Need help identifying pests on zoanthids

B

Bigsauce

New member
This has been puzzling me for the past couple days. I recently transferred my zoas to a new tank and a few day later I noticed some sort of parasite all over them. Their size makes it difficult for me to take a picture of them. This is how I would describe them: Very tiny, around 1-2mm long, see through or white, with 2 black dots which I assume are eyes and 1 black line that goes from front to back, they have no feet and move around like slugs. When I picked up the zoa, i noticed that there were what appeared to be eggs or sand granules held together somehow and attached to the plug, which was under the sand. I've been taking the zoas out daily and blowing off the pests but that doesn't seem to be reducing their population. So my question is: What kind of pest am I dealing with and how should I go about eradicating them? I've looked over lots of pictures and cant seem to find any pest that looks like what I'm dealing with. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
DD said:
Google zoanthid eating nudibranchs. That would be where I would start.
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I was looking at nudibranchs but ruled them out since whats in my tank is flat, doesn't have any lobes and is worm like. I did some more research and I'm pretty sure what I have are flat worms. Any tips on wiping out the flatworms while their population is small. I was looking at flatworm exit but would prefer a different approach to eradicate them.
 
There are some members of the wrasse family that will help keep the population in check. Six lines, yellow coris, cosmetus, melanarus, etc. I would stick to those species specifically.

Only other thing you can do in the mean time is keep dipping them every day or so.

There should be some good methods via the web.

I have personally never had them, but have read a good deal about them. If you go the chem route, be prepared to remove the flatworm corpses as they release toxins upon death.
 
Lugols works. Revive works. Freshwater works. I believe the eggs survive though. Hence why they recommend a second treatment of flatworm exit a week or two later.

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Tbonekilla said:
Lugols works. Revive works. Freshwater works. I believe the eggs survive though. Hence why they recommend a second treatment of flatworm exit a week or two later.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 4
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Peroxide in the right concentration works well for worms :)
 
jayjigga said:
Peroxide in the right concentration works well for worms :)
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I'm gonna give the peroxide a try, what concentration should I use? Also, they seem to be sticking their eggs on my zoanthids plug under the sand. I have been removing the eggs, along with any flatworms on my zoas daily so that should eventually wear the population down right? . I'd prefer to manually remove or use wrasses before resorting to chemicals. I was going to pull the trigger on getting a labouti wrasse before I had the flatworm issue, does anyone think he will eat the flatworms? Thanks for all the help guys, this is my first time dealing with flat worms or any pest that causes damage for that matter.
 
Bigsauce said:
I'm gonna give the peroxide a try, what concentration should I use? Also, they seem to be sticking their eggs on my zoanthids plug under the sand. I have been removing the eggs, along with any flatworms on my zoas daily so that should eventually wear the population down right? . I'd prefer to manually remove or use wrasses before resorting to chemicals. I was going to pull the trigger on getting a labouti wrasse before I had the flatworm issue, does anyone think he will eat the flatworms? Thanks for all the help guys, this is my first time dealing with flat worms or any pest that causes damage for that matter.
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I was going to say, if it's in the DT, I'd solve it with a fish. Idk if I'd drop labouti money, but certain wrasse are great for hunting (cosmetus, mel might, green, yellow, and a couple other wrasses).

Peroxide, almost forgot: I usually do 2:1 tank water to peroxide, 4 mins.
 
Melanarus wrasse! Mine eliminated the flat worm issue in my old tank. Peroxide works great too.
 
If you get a wrasse, make sure to stick in the same family that everyone is recommending. They're known to eat flatworms.
 
I found some more today while inspecting my zoanthids. There was a bigger one and I made it out to be a pod. So It seems I was wrong all along with the whole flatworm idea, sigh. Does anyone know why pods would be all over my zoas? I can't find them anywhere else in my new tank, though I did have a bunch in my previous tank but they never caused problems and I had never seen them on my zoas or any corals for that matter. From what I've been seeing there is always a few on the zoas and the rest hide on the underside of the plug where they lay what I presume are eggs. Thanks guys, you've been very helpful.
 
Bigsauce said:
I found some more today while inspecting my zoanthids. There was a bigger one and I made it out to be a pod. So It seems I was wrong all along with the whole flatworm idea, sigh. Does anyone know why pods would be all over my zoas? I can't find them anywhere else in my new tank, though I did have a bunch in my previous tank but they never caused problems and I had never seen them on my zoas or any corals for that matter. From what I've been seeing there is always a few on the zoas and the rest hide on the underside of the plug where they lay what I presume are eggs. Thanks guys, you've been very helpful.
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I also have a decent Zoa collection and find pods in mine all the time too. I had a colony that was not doing so hot after I fragged off of it. I blew it off as being pissy from the fragging. After not looking good for a week, I decided to dip it and really didn't find much other than vermetid snails. I removed them and it looks a little better. but I guess time will tell. Good Luck
 
Bigsauce said:
I'm gonna give the peroxide a try, what concentration should I use? Also, they seem to be sticking their eggs on my zoanthids plug under the sand. I have been removing the eggs, along with any flatworms on my zoas daily so that should eventually wear the population down right? . I'd prefer to manually remove or use wrasses before resorting to chemicals. I was going to pull the trigger on getting a labouti wrasse before I had the flatworm issue, does anyone think he will eat the flatworms? Thanks for all the help guys, this is my first time dealing with flat worms or any pest that causes damage for that matter.
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I have a labouti they eat everything but dont hunt really if it gets blown in the water column he will eat it but wont actively hunt em like corris wrasses and melinarus wrasses ps i have a yellow corris hes a azz i have him inqt right now with rest of fish he wont be going back in dt wife likes him i dont he will be living in qt rest of his life lol
 
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