ficklefins
Super Duper Moderator
What is your take on the issue of whether or not pods feed on any part of your zoas/palys?
Personal experiences?
Personal experiences?
Your experience with pods and zoas
- Thread starter ficklefins
- Start date
- Tagged users None
I have had and seen them eat more on palys than zoas. You can see the edges of the flesh being torn up. I have added yellow coris wrasses to both my tanks and it seems to have helped.
Based on my limited experience with the hobby:
Copoepods and amphipods are both safe for zoas/palys and other corals. I always see amphibods in my zoa/paly colonies. Most likely they are feeding on the algae or bits of food that is on the colonies. I do not think they will eat my corals.
Copoepods and amphipods are both safe for zoas/palys and other corals. I always see amphibods in my zoa/paly colonies. Most likely they are feeding on the algae or bits of food that is on the colonies. I do not think they will eat my corals.
I have had personal experience with pods eating the skirts and polyps off frag plugs. I have had 5 RPE frags all of which were healthy when bought and healthy after placement to only have them decimated in a matter of a week. I have personally seen them eating them at night. One of the reasons you see the skirts gone first if the skirts are what close the hole when a polyp is closed. This is the weak point of any polyp as the outer skin is a bit tougher then the polyp face and the skirt from my observations. They eat the skirts which in turn allows them to get to the oral opening and I have seen them eat polyps from the inside out. The only thing that was left was the tough outer skin......I can guarantee that pods have and will in the right circumstance eat polyps.......I have a post on a different forum I will copy and paste here with my experience with this issue.....
I've witnessed a frag or two with chewed up skirts with amphipod swarming over it at night. It wasn't anything too serious, and the frags bounced back quickly after I added a dragonface pipefish, along with few other pod control critters.
I have found that Z. gigantus is one of the first species to be taken down, not sure why but I have noticed that the tissue on Z. gigantus seems to be a bit softer then the smaller counter parts. I have had over 6 RPE frags of different polyp counts get eating with the first week while no other frags were touched. Each one of these frags were healthy and expanding......
Personally I think that it becomes a resource issue as the pod population expands to beyond what the environment can hold stable then they begin to look for other means of food. I posted a picture on here some where that showed a pod that was all most as big as a penny with a tinge of orange color in it's exoskeleton. I believe that these are the ones that do the eating. When I noticed this happening was right after my Mandarin past away after 6 years and then the population exploded far beyond what the system could prop up then the eating began. I think I lost over 20 frags because of this.
One of the ways I fixed it was a 6 line and I would feed a little at night with flake or cyclop-eeze which seamed to help out. Since I started this I have not lost one single frag or colony to this issue. I would put a weeks pay that it isn't a parameter or chemical issue but the fact that they are competing for food when there isn't actually enough to support the population. When this happens most animals if not all will go in to survival mode and Begin to eat things that under normal circumstances they would not......
Personally I think that it becomes a resource issue as the pod population expands to beyond what the environment can hold stable then they begin to look for other means of food. I posted a picture on here some where that showed a pod that was all most as big as a penny with a tinge of orange color in it's exoskeleton. I believe that these are the ones that do the eating. When I noticed this happening was right after my Mandarin past away after 6 years and then the population exploded far beyond what the system could prop up then the eating began. I think I lost over 20 frags because of this.
One of the ways I fixed it was a 6 line and I would feed a little at night with flake or cyclop-eeze which seamed to help out. Since I started this I have not lost one single frag or colony to this issue. I would put a weeks pay that it isn't a parameter or chemical issue but the fact that they are competing for food when there isn't actually enough to support the population. When this happens most animals if not all will go in to survival mode and Begin to eat things that under normal circumstances they would not......
3mm3
Valuable Member
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2006
- Messages
- 1,452
- Reaction score
- 1,208
- Location
- Blue water bridge
- What state or country do you live in
- Michigan
I too have also seen amphipods destroy zoas and palys in my tank. I mostly noticed that the bigger pods were the main problem in the tank. When i asked if anyone had experienced this I was told that I had no idea what I was talking about. I added a wrasse to the tank to control the pod population and have to say that there are definitely fewer pods and my zoas have been doing great.
ficklefins, great thread!!!
Up to today, i thought amphipods are friends. I have done a lot of reading on the web and talked to some local reefers. Yet, this is all news to me. Now i'm glad i have a mandarin in my tank!
Up to today, i thought amphipods are friends. I have done a lot of reading on the web and talked to some local reefers. Yet, this is all news to me. Now i'm glad i have a mandarin in my tank!
korndogg091
Active Member
I would have to agree with this statement 100%. I have lost several PPE and RPE frags and this is my only conclusion. The skirts look like something is munching on them then they slowly wither away. I recently purchased a frag of PPE and RPE, both frags in about a week look stressed and munched on. Being only a few polyp frag its easy to see if something was on it and I didnt see anything (during the day) but I did see some pods on them at night. I finally decided that it had to be pods and I bought a 6 line and a mandarin and both frags are all of a sudden making a big comeback. I have no dought in my mind that having to many pods is a bad thing. The funny thing is People Eaters are the only frags that Ive noticed this on. I have many different types of zoas, palys and lps and People Eaters are the only ones effected.
Last edited:
jessp
Active Member
I'm still a skeptic on this topic, i do see many pods among my rocks and colonies. I do not see the eating the polyps though. I do have a sixline and a small bird wrasse. Even still I see pods all over the place at night.
korndogg091
Active Member
I still have pods, but my 6 line and mandrin keeps the numbers in check. I feel if you dont have anything keeping the numbers down there will be more pods then your tank can feed so they start searching elseware for food, which in turns will be palys. In my experience, specifically people eater palys.
