Zoa eating worms and other parasites??

[Babygecko1233]

Hello,
Im new to the forum. First things first...i have a small 6 gallon tank with great led white and blue lights perfect for growing zoas. My only problem is....somethings eating my new zoas... 2 parasites i do believe. I will try to take pictures of these sneaky pest. My only issue one of them only comes out when theres no lights on at all. So it will be harder for me to get a picture of that preditor.

The night predator looks like maybe 6 hair thin neon redish orange worms...they freak me out.

The other predator thats out at all times are very very small clearish whitish tenticle like things that seem to be stretching out and brabbing stuff from the water. I know these are zoa predators because my colonie that the predators are vacating in are shriveling and losing color. Anyone have any ideas??? Im new at this but i love my zoas!! We also have 2 tube anenomes and 2 beadlet anenomes as well as 2 baby sargent majors.
Mind you im new at this. Please no critisism... Ik my tanks to small...i have a 20 gallon currently being set up. Please please help.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Did you dip the zoas? You will need to get them out into some saltwater and dip them with peroxide and some flatworm exit. That is my suggestion on dip. Others use Bayer, search that one for instructions. This will have to be done multiple times about 5 days apart to end the lifecycle (if eggs are present).

 

[oneofmany]

Maybe these links will help, although what you described just sounds like harmless spaghetti worms IMO.

http://www.coralpedia.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=384

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rs/

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-06/rs/index.php

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

It really sounds like spaghetti worms, should be harmless but....
heres another link
http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhiker.shtml

 

[Babygecko1233]

So they wont hurt my zoas. What about the white small tenticle like things flowing everywhere next to my zoas? My boss (salt water tank maintanance) kills these pest off his zoas with calcium but we still dont know what they are. They spread to my already established zoas this worries me. As well as the crabs.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

me I like worms. And hitchikers, If you can a pic would be worth a thousand words. Easier said than done of course.

 

[Babygecko1233]

Did you dip the zoas? You will need to get them out into some saltwater and dip them with peroxide and some flatworm exit. That is my suggestion on dip. Others use Bayer, search that one for instructions. This will have to be done multiple times about 5 days apart to end the lifecycle (if eggs are present)




Whats the water to peroxide ratio? How long should they stay dipped? It wont hurt my zoas?

 

[Babygecko1233]

Yah i tried to get pictures and suceeded...but the site wont let me upload them.

 

[Babygecko1233]

Im interested in the peroxide solution though. What should my peroxide to water ratio be? How long should they be dipped in the solution for? My old boss used calcium to fight away these unknown white hair like tenticle things

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yah i tried to get pictures and suceeded...but the site wont let me upload them.

try the tapatalk app or the reef2reef app. MUCH easier

 

[Babygecko1233]

Okay down loading the reef2reef right now

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Im interested in the peroxide solution though. What should my peroxide to water ratio be? How long should they be dipped in the solution for? My old boss used calcium to fight away these unknown white hair like tenticle things

it really sound like the harmless ones. But some folks just dont like worms. ESP clients

 

[DeniseAndy]

Honestly, I rarely measure for the dip. I am the same way with cooking and baking. I would say for a dip, maybe a small bowl of like 1/4gal and add 10ml of peroxide. This should not hurt the zoas. Not sure it will have any effect on worms either though. May need the flatworm exit. Otherwise, if you can see their hole or tube, break it.

 

[Babygecko1233]

Ok so im going to take your word. I will monitor them for the next few days. We added them sunday. The red worms came out as soon as we added them to the tank.

 

[Babygecko1233]

Okay. Trying the peroxide dip now. Thanks for the advice. Will let you know asap

 

[dbl]

Sounds like you've gotten sufficient help with the zoas, so I will just say welcome to R2R. As you've found, it's an invaluable resource for all things aquaria!

 

[Babygecko1233]

The peroxide dip did not work...sadly.....i think it may have worked for the red worms...i have yet to see them again....but the white hair like things retracted into these small almost microscopic holes in the small piece of rock the zoas are attached to...they didnt die. It seemed to have no affect on them what so ever. I took a tooth pic and carefully tried to break the tubish holes of the unknown hitchhikers...only to have them return...should i remove the zoas completely and get rid of the small bit of LR they are slightly glued to?

 

[fishboys]

Helps a ton to identify before you treat. Do you have any zoa eating nudies? Sometimes these are difficult to see. I am sure you've already looked into this but without pictures I am just throwing hail mary's.

 

[Babygecko1233]

No i havnt seen any nudis. Just a bunch of white tiny hair like worms. Im from indiana...they remind me of baby leaches reaching out for a host...its creepy to me. Mind you i love hitch hikers...but not this kind...this kind is plain scary. Im working on getting the app. My service sucks. I cant upload the pics with out the app sadly.

 

[DeniseAndy]

It does sound like spaghetti worms to me too. I would not worry much about those guys. If you really hate them, super glue the holes closed. Or you can cut the zoas off the rock. Try to leave as much of the rock as possible. I hate cutting zoas.