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Sponge?
May 16, 2014 18:38:33 GMT -5
Post by Kevin on May 16, 2014 18:38:33 GMT -5
![]() So I have some angry zoanthids is this a sponge overtaking them? Also you will notice some flatworms and some pod(not the good kind I would expect my fish to eat) looking thing. I guess my question is should I try to remove the sponge and "pod" from the rock? Or is there another route? First time trying to post picture as well, we'll see how this goes. ![]() ![]() i92.photobucket.com/albums/l3/Folowtledr/D6CC1270-7C36-4D17-ACDB-E139D0A543CD_zpsbnn7and9.jpgobviously adding a picture outsmarted me |
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Sponge?
May 16, 2014 18:41:34 GMT -5
Post by Kevin on May 16, 2014 18:41:34 GMT -5
So I have some angry zoanthids is this a sponge overtaking them? Also you will notice some flatworms and some pod(not the good kind I would expect my fish to eat) looking thing. I guess my question is should I try to remove the sponge and "pod" from the rock? Or is there another route? First time trying to post picture as well, we'll see how this goes. ![]() ![]() Not sure how I quoted... |
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Post by jasonandsarah on May 16, 2014 19:13:33 GMT -5
One is a pineapple sponge and the bigger stuff also looks like a sponge of some sort but I really don't think a sponge would over take a healthy colony of zoanthids.
Also I can't see the "bad"pod your talking about? What does it look like and why do you think it's bad?
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Sponge?
May 16, 2014 19:19:25 GMT -5
Post by Kevin on May 16, 2014 19:19:25 GMT -5
I believe the pinnapple sponge you mentioned is what I was referring to as looking like a pod. The zoanthids Haven't been looking to good so I just moved them to the substrate and that's when I noticed the sponge and some flatworms on it.
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Sponge?
May 16, 2014 19:54:57 GMT -5
Post by ryansweatt2004 on May 16, 2014 19:54:57 GMT -5
There are many sponges that can overtake a coral. I've see it with my own eyes. Your best bet is to pick the spounch back enough to where it's almost gone and then give it a diluted tank water and hydrogen peroxide dip to kill back the sponge.
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Sponge?
May 16, 2014 20:01:34 GMT -5
Post by Kevin on May 16, 2014 20:01:34 GMT -5
I have never done any sort of dip, could you go into a little more detail such as water to peroxide ratio? Is this a common practice with new corals?
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Sponge?
May 16, 2014 20:09:26 GMT -5
Post by Pokahpolice on May 16, 2014 20:09:26 GMT -5
Not a sponge expert but don't they die if exposed to the air? So if this is true can't he just take the rock out of the water for about 10 mins to kill the sponge?
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Sponge?
May 16, 2014 20:15:14 GMT -5
Post by ryansweatt2004 on May 16, 2014 20:15:14 GMT -5
Not all sponges will die if you expose them to air. That is a good bet though. Worth a try. Luckily for you those are very inexpensive and readily available zoanthids in case anything goes wrong. I've done 50/50 peroxide tank water dips to kill back stuff before without issue,
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Sponge?
May 16, 2014 20:20:11 GMT -5
Post by Kevin on May 16, 2014 20:20:11 GMT -5
I'll try exposing them to air first. Yeah they are common ones, got them from the $20 tank at Pet Pro.
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Post by jasonandsarah on May 17, 2014 5:24:18 GMT -5
I wouldn't risk a hydrogen peroxide dip with the zoa's looking like that and having the flat worms attacking it. With the flat worms and sponge taking out over it doesn't look that good and from my experience a peroxide dip will do more harm then good to zoa's with open wounds. I've had perfectly healthy zoa's react badly to peroxide.
Air and picking as much off as possible like Ryan said should at the very least give the zoa's time to get healthy and hopefully be able to ward off the sponges.
May have to remedy the flat worms though to get any positive results. It's hard to save it if it's getting eaten and is unhealthy.
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Sponge?
May 17, 2014 6:11:40 GMT -5
Post by Kevin on May 17, 2014 6:11:40 GMT -5
I guess I didn't notice any wounds. Everything is closed up as I had just moved them to the bottom of the tank, this is when I noticed the sponge emerging from in between the polyps.
The flatworms to the best of my knowledge are red or brown flatworms supposedly they don't eat your coral but can smother them out when their populations grow. I purchased a Flameback Angel on the off chance he would eat them( really because we liked the fish) but had heard of some dwarf or Pygmys eating flatworms. Guess I'm going to be building a flatworm removal tool instead of watching his belly get fat with them.
If anyone has different experiences with these flatworms please let me know. I can get better pictures of the worms if that helps. Although I still can't seem to post them.
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Sponge?
May 17, 2014 6:36:47 GMT -5
Post by ryansweatt2004 on May 17, 2014 6:36:47 GMT -5
A few of your best options for removinging flat worms would be flatworm exit, a freshwater dip "what I do for large concentrations" a melanurus wrasse, springeri dottybacks or a six line wrasse. I use a pair of springeri dottybacks and a melanurus wrasse as general exterminators and I do freshwater dips on all my soft and most of my Lps corals before they go in my tank if I suspect flatworms. They literally fall right off in freshwater. The issue is you'll have to re dip the corals in saltwater before adding them back to your tank to rinse away any dead or dying flatworms and the toxins they release. Red flatworms are toxic to fish and some inverts when the die. As far as the sponge goes, like I said. Try to manually remove as much as possible. If you leave any sponge behind it will grow back. If it were mine, I'd remove the zoanthids from the rock and clean any sponge from them, reglue the zoanthids to a clean rock and be done.
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Post by jasonandsarah on May 17, 2014 6:47:16 GMT -5
I guess I didn't notice any wounds. That's my fault I guess. It's hard to distinguish everything in the picture it's kinda blurry. To the right of the pineapple sponge I saw a few spots and assumed they were. Probably the flat worms. Either way though I've seen healthy zoa's with no problems at all react badly to peroxide and that's why I said it. I've had great success with RPS All out coral dip but don't know what it'd do to a sponge? Fragging off the zoa's you can save like Ryan said is probably the best idea and he has experience with flat worms so he's the right person to ask. |
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Sponge?
May 17, 2014 7:24:49 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by Kevin on May 17, 2014 7:24:49 GMT -5
Thanks this is my first real attempt at a reef tank so I do appreciate the advice. I'll probably frag the rock as that was my initial thought. I'm limited to fish options at the moment for the flatworms until I move everything into my 75. So it'll be manual removal hopefully that will slow them down.
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