mannose · Mar 22, 2014

Majanowand.com- The Best Way to Remove Majano Anemones - Majano Wand kills Majanos Anemones & unwanted corals.

you can try this and once done with it loan or rent it out to recover the cost.....from the look of it you won't have to put your hands to far in tank if you have to at all.

Flameback Pair · Mar 23, 2014

Could you take bone cutters and nip all the tops off?

Velodog2 · Mar 23, 2014

Thanks for the suggestions folks. The problem is that if I try to kill more than a couple at a time in my 18 nano I poison my corals. I lost nearly half the first time before I knew this. So I will just continue to proceed slowly. I have obtained a box of 100 insulin syringes and made an extension holder for them that allows me precise control without getting my hands wet.

And I do now wear gloves when I do tank maintenance and even turn off the skimmer to prevent aerosolization of the water, because we've found even being in the same room when the polyps get ****** off can consistently cause sore throat symptoms.

Dog Boy Dave · Mar 23, 2014

There are snails that will eat zoanthids. Checkerboard snails , ask for them at you LFS before he throws them away after a big shipment of zoanthids. They used to be common. Also my Golden Flake Angel eats them. I would expect any large angel would. I know you cant put an Angel in a nano but you may be able to put your rocks in a tank full of Angels for a couple of hours.

Velodog2 · Mar 23, 2014

Ah the snail info is useful. I wonder if they eat palys as well as zoanthids. I will do some research. Thanks.

Carter o51 · Mar 25, 2014

Could you cover them in epoxy?

therman · Mar 25, 2014

Also known As sundial snails

Nate_Bro · Mar 25, 2014

I had some atra starfish that ate some of my paly's and other corals...

Nate_Bro · Mar 25, 2014

*astera starfish

luke33 · Mar 25, 2014

What about a tiger cowrie? That way when it rids your tank of Z&P's you can just pick it up and remove it.

cobraz · Mar 25, 2014

Best way to do this is for me has been - go to a dollar store - get super glue gel (Green 2 pack).
Cover with glue patch at a time... rinse in tank water in bucket.. careful not to hit glue as it is setting.
Wait 5 days and peel up glue - works like a charm.

Velodog2 · Mar 25, 2014

Nate_Bro said:
I had some atra starfish that ate some of my paly's and other corals...

Still have any?

Covering them in epoxy or superglue might work, if I only do a few at a time. Unless the glue would sufficiently contain the toxins. I may try that. Cobraz - did you take the rock out of the tank before covering them with the superglue? That wouldn't work here.

I am going to reach out to Pacific East Aquaculture which is fairly near me. If anyone would have knowledge of the right critter or have the right critter available it is probably them.

reefsandrotts · Mar 25, 2014

not for nothing,
but since its only a 18 gallon system would it be smarter to just take out he rocks that are affected and replace the few pieces with new instead of killing yourself and other corals?