New tank reef pest question

[anen]

Hi all,
I have been lurking for a while but am about to set up my first tank, a 40 breeder this weekend. I was originally supposed to set up a tank about 8 months ago, but have been delayed for different reasons.

During this time I have been curing live rock for over six months. Along the way I purchased a bunch of frags. Everything was doing great for quite some time. At some point which I cannot remember, many of my zoas started to suffer. They look like they have white spots, and they have all been disappearing. Some frags used to completely cover the frag plugs, but now it looks like there are empty spots right down to the agrocrete, like they are almost receding.

When I turn the lights on in the morning, I can see little what I'm guessing are pods running all over them. I'm not sure if they're eating them or what not. When I turn the lights on, I also see several very fast moving white colored things fly down into the bottom of the rubbermaid container under the rock. I have no idea what they are and they are moving too fast to get a look at them. I also have slugs; I have no idea where these came from or if they are good or bad.

I have a couple of soft corals, that seem to be doing just fine.

I am concerned about using the rock to when I set my tank up. Does this sound like I have a bad pest problem? Would it be best to boil the rock and start the cycle over?

I would hate to do that if I don't have to, there's plenty of life on these rocks now. I have all these different snails that I never purchased, starfish that I don't know the origin of either.

Your input is appreciated.

[joeshmo]

Do you have any pictures of the dying zoas? How are your tank parameters? Do you have any fish? Do you do water changes? What do you have for equipment? What are you feeding your fish/coral?

Just need to know more about your tank before giving a guess.

[Aquarist007]

Hi all,
I have been lurking for a while but am about to set up my first tank, a 40 breeder this weekend. I was originally supposed to set up a tank about 8 months ago, but have been delayed for different reasons.

During this time I have been curing live rock for over six months. Along the way I purchased a bunch of frags. Everything was doing great for quite some time. At some point which I cannot remember, many of my zoas started to suffer. They look like they have white spots, and they have all been disappearing. Some frags used to completely cover the frag plugs, but now it looks like there are empty spots right down to the agrocrete, like they are almost receding.

When I turn the lights on in the morning, I can see little what I'm guessing are pods running all over them. I'm not sure if they're eating them or what not. When I turn the lights on, I also see several very fast moving white colored things fly down into the bottom of the rubbermaid container under the rock. I have no idea what they are and they are moving too fast to get a look at them. I also have slugs; I have no idea where these came from or if they are good or bad.

I have a couple of soft corals, that seem to be doing just fine.

I am concerned about using the rock to when I set my tank up. Does this sound like I have a bad pest problem? Would it be best to boil the rock and start the cycle over?

I would hate to do that if I don't have to, there's plenty of life on these rocks now. I have all these different snails that I never purchased, starfish that I don't know the origin of either.

Your input is appreciated.

sounds like zoa eating nudibranches
here is a good article on them and how to treat

http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/resources.asp?show=15

[blennydude]

The slugs sound like stomatellas, a common good cleaning hitchhiker. The bugs you see could be arthropods which are harmless. Your corals could be receding by a number of reasons. I would not boil the rock, too much good things would be lost.

[anen]

I will try to take some pictures tomorrow. Honestly over the past few months I have neglected the rock and frags somewhat. It wasn't until recently I noticed I wasn't topping off enough ( I do it manually for now) and my salinity crept up to about 1.3 for an extended period of time. I have no fish, just some snails. I do water changes, but unfrequently, maybe every 6-8 weeks I have been doing a 30% WC. I figured that there is hardly any polluters in there, but I have not done much testing during this time. I feed ESV freeze dried phytoplankton maybe once a week. In terms of equipment, it's just some rubbermaid tubs, some powerheads, and heaters over a ati t5.

Do you have any pictures of the dying zoas? How are your tank parameters? Do you have any fish? Do you do water changes? What do you have for equipment? What are you feeding your fish/coral?

Just need to know more about your tank before giving a guess.

[anen]

How about the fast moving white things when I turn on the light?

[anen]

This could be possible I think. In the link you provided, they look very similar to the red bodied sucker in the upper right hand corner of the picture, except they're bodies are somewhat translucent, somewhat paste white, but with some reddish coloration in the middle.

sounds like zoa eating nudibranches
here is a good article on them and how to treat

http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/resources.asp?show=15

[Aquarist007]

I will try to take some pictures tomorrow. Honestly over the past few months I have neglected the rock and frags somewhat. It wasn't until recently I noticed I wasn't topping off enough ( I do it manually for now) and my salinity crept up to about 1.3 for an extended period of time. I have no fish, just some snails. I do water changes, but unfrequently, maybe every 6-8 weeks I have been doing a 30% WC. I figured that there is hardly any polluters in there, but I have not done much testing during this time. I feed ESV freeze dried phytoplankton maybe once a week. In terms of equipment, it's just some rubbermaid tubs, some powerheads, and heaters over a ati t5.

do you mean a salinity of 1.030?
You really need to monitor the ammonia and nitrates better and do regular water changes of either weekly or bimonthly. It's just a good habit to get into and changing levels of tank parameters are going to have an affect on your corals.
With all the living inverts etc that are visible in your tank your conditions can't be that bad.

[Aquarist007]

This could be possible I think. In the link you provided, they look very similar to the red bodied sucker in the upper right hand corner of the picture, except they're bodies are somewhat translucent, somewhat paste white, but with some reddish coloration in the middle.

I would be tempted to freshwater dip the corals and see what comes off in the water. If parasites are visible then I would treat the tank with Prazipro.