White Spiders on Anemones

[bradleym]

The ONE TIME I was able to get my hands on a hell's fire anemone it was covered with these things. Good luck, they get in every nook and cranny, so be thorough hunting for them.

 

[vetteguy53081]

very unfortunate. These are no doubt sea spiders which are known to damage hard corals, soft corals, and anemones.
Freshwater dip is known to knock them down as well as higher concentration of Lugols Iodine.
They generally show up on new frags.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Regarding question on FW dip for anemones, ive seen it done and you can dip anemone in freshwater, but it will depend on the species and the sensitivity level of the particular anemone. Also keep the dip to 1-2 mins again due to sensitivity.

 

[damsels are not mean]

I only brought that up, as I started with 4 porcelain crabs in my nem tank and now have about 20 lol.

How did you raise the larvae? I have never heard of anybody successfully breeding and raising these captively even experienced breeders.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

How did you raise the larvae? I have never heard of anybody successfully breeding and raising these captively even experienced breeders.

It just happened. Never tried to raise any fry, larvae or anything like that for anything lol.

Well, outside of trying to breed haddoni, but that is a whole other story.

 

[Sean_B]

pink streaked wrasse?
copperBand?
pyramid?
long nose Atlantic?

if dipping is a tough option maybe one or more of these natural predators?

 

[dedragon]

a leopard wrasse or melanurus wrasse may be a good edition to keep these guys away, they are both not picky about very small moving invertebrates

 

[dedragon]

are there a lot of zoas in the tank rn?

 

[damsels are not mean]

It just happened. Never tried to raise any fry, larvae or anything like that for anything lol.

Well, outside of trying to breed haddoni, but that is a whole other story.

Big if true! Congratulations and I hope it works if I ever get some.

 

[Townsaquaria]

Thanks again everyone. My wife and I pulled 15 spiders off the carpet anemone and will try for the condy tomorrow if it lets us!

 

[Townsaquaria]

are there a lot of zoas in the tank rn?

3 zoa frags that we proudly made ourselves as our first ever frags, but they came from our other tank that doesn't have these pests, and they had no spiders upon close inspection.

 

[Nemguy123]

Also. It has been mentioned about fresh water dipping nems for other things, but I have never done it. I know you can FW dip for zoas spiders, so that may be an option.

@Nemguy123 any ideas for the OP? FW dip nems to remove spiders? Never done it, so have no data on it, but know of people who have FW dipped nems to help them purge themselves.

I actually knew an old guy what would fresh water dip gigs to help with the bacteria infections... I’m not sure what he did exactly or how but he did have some sort of success. Could definitely be something that needs to be further explored

 

[damsels are not mean]

I doubt these spiders have anything to do with zoas. "Zoa eating spiders" are just one of many many species of sea spiders. These are probably "anemone eating spiders" or they are just commensal...