So as the title suggests, I appear to be having some issues with my current amphipod population in my tank (30 gallon). Now I've done quite a bit of research about zoa-eating amphipods, and though it appears especially rare, I was able to find a few instances where others have had similar experiences (including on this site).
Anyway, it goes back a few weeksa go when I bought a nice set of rasta zoas from my LFS. Within only a few days, 10 out of the 15 polyps seemed to have literally disintegrated, which I know can unexplainably happen with some zoas. But during those few days, I noticed the polyps being almost completely covered by amphipods when the lights were out. Initially I thought the pods might just be cleaning up the rock/plug the zoas were on, or cleaning up any possible dead zoa tissue that may have existed, but I decided to test that by raising the colony of zoas off the floor of the tank and onto a large narrow shot glass, which prevented the pods from coming into contact with the zoas. On the shot glass, the 5 polyps stayed alive and remained pod-free, but would not open up. So I decided maybe it wasn't the pods after all and moved them back down to the floor of the tank. The next day, the remaining 5 polyps were unexplainably gone, with pods again being observed all over the colony when the lights were out.
I then decided to go to my LFS and buy two cheaper zoa frags to truly figure out if it was just the rastas being weird or if I really had a zoa-eating pod problem on my hands. I placed one frag on the left side of the tank and one frag on the right side of the tank. Overnight, the zoa frag that had only 2 polyps was completely gone, and the other colony that had ~20 polyps was easily halfed to 10 polyps, with again the pods being seen all of the colony/plug when the lights were out. I now have the remaining 10 polyps of that frag raised on the shot glass and though they have yet to open up after ~3 days now, I haven't lost any additional polyps. The culprit has to be the pods right???
What is most weird is that before I bought the rastas, I've had three nice sized colonies of zoas with no problems at all. It's not until now that I'm actually seeing one of the colonies "disappearing" now, but the other two seem to be unaffected to this point. Is it just a spontaneous zoa-eating population of pods that has only recently began to propagate in my tank or am I missing something?
But to make a long story short, I'm just looking for some input as to what you guys think. Can it really be the pods that are eating my zoas? All of my other corals are unaffected to this point. What can I do to solve this problem? I really don't want to lose my three large colonies of zoas and would like to be able to keep future colonies of zoas without worry.
I was thinking about getting a sixline wrasse to hopefully clear out my pod population. Would this be a suitable option for a 30 gallon tank? My tank is only stocked with two oscellaris clowns right now, and my husbandry/water change regimen is very pristine. Below are my tank specs if you wish to refer to, and let me know if you'd like any additional info.
Thanks for all the help in advance!
Tank Specs:
30 gallon, barebottom, Mp10 powerhead, Octopus BH1000 HOB skimmer, empty HOB filter for surface agitation (replaced with floss during WCs), all parameters within range
Anyway, it goes back a few weeksa go when I bought a nice set of rasta zoas from my LFS. Within only a few days, 10 out of the 15 polyps seemed to have literally disintegrated, which I know can unexplainably happen with some zoas. But during those few days, I noticed the polyps being almost completely covered by amphipods when the lights were out. Initially I thought the pods might just be cleaning up the rock/plug the zoas were on, or cleaning up any possible dead zoa tissue that may have existed, but I decided to test that by raising the colony of zoas off the floor of the tank and onto a large narrow shot glass, which prevented the pods from coming into contact with the zoas. On the shot glass, the 5 polyps stayed alive and remained pod-free, but would not open up. So I decided maybe it wasn't the pods after all and moved them back down to the floor of the tank. The next day, the remaining 5 polyps were unexplainably gone, with pods again being observed all over the colony when the lights were out.
I then decided to go to my LFS and buy two cheaper zoa frags to truly figure out if it was just the rastas being weird or if I really had a zoa-eating pod problem on my hands. I placed one frag on the left side of the tank and one frag on the right side of the tank. Overnight, the zoa frag that had only 2 polyps was completely gone, and the other colony that had ~20 polyps was easily halfed to 10 polyps, with again the pods being seen all of the colony/plug when the lights were out. I now have the remaining 10 polyps of that frag raised on the shot glass and though they have yet to open up after ~3 days now, I haven't lost any additional polyps. The culprit has to be the pods right???
What is most weird is that before I bought the rastas, I've had three nice sized colonies of zoas with no problems at all. It's not until now that I'm actually seeing one of the colonies "disappearing" now, but the other two seem to be unaffected to this point. Is it just a spontaneous zoa-eating population of pods that has only recently began to propagate in my tank or am I missing something?
But to make a long story short, I'm just looking for some input as to what you guys think. Can it really be the pods that are eating my zoas? All of my other corals are unaffected to this point. What can I do to solve this problem? I really don't want to lose my three large colonies of zoas and would like to be able to keep future colonies of zoas without worry.
I was thinking about getting a sixline wrasse to hopefully clear out my pod population. Would this be a suitable option for a 30 gallon tank? My tank is only stocked with two oscellaris clowns right now, and my husbandry/water change regimen is very pristine. Below are my tank specs if you wish to refer to, and let me know if you'd like any additional info.
Thanks for all the help in advance!
Tank Specs:
30 gallon, barebottom, Mp10 powerhead, Octopus BH1000 HOB skimmer, empty HOB filter for surface agitation (replaced with floss during WCs), all parameters within range
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