Hey everyone , I bought a nice Zoa coral that had 25+ heads on it , I did water tests like alk, calcium, phosphates , nitrates so on and everything is where it should be , I have a 20 gallon tank and do 20% weekly and run a e-shop 100 gallon protein skimmer on top to make the water the best I can, back to the zoa I caught 2 of the coral eating bugs they looked like lime green spiky bugs , and anyways due to money issues I decided that Id let mother nature take its corse and it ended up dying , look like it was shedding and melting , so it's been about 2-4 months of no Zias in my tank all I have is an bta , elegance , favia, lots of mushrooms, so would the bugs die off from no food? I just don't know if it's safe to get zoas again? Any feed back would help im new to this hobby , thanks luke !
Zoa Eating Bugs
- Thread starter Luke.
- Start date
Most of those type of predators have specific food needs and more then likely die off when the food source is gone. With that being said without knowing the specific species it was, it is hard to tell. You could always get some cheap zoas to test. A wrasse will go a long way in eating things like that.
Do you have any pictures it?
Do you have any pictures it?
At this point it was all dead it was a cheaper coral I haven't seen any bugs in months and I was wondering if they only survive off zoas and I don't have any how long would it take for them to die off, the problem was I didn't drop the coral my last 8 coraks I dropped them all before they went it and no issues I have an elegance that like to wax or shedd white stringy goop, I don't know why I feed my coraks reef roids and also have a 24 wat fluval led light for my 20 gallon is that enough light to keep corals and for them to grow I wanted to get zoas like sunny ds and rostas , but too afraid of this bug eating it , should I be fine or still wait ?
zoa eating nudi. They change color depending on the zoa that they are eating.
If it looks like Torx pic then you should be fine. It is a specialized feeder and eats zoas. Even if it doesn't when you put more in just keep an eye out. Go in at night and look for something eating them. If you see something take the colony out and pick the pest off. Or suck it up with a turkey baster.
When you get more zoas look on the bottom and the base of them for predators and eggs, the eggs look like a stringy mass. It normally goes in loops but doesn't have to. Proper quarantine goes a long way for avoiding pests.
When you get more zoas look on the bottom and the base of them for predators and eggs, the eggs look like a stringy mass. It normally goes in loops but doesn't have to. Proper quarantine goes a long way for avoiding pests.
And if any by chance did survive, just watch for them and suckem out with a baster.
scubasteve
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- May 4, 2014
- Location
- Cambridge, Ontario
a skimmer is never bad.... like k man said proper qt and dip methods will avoid this problem all together.... later on if you get something its thousands gone overnight not just a colony or two. you always have to be super cautiouse.
JamesHurst
New Member
I've battled these once, for a looooong time. Don't underestimate these specialized feeders. However after 6 weeks with no zoas, they'd be long dead from having no food.
My method for removal is as follows:
Quarantine every zoa you have - typically they wont go for true palys.
Dip the quarantined zoas every week, each time scraping off eggs, for 4-6 weeks or 3 weeks after you stop seeing signs of them.
Highly concentrated flatworm exit (3-4x regular dosage) with a standard dip such as coral rx is the way to go when dipping for zoa eating nudis, even my favorite dips don't get them sometimes.
If you miss even 2, they will mate and they will lay eggs. If you miss eggs, they will hatch and those will mate. The problem can become very bad, very fast if not handled correctly. This is why we repeat the dipping process.
While they're in quarantine, any remaining in the main system will die off having nothing to feed on. If you cannot remove the zoas for quarantine, you are facing a very long and losing battle - cut them out if you have to - don't risk losing every zoa like I once did (lost a collection of 600 heads in 6 months). Again, don't underestimate these specialized feeders.
My method for removal is as follows:
Quarantine every zoa you have - typically they wont go for true palys.
Dip the quarantined zoas every week, each time scraping off eggs, for 4-6 weeks or 3 weeks after you stop seeing signs of them.
Highly concentrated flatworm exit (3-4x regular dosage) with a standard dip such as coral rx is the way to go when dipping for zoa eating nudis, even my favorite dips don't get them sometimes.
If you miss even 2, they will mate and they will lay eggs. If you miss eggs, they will hatch and those will mate. The problem can become very bad, very fast if not handled correctly. This is why we repeat the dipping process.
While they're in quarantine, any remaining in the main system will die off having nothing to feed on. If you cannot remove the zoas for quarantine, you are facing a very long and losing battle - cut them out if you have to - don't risk losing every zoa like I once did (lost a collection of 600 heads in 6 months). Again, don't underestimate these specialized feeders.