What's eating my zoas?

[vanceny]

Here's the line-up:

LMB
Hippo Tang
Salifin Tang
Lamark Angel
2 Yellow Clown Gobies
1-2 Pepermint shrimp (not sure how many)
2 cleaner shrimp
2 fire shrimp

No evidence of nudibranches or zoa pox. Nothing new added to tank. Only changes made:
switching to kalk for top-off
switched out a ati blue for a aqua blue +

I did see a little bleaching after the bulb switch but thats all. The zoa in question were pinkish and others were orange. Both located near the bottom and had some shade.

I've watched the fish and haven't seen any of them nip. I've read that it could be the hippo, the lamark, or the gobies. The only one that I see picking off of the rocks is the lamark.

Any ideas?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Need pics.

 

[vanceny]

There gone. It doesn't look like parts of it getting eaten. Whole polyps are gone. I had a bunch in one spot that slowly started disappear in about a week. Approximately 10-15 polyps.

 

[Deanos]

Gorilla crab.

 

[underworld@hvrk]

angels are known polyp eaters, also check for white spots could be zoa pox? By any chance do you have any asterina stars in the tank? a pic would be a good way for us to help out man..

 

[vanceny]

I doubt its a crab since I haven't introduced anything new to the tank. I've had the pox before in a previous tank so I know what they look like.

I do have some mini star fish but I'm not sure which type they are. I'll see if I can get a pic of the polyps. The spot that they (whoever "they" are) are eating from has almost no polpys left.

 

[NYReef]

Some type of crab, I had my zoanthids suddenly disappearing and had not added anything to the tank in months. I went in the dark with a small flashlight, red lens is best to not scare the critters, and found a rather large crab, there is a thread and pic on here from it. I was amazed to as I hadn't added anything, the opinion was it came in on the rock very small and grew with my over generous feedings. Oh, and I thought "no way" when someone told me I had a crab too.

Link here: http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/reefs-beginners/15040-zoanthid-killer-my-tank-help.html

 

[vanceny]

Thanks. I'm going to have to look for it after lights out. So no one thinks it might be a fish? Also the mini stars that I have look more like brittle stars and not asterina's.

 

[Reefer420]

I had a zoo and shroom loss a while back - it ended up being a large bristle worm eating them. He was at least 8-10" long and about an 1" thick.. even though these are usually benign in a tank, I have a feeling that b/c it was so large, and my tank so small (16g) that it was not finding enough to eat- so went to the softies!

I caught it one morning when I happened to look at my tank before work- I was lucky I did! Got him before he could hide again, I was amazed at how large it was! No more shroom and zoo losses after! I was mad- lost a bunch of blue shrooms, a hairy shroom, lots of zoos, etc.

 

[pnoyreefer]

Are your zoas frags? did u just glue them out? just askin cuz it happens to me before some of my zoa frags are gone and I thought maybe someone was eating it but then found them all thw way at the back and some behind my LR it got blown away cuz I didn't put that much glue to it....

 

[vanceny]

the zoas in question were purchased from the frag swap last month. They only started to disappear last week. I'm sure that they should have attached by now.

 

[kigs]

it's probably your hippo tang. lot of ppl report witnessing their hippos munching on zoas.

 

[qy7400]

keep an eye out for zoa spiders as well, slow little buggers so you can see them with a flashlight after lights out.