KusabiKuri
08/09/2013, 12:54 PM
I've done a lot of reading on this and it seems like there's no definitive answer as to whether or not there are pods that either eat zoas or irritate them to the point of decline.
My story is that I got a plug with a couple different zoa frags on it from a small store. I got it back home and found there was a nudibranch on it that was slowly eating away at the frag. I promptly removed it but the zoa decline was still progressing at an alarming rate so I started to watch it using my phone light after my tank lights went out. I noticed a lot of pod activity at the base of the zoas and thought they were maybe irritating them while they were still recovering from the nudi so I moved them off a rock in the sandbed and onto a frag rack higher up in the tank.
They spent a week or so literally inches away from the rock they were on and they started to open up again. At this point I could only save the green ones and the orange-looking zoas were completely gone. After a week or so I moved them even higher in the tank and on the back wall close to my powerhead where they continued to recover and sprout new heads (I had two tiny frags with some heads on each.
So 2-3 weeks later they look pretty good and my thinking is that they've recovered enough (sprouting new heads pretty often now) to be put back on the sandbed. I took one of the small frags and glued it back to the rock they were originally on and all looked okay during the day. Now, a few days later they look exactly like they did when they were in decline. Melting and closed up. However, the ones I left on the frag rack look healthy as ever.
My water parameters are all fine. In terms of other corals, I have a huge frogspawn (probably almost 10" across when open) that has heads splitting weekly, candy cane coral that's also always splitting, a few pieces of SPS one of which is growing pretty quickly, a rock full of daisy polyps, a small green mushroom, a bleached devil's hand I bought cheap that's recovering well, two ricordias, some kenya trees, and a chunk of GSP. All of it is doing better than fine including the zoas as long as I keep them out of reach from anything in the rockwork. I also have two small clownfish, a small RBTA that is over twice as big as when I got it a few months ago, and a purple-spotted mantis shrimp that spends its time smashing rock on the other side of the tank.
The tank itself is a 10g acrylic with a ~7g custom sump that houses chaeto and a DIY airstone skimmer. I have a ReefBreeders Value fixture (only running at about 40%) hanging maybe 8 inches from the top of the tank that's completely covered to curb evaporation. I do about 20% water changes weekly after checking parameters, check salinity daily, and feed sparingly. By the end of the year I'll be upgrading to a 40b with a 20L sump but if I'm going to be moving my livestock over I want to believe that I can raise zoas on anything other than a frag plug attached to the glass.
Would just adding a sixline to my upgraded system help fix the issue? I know this is kind of a loaded question because of how dynamic this hobby is, but I guess I'm just looking for some peace of mind regarding this almost mythical zoa-eating pod thing.
My story is that I got a plug with a couple different zoa frags on it from a small store. I got it back home and found there was a nudibranch on it that was slowly eating away at the frag. I promptly removed it but the zoa decline was still progressing at an alarming rate so I started to watch it using my phone light after my tank lights went out. I noticed a lot of pod activity at the base of the zoas and thought they were maybe irritating them while they were still recovering from the nudi so I moved them off a rock in the sandbed and onto a frag rack higher up in the tank.
They spent a week or so literally inches away from the rock they were on and they started to open up again. At this point I could only save the green ones and the orange-looking zoas were completely gone. After a week or so I moved them even higher in the tank and on the back wall close to my powerhead where they continued to recover and sprout new heads (I had two tiny frags with some heads on each.
So 2-3 weeks later they look pretty good and my thinking is that they've recovered enough (sprouting new heads pretty often now) to be put back on the sandbed. I took one of the small frags and glued it back to the rock they were originally on and all looked okay during the day. Now, a few days later they look exactly like they did when they were in decline. Melting and closed up. However, the ones I left on the frag rack look healthy as ever.
My water parameters are all fine. In terms of other corals, I have a huge frogspawn (probably almost 10" across when open) that has heads splitting weekly, candy cane coral that's also always splitting, a few pieces of SPS one of which is growing pretty quickly, a rock full of daisy polyps, a small green mushroom, a bleached devil's hand I bought cheap that's recovering well, two ricordias, some kenya trees, and a chunk of GSP. All of it is doing better than fine including the zoas as long as I keep them out of reach from anything in the rockwork. I also have two small clownfish, a small RBTA that is over twice as big as when I got it a few months ago, and a purple-spotted mantis shrimp that spends its time smashing rock on the other side of the tank.
The tank itself is a 10g acrylic with a ~7g custom sump that houses chaeto and a DIY airstone skimmer. I have a ReefBreeders Value fixture (only running at about 40%) hanging maybe 8 inches from the top of the tank that's completely covered to curb evaporation. I do about 20% water changes weekly after checking parameters, check salinity daily, and feed sparingly. By the end of the year I'll be upgrading to a 40b with a 20L sump but if I'm going to be moving my livestock over I want to believe that I can raise zoas on anything other than a frag plug attached to the glass.
Would just adding a sixline to my upgraded system help fix the issue? I know this is kind of a loaded question because of how dynamic this hobby is, but I guess I'm just looking for some peace of mind regarding this almost mythical zoa-eating pod thing.