esacjack Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 I noticed one of my paly's skirts missing (not retracted, missing) yesterday. I dont know what could have eaten it. I have nothing in the tank besides 2 hermit crabs (blue and red) and 2 trochus snails. There are tons of MASSIVE sized pods though. I've read elsewhere that pods have been witnessed eating zoas. I've also read the nay sayers chiming in with their 2 cents. Here's the stats of the tank. SG: 1.025 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 5 ppm Phos: 0 Cal: 450ish Tank inhabitants are mainly zoanthids/palys, chalices, a few acros, and several montis No recent tank additions. I know it isn't pox as they're palys (two types) that are being affected. My dipping solution consists of a FWE quick dip, Lugols solution, QT for 1 week, with a full 30 minute dip on the 7th day, one day of rest, and then acclimated to frag tank. Feeding: 1 Rod's feeding per week 1 CoralFrenzy feeding per week Dosing: (every Tues/Sat) 1ml Pohls 1ml sponge power 1ml vitalizer 1ml amino acid Attached is a pic. I am a little worried, as this is my favorite piece currently. I havent -seen- any nudi's in there. Ive been watching pretty hard core at night and during the day. The only thing Ive noticed happening were pods picking on them/algal film. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Flashlight in the middle of the night might find something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Looks kind of like what some of my zoas do before they melt away. Don't ever know what causes the melting but at least they don't usually all melt away. -Ty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Mine do the same thing Ty said. Sometimes a random polyp will close up uncomfortably tight and eventually just disappear. No explanation. Often times a new one will grow right back where the other one was. Had this happen twice recently. First was a frag of 8 kedd red polyps melted away down to one polyp. I pulled the frag plug and moved to the opposite end of the tank after a lugols dip and now it bounced back to 30-40 polyps over a few months. Recently lost all but one of an eye of rah colony, moved them over 4" and 4 have grown back. I have no idea what goes on with zoas. They're the hardest thing to grow for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Have you changed your lighting or lighting schedule recently? I have seen that happen when zoas get blasted with an amount of light they aren't used to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted May 4, 2013 Author Share Posted May 4, 2013 hmm not that i can recall. my tank is pretty set and forget. somehow all my levels stay in check without me ever touching it. my hand hasnt been in the tank in two months as a matter of fact, i thought it might be too crowded in the tank so i built a frag rack in my curing tank ( t5 1 white 2 blue 1 fiji purple) so my nitrates have been irregularly low. i have a red lamp built into my actinic pendant for observation, so ive been monitoring that way. the only thing ive changed recently is ive rotated my sps in the tank to get more light in the hard shadowed areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnM Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 At c4 i was talking with the guy from zoanthid.com and he said pods will eat zoas. He also said they only do it if something is wrong with them and they are already on there way out. ie melting and the pods clean it up. I had a couple of frags get eaten this way. then it stopped and all my other zoas have been fine since and growing. It kind of sucks because pods are a good thing and everyone wants them in there tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted May 4, 2013 Author Share Posted May 4, 2013 shawn thats exactly what ive read. Once pods detect that a polyp is weak/dying, they invade and start nibbling. I just watched a pod carry off a piece of skirt from the mother paly. Sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted May 4, 2013 Author Share Posted May 4, 2013 i moved my coris wrasse from the main tank into the frag tank to knock down the pod population... i forgot what a mess the coris makes... ugh... sand is everywhere...it WAS in a tupperware container, but apparently it looks better on my acans.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toxiq Reef Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 its what shawn said, ive witnessed this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 I would apply this to asterina stars as well. Pods and stars are the janitors of my tank. -Ty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnM Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 I have found that with my palys and zoas until they are producing new heads and in my tank at least 1 month I leave them up on my frag rack. This has seemed to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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