That article I linked above gives good incite to how difficult these guys may be to remove. I'll quote Dr. Ron from the last paragraph of the article, but do read it! Also a search turns up many helpful threads.
Quote:
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Sea spider predation or parasitism is a potential threat to all corals, soft corals, and sea anemones that are kept in aquaria. If an aquarium system gets infected, just how easy it is to control the pest species will really depend on the type of pycnogonid that is present. The large forms are typically slow, and readily apparent, and may be easily removed from aquaria. The small forms, on the other hand, may be quite difficult to see, as they may be as small, or smaller, than the polyps of small-mouthed corals. Additionally, they may live under the coral mucus layer, and this would further obscure them. They do not appear to be easily removed by "dips," poisons, or potential predators. Frankly, if they are found on corals in any tank, the best option would likely be to remove the coral from the tank, and simply dispose of it.
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This is from my short experience here, and talking with others who have fought them. The adults are easy enough to pick off, but are well camouflaged. The ones I found seemed to be the same color as the stalk of the zoanthid.
I've dipped and QT (4 weeks most often) all my zoanthids prior to being put into my main tank. I missed them completely. I can only assume they were under the mucus layer, or still so small that they were not noticed by me. Nor upsetting the zoanthids at that point.
Dr. Ron, that is an amazing picture! Those are the "fangs" injected into the zoanthid in that picture? Or am I seeing things?
