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Tank Under Attack!!

C

Chiefmcfuz

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Again, most places mix up the Lunar Wrasse and the Melanarus wrasse because in their juvenile form they are extremely similar looking. You probably have a Lunar wrasse. If there is a question then you could always get a Yellow Coris Wrasse. 6 Lines get extremely nasty as do Lunars.
 
KathyC

KathyC

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Before a bunch of members - especially newer ones - go off to buy fish to kill off all the pods in their tanks, I would like to say something in defense of the amphipods, and this topic in general...

Pods are opportunistic feeders. If you don't have enough 'food' in your tank for them to eat, they might have no choice but to nibble on a coral to survive. So first ask yourself if this could be true in your system. Is there algae, do you only feed your fish a few times a week?

The Amphipod in the first video (with the yellow zoas) is HUGE. That is not your typical - 'oh yay, I have pods in my tank' - type. There are many different types of amphipods and I truly believe that the pods that 99.9% of us have in our tanks are just fine and are the benefit that we believe them to be and that this is a fairly isolated case.

As far as the 2nd video..those zoas don't look too healthy to begin with (IMO) and it is extremely possible that those pods are either eating algae from the zoas or possibly dead tissue.

In neither video did I see zoa polyps entirely vanish.

Nudi's on the other hand can wipe out a frag plug of zoas in a single night..right down to the plug...:eat:

In my personal experience, and I have lots of experience with zoas..the ONLY time I ever lost any zoas to anything other than a frag melt down (those ones that happen for absolutely no apparent reason), was when I had zoa eating Nudi's. I lost one-third of my zoas before I finally figured it out.

The great majority of the time when zoas begin to vanish for no easy to see reason - the issue is zoa eating Nudi's - which are not the easiest pest to notice..until you have actually seen one. If you do have an issue with zoas vanishing, my suggestion would be to do a Lugol's dip and see what falls off (keeping in mind the Nudi's are most active at night - not during the day). I suggest look for them in the same minute as your lights come on, otherwise they will hide themselves away quickly.

Bottom line is most of us spend a great deal of time working to get our tanks 'established' with the right mix of bacteria, fish, corals, inverts...and pods so we have built a balanced environment. The pods should be there. We should not suddenly be aiming to wipe them out (why do you think they sell bottles of these things??) by adding fish to eat them..that may or may not be suitable with the other tank mates already there, or by making the greater mistake of adding a Mandarin who will not eat amphipods at all (they eat copepods..which are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence) who will likely die once it does eat all of the pods in your tank.

So until you have done a few dips (when any Nudi's might be out munching), looked for zoa spiders, are sure you don't have zoa Pox, and know you are feeding ALL of the inhabitants of your tank a sufficient amount of food that none need to be opportunistic feeders, let's not try to jump the gun and aim to wipe out the amphipod populations in our tanks :(
 
Greagzter

Greagzter

Advanced Reefer
Manhattan Reefs
Location
Brooklyn
Rating - 100%
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KathyC said:
Before a bunch of members - especially newer ones - go off to buy fish to kill off all the pods in their tanks, I would like to say something in defense of the amphipods, and this topic in general...

Pods are opportunistic feeders. If you don't have enough 'food' in your tank for them to eat, they might have no choice but to nibble on a coral to survive. So first ask yourself if this could be true in your system. Is there algae, do you only feed your fish a few times a week?

The Amphipod in the first video (with the yellow zoas) is HUGE. That is not your typical - 'oh yay, I have pods in my tank' - type. There are many different types of amphipods and I truly believe that the pods that 99.9% of us have in our tanks are just fine and are the benefit that we believe them to be and that this is a fairly isolated case.

As far as the 2nd video..those zoas don't look too healthy to begin with (IMO) and it is extremely possible that those pods are either eating algae from the zoas or possibly dead tissue.

In neither video did I see zoa polyps entirely vanish.

Nudi's on the other hand can wipe out a frag plug of zoas in a single night..right down to the plug...:eat:

In my personal experience, and I have lots of experience with zoas..the ONLY time I ever lost any zoas to anything other than a frag melt down (those ones that happen for absolutely no apparent reason), was when I had zoa eating Nudi's. I lost one-third of my zoas before I finally figured it out.

The great majority of the time when zoas begin to vanish for no easy to see reason - the issue is zoa eating Nudi's - which are not the easiest pest to notice..until you have actually seen one. If you do have an issue with zoas vanishing, my suggestion would be to do a Lugol's dip and see what falls off (keeping in mind the Nudi's are most active at night - not during the day). I suggest look for them in the same minute as your lights come on, otherwise they will hide themselves away quickly.

Bottom line is most of us spend a great deal of time working to get our tanks 'established' with the right mix of bacteria, fish, corals, inverts...and pods so we have built a balanced environment. The pods should be there. We should not suddenly be aiming to wipe them out (why do you think they sell bottles of these things??) by adding fish to eat them..that may or may not be suitable with the other tank mates already there, or by making the greater mistake of adding a Mandarin who will not eat amphipods at all (they eat copepods..which are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence) who will likely die once it does eat all of the pods in your tank.

So until you have done a few dips (when any Nudi's might be out munching), looked for zoa spiders, are sure you don't have zoa Pox, and know you are feeding ALL of the inhabitants of your tank a sufficient amount of food that none need to be opportunistic feeders, let's not try to jump the gun and aim to wipe out the amphipod populations in our tanks :(
Click to expand...
Kathy, thank you for the info. Before starting and while having my first tank, I did read similar threads and therefor strove to raise the pod population. It was until recently that I thought this way. My tank does inhabit those huge pods you've seen in the video and I have personally witnessed them munching on healthy zoas. My tank does not have much algae, it gets fed once a day. Perhaps it doesnt get fed enough and like you mentioned they are opportunistic. But I would not like to over feed the tank so later it would reflect on my water quality. The size of the amphipods that people have might start out small, but like with all living things that are prone to growth, will increase. I personally observe the tank at night after the light have been off for at least 2-3 hours with a high power cree led flashlight and did not see any zoa eating nudi, spiders and pox. I have done a dip and all I saw where small apmhipods fall out, the bigger ones are really fast and hide almost instantly at the sight of light. The internet is full with threads such as this one, where reefers are experiencing similar problems. I guess it is hard to accept something of this nature if it hasnt happen to you. But I'm sure that something that was once considered good by one hobbyist is considered bad by someone else's standards. In this instance, amphipods are pests in my tank.
 
KathyC

KathyC

Moderator
Location
Barnum Island
Rating - 100%
200   0   0
Greagzter said:
Kathy, thank you for the info. Before starting and while having my first tank, I did read similar threads and therefor strove to raise the pod population. It was until recently that I thought this way. My tank does inhabit those huge pods you've seen in the video and I have personally witnessed them munching on healthy zoas. My tank does not have much algae, it gets fed once a day. Perhaps it doesnt get fed enough and like you mentioned they are opportunistic. But I would not like to over feed the tank so later it would reflect on my water quality. The size of the amphipods that people have might start out small, but like with all living things that are prone to growth, will increase. I personally observe the tank at night after the light have been off for at least 2-3 hours with a high power cree led flashlight and did not see any zoa eating nudi, spiders and pox. I have done a dip and all I saw where small apmhipods fall out, the bigger ones are really fast and hide almost instantly at the sight of light. The internet is full with threads such as this one, where reefers are experiencing similar problems. I guess it is hard to accept something of this nature if it hasnt happen to you. But I'm sure that something that was once considered good by one hobbyist is considered bad by someone else's standards. In this instance, amphipods are pests in my tank.
Click to expand...

My point is the great majority of pods in most members tanks are NOT the type that eat zoas. If they were, none of us would have any zoas left.
I am simply trying to warn folks, especially newer members that the typical amphipods found in our tanks are not the enemy.

YOU have an especially large type of pod in your tank that could be eating some zoas. The pods in my tanks aren't eating my zoas, but then again, I don't have the same size pods you do, and no they don't get increasingly larger as they age. They grow to the size of the particular 'breed' of amphipods that they are.

I am quite open to occurences in reef tanks that are beyond the considered 'normal' but I also do question a lot of what I read and I did review the posts on the net related to zoa eating amphipods and didn't find them them to contain enough strong evidence to go off and buy a fish to wipe out my pods. Most were speculation that the pods might be eating the zoas when they were likely eating algae or just running over the zoas. None of the ones I read suggested they might be eating any other soft coral, and I found that informative as well.
 
Greagzter

Greagzter

Advanced Reefer
Manhattan Reefs
Location
Brooklyn
Rating - 100%
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Perhaps the ones I got in my tank are a different breed, but that doesnt change the fact that I have personally witnessed Amphipods eating my zoas. The threads I have read the people which posted them were pretty sure in what they saw. Beginner or not, I think this is something to consider and be aware of. I am sure that people are not properly advised as to what breed of amphipods they are getting.
 
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