hey folks, just thought i'd share some experiences i've had w/ the little pests. they've claimed one of my colonies unbeknownst to me until it was too late, but ever since i've been pretty vigilant about removing them when i find them.
in any case, if you have or propagate zoanthids, take a few minutes every few days to look CLOSELY at all your colonies. if an otherwise healthy looking colony is all open except for a couple of polyps, check their bases for nudibranches. oftentimes, they'll just look like polyp tentacles, but clumped together... from what i can tell, they can assume colors similar to your zoanthids, but it'll be obvious that they don't belong if you look closely.
some of these i've managed to pull out in the tank w/ tweezers, but it's pretty hard to do w/ my prop setup. if you have to take the zoanthids out of the tank to remove the nudibranch, make sure to work at a table w/ good, strong light. if you lose track of where the nudibranch was, it should've turned a darker, brown/purple/black color than what it was in the tank. usually it'll look like a clump of dark tissue at the base between two or more polyps, but probe around w/ tweezers. they'll be very soft and very different in consistency and texture compared to the zoanthid mat.
well, i hope that info helps, and my apologies if someone's already posted something similar. take it easy, folks.
blenny
i just removed a few today, but i was too eager to get them out that i didn't take pictures. however, mane3215 has a couple pictures that give you general idea of what shape pest to look for. they'll usually only be a few millimeters long, but there are definitely bigger ones.
mane3215's photo gallery
in any case, if you have or propagate zoanthids, take a few minutes every few days to look CLOSELY at all your colonies. if an otherwise healthy looking colony is all open except for a couple of polyps, check their bases for nudibranches. oftentimes, they'll just look like polyp tentacles, but clumped together... from what i can tell, they can assume colors similar to your zoanthids, but it'll be obvious that they don't belong if you look closely.
some of these i've managed to pull out in the tank w/ tweezers, but it's pretty hard to do w/ my prop setup. if you have to take the zoanthids out of the tank to remove the nudibranch, make sure to work at a table w/ good, strong light. if you lose track of where the nudibranch was, it should've turned a darker, brown/purple/black color than what it was in the tank. usually it'll look like a clump of dark tissue at the base between two or more polyps, but probe around w/ tweezers. they'll be very soft and very different in consistency and texture compared to the zoanthid mat.
well, i hope that info helps, and my apologies if someone's already posted something similar. take it easy, folks.
blenny
i just removed a few today, but i was too eager to get them out that i didn't take pictures. however, mane3215 has a couple pictures that give you general idea of what shape pest to look for. they'll usually only be a few millimeters long, but there are definitely bigger ones.
mane3215's photo gallery
