Nudi question

[rocko918]

So I have Nudi's. I have been plucking them out every night when I see them. Right now 90% or my zoa are in a 45 gallon q-tank. All of them have been treated with Furan2 in RO water for 12 minutes. Even after being in there I still have Nudi's. I have dipped some in Lugols but not all. The largest colonies is where is see them the most. I also have eggs on the body of some of the zoas. I am working on get a Sea Grass Wrasse to help control them.

I was wondering if anyone knew or have a ball park on how long zoa's can stay out of water? Or how long Nudi's can last out of water. I am trying to think of ways to get them out of the colonies. Maybe they will crawl out of the frags if they were dry or with out water? Any other ideas?

thanks

 

[bryan]

Simple soak for 10 minutes in freshwater (i don't even waste RO on them, plain tap water) some strong basting with a turkey baster. Then move to a bowl of tankwater, and inspect the undersides for spiral eggsacks and remove them with tweezers.

Wash, rinse, repeat until you are rid of them. No meds needed.

As for out of the water, the nudis will bury as deep as they can into the frag/colony to remain moist. So that may work against you. Zoos can handle several hours no prob though if you want to give it a shot.

 

[MarvinsReef]

how many weeks have you been treating for?

I'm not sure how long the eggsacks take to hatch but I figured if you dip w/ Lugols and FW (I also just use tap water) for 6 weeks, I would say that will give a very good chance of eradicating the nudis... just do the dip every 4-5 days.. for 6 weeks.. 8 weeks is better if you can be patient...

I also would not recommend leaving the zoas out too long.. they will dry out...

 

[rocko918]

thanks guys, I will try the tap water method. i will match the temp, do you think i should match the PH as well?

they have been in the q-tank for a full 2 weeks now

 

[rottface4]

I believe yellow tail damsel also eat them. I will have to check with Fragmaster, but I thought he said they do. Unless I have it confused with them eating flatworms. I'll look into it.

 

[rottface4]

Ok found it: From Propagator on nanoreef (fragmaster here I believe)

Yellow tail Fiji damsel will eat zoanthid eating nudis.
Most damsel will eat comensial flat worms too.
The trick is NOT to feed them.
Even my domino eats flat worms and nudis.

I have litteraly seen them pick them off the polyps and the glass.
I think the yellow tails do it naturaly and the domino learned from them.
THe Fiji Blue devil eats'em too.
I found this out completely by accident while I was trying an experiment to find out what fish would eat them.
I borrowed SEVERAL fish from my LFS to test ( they wantted to know too.)

SO far other than the high end wrasses that may eat fish, shrimp or featherduster, the damseles are it.

I left each species in the tank for two week with out feeding them.
Then BAM The flat worm started thinning out, and my zoanthids all perked up again after adding the damsels.

 

[Azurel]

Dang that sucks Bob.....When and how do you think you got them? From a trade or LFS/OLS?

 

[rocko918]

I think i have had them a while, Because there are so many. I rarely buy things on line and mostly do trades. I really never noticed them until i was dipping some new stuff. Then i saw one come out in the dip. Once you notice them you can see them very easy. I also had a yellow coris wrasse for a few years, recently i traded him in to a LFS as it was getting big and i wanted to add different ones. I think he also kept them in check. I have been with out a wrasse for at least 4 months. Recently i added a Melanarus Wrasse.

But i did learn that i now will be q-tanking all my corals before they go into the main tank. I am a believer of q-tanking my fish and now my corals.

 

[rocko918]

Ok found it: From Propagator on nanoreef (fragmaster here I believe)

thanks for this info, I am sure i can find one of the fish for free!!!

Since it is for the q-tank i have no problem putting one in to test out. I will never put it in my main tank.

 

[msman825]

ant it 5-7 days for the Eggs to hatch

 

[cobraz]

I have used this treatment below:

ZOANTHID-EATING NUDIS 101
This article was originally meant to be a multi-page essay with detailed instructions on how to go through the painful eradication process. Thanks to a fellow reefer and zoanthid enthusiast, we all have much less work now: I only have to write a page or so, and everyone with a nudi problem can get rid of these pests in 5-minute for $20.00. For all those who have some interest in reading more about zoanthid eating nudis, dive right in. If you just want to kill them, skip to the very bottom of this article.
Origin
To the best of our knowledge, our nasty little predators originate in the Pacific, notably the Solomon Islands.

Natural Predators
There are a number of fish that reportedly prey on zoanthid eating nudis, however, we’ve tried many and experienced a limited amount of success. We attribute this to the nudis’ ability to adapt to their predators, which we will discuss in detail later in this section.


All fish supposedly preying on nudis belong to the Halichoeres category of the Wrasses, and the Chaetodon family of the Butterfly Fish. Both have a number of downsides that make them unfit predators for most tanks.


Chaetodon: Too large for most tanks; preys on the same zoanthids you are trying to save; the most vicarious nudi eater, Chaetodon Semilarvatus, is, at $120 and up a pricey option.

Halichoeres: Not nearly as efficient as the Butterflies; suicidal jumpers; nudis seem to be an acquired taste that varies from individual fish to fish, many are not reef safe.

Zoanthid Hit List
Just like any other animal, nudis have preferences when it comes to food. Some polyps are much more likely to become infested than others. In general, your Paythoa and Protopalythoa (People Eater Varieties) will remain nudi free, even in case of serious infestations. Palythoa have too hard of a skin to eat or lay eggs in, Protopalythoa have on occasion found stray nudis getting too close to their tentacles to be a nice treat.

Next on the list of least likely to be affected zoanthids are Caribbean morphs of the zoanthus sociatus family. While closely related to Pacific zoanthids, we have observed very little infestation. This may simply be due to the absence of zoanthid eating nudis in Caribbean waters.

Extermination
As promised above, this solution will take 5 minutes and cost all of $20.00. First, get yourself enough Salifert Flatworm Exit to treat your tank two times. Each Package contains enough solution for 300 gallons of water. Then dose your tank according to instructions and watch the nudis turn inside out and die. Since the process does not kill eggs, you will have to repeat the process a week later. Since no adults are left to lay more eggs and eggs hatch within 3-4 days, you will have a 100% success rate. Additionally, since there are only few nudis in a system at a time, you won’t have to do any water changes to dilute toxins. (even a few hundred in a large tank is considered little compared to the number of flatworms you could have)

I’ve tried this method myself and seen others use it. It works! Grab a beer, lay back and savor victory.

I found this on a Comercial vendor last year - I used this and it worked... the only thing I would change is treat the tank 2 weeks apart -- 3 times to make sure you got them all.

 

[reefboy]

just outa curiousity do these fish eat the acro eating flatworms and monti eating nud's might be good to have as a back up case some slip by.

 

[rocko918]

I tried Salifert Flatworm Exit , did not work for me.

 

[Patwa]

hey Bob....i'm dealing with a minor case of nudis in my display tank right now.....i noticed them when i came back to Toronto from my trip to D.C. last week.....must have come from some new pieces I placed in the tank before I left.

in any case, i dipped all the rocks and examined as much of the polyps as I could .....found about 5 eggs sacks and about 8 nudis (different sizes)..dang!.....but the battle continues....i'll prolly check the rocks again tonight to see where I stand....i'll have to keep doing this routine for the next month or two before i start to breathe easy

and FWIW, i use RO+DI water all the time, no matter what i'm dipping ....if i were to use tap water, there would be minor traces of chlorine and chloramine (the worst of the two) that will enter the water column when i place the rocks back in.....multiply that by about 20 or 30 rocks, that's a heck of a lot of chlorine and chloramine that i'd rather not enter my tank.....you can deal with chlorine easily by increasing the flow in the tank, but chloramine is the one that stays put - and it's the one that can do the most damage.

good luck man!

Zach

 

[rocko918]

UPDATE:

Well I got 2 sea grass wrasses from blue zoo. 1, I was lucky enough to have a lfs q-tank it for me. The other I setup a 10 gal tank with some live rock, cheato and a small filter. I have been dropping nudis into the tank when I see them on my frags. I also dropped a frag of raspberry reds in the tank as well as there always seems to be a few on there. I have had the sgw since Thursday. He like to eat pellets, I wanted to make sure he was eating and healthy before I only feed him the nudis. He is much more active now, swims around the tank, looking for things to eat. Pretty friendly guy I might add. Last night I decided to shake the frag of raspberry's as I saw some nudis on it. I must have shook off 6 or 7 of them. I saw eggs all over it. So now I am breeding them in my 10 gallon. I watched them crawl all over the glass. It was great, well except the sgw did not even look at them. I will continue to watch him in hopes he changes his mind.

Do you think he will get along with a Melanurus wrasse in a 75?

I also added a yellow tail damsel to my frag tank, I have not see him hit anything, but again i have not staved him for 2 weeks.

 

[ficklefins]

Bob,

That sucks. Wish I had an answer for you, but the only thing I can do is with you the best of luck in deal with this issue. Let me know if there is anything I can help with.

Luciano

 

[rocko918]

My SGW in the q-tank,

 

[ecotoxlady]

In my honest opinion and experience, a canary/banana wrasse will eat all nudis be they monti or zoanthid. I used to have two of these fish and they were incredible nudi eating machines. They kept the tank entirely pest free! I would strongly recommend trying one of them. The sea grass wrasse are a little less predictable. Some of them eat nudis and some of them won't touch 'em. By the way, I had my yellow wrasse shipped to me from Atlantis Aquarium in Cali and found them to be great.

Zach, I thought you were gonna contact me when you came to the area. Thats a bummer I hope you had a nice time in DC regardless!

 

[rocko918]

I did order 2. One is sitting in my q-tank with alot of nudis. (the one pictured) the other is at a lfs, they are holding it for me until i am ready. I am going to move this guy into my frag tank and put the new guys in the q-tank with the nudis. Maybe he will have an taste for them. The lfs aslo had 2 yellow wrasses, i am not sure if they were coris or canary wrasses. I will have to ask. I think i may have to visit the store this weekend to find out.