Discussion of hitchhikers in tanks

I would like to put something informative up in regards to hitchhikers good and bad everyone can join in and write their own experience.

I have been reef keeping for a little over 10 years throughout the time of getting new corals i have had different hitchhikers some good and some very bad.

As most know i am a zoa/paly collector and by far one of the worst hitchhikers that i have ever gotten was a zoa eating nudi. I can tell you that i dip in coral rx and sometimes bayer advanced almost always i can also tell you from experience that coral rx and or bayer does not kill them it does make the juvenile and adults let go of the zoa or paly but does not kill them nor do anything to their eggs. There is also speculation that zoa eating nudi only eat zoas... well i can tell you from my experience that im about to tell you that is not the case at all... they will also consume palythoas.

A year ago i recieved palys from a member here on girs that i trusted so i didnt dip or really inspect the frag... shortly after receiving the frag i noticed these beautiful little nudi branches.. they were beautiful because they were taking on the color of the zoas and palys that they were eating... before finding them i thought why the heck are my highend zoas and palys dieing, all of my parameters are in check.
I dipped all of my zoas and palys in coral rx... then iodine... then bayer (not all at once or the same day but over the course of a week ) i inspected every frag and colony. Put the ones that i found spiral eggs on in qt after i scraped the eggs off and any that looked bad. I did 50% water changes.
This went on for 3 months until i finally eradicated them from my tanks. I lost about thousand dollars worth of zoas and palys from the hitchhiker. I believe that the only thing that got rid of them was my newly added yellow coris wrasse and the melunurus wrasse then also the time spent physically inspecting dipping ect. Which i now have these wrasses in each of my tanks also i dip and inspect EVERYTHING.

Point is it took physical work to get rid of these pests that i recieved from a fellow girs member.
Always dip and inspect your corals no matter who you get them from and if that member talks about how their zoas or palys have melted or disappeared i would definitely suspect its a nudi especially if the other corals are fine.

What i did to eradicate them, mind you when i dipped i used a turkey baster to blow off the frags or colonies i also rinsed in ro water before returning to qt or the tank

1. I dipped in coral rx once every 2 weeks
2. Dipped in iodine once a week
3. Dipped in bayer advanced once a week
4. Inspected thoroughly everyday
5. Added the wrasses
6. Water changes every 3 days after blasting the zoas and palys
7. Make sure to inspect and dip all new corals everytime

No magic chemical kills these hitchhikers it takes work to get rid of them and it sucks. ALWAYS DIP AND INSPECT YOUR NEW CORALS NO MATTER WHO YOU GET THEM FROM /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif

Please feel free to share your experiences

 

Yes i have a separate area for new corals that i set up when i got the nudis which was awhile ago

 

I also have a magnifing glass with led lights and a separate turkey baster for new corals to inspect and dip. I never want to go through that again as im sure nobody else would also.

I hope to read some other experiences and what you did to fix it

 

Zoa pox isnt really a hitchhiker but you can tell if the frag you buy has it. The polyps will be closed up and have a brownish film on them i have also heard white spots which isnt always the case cause palythoas have white spots on them . Now sometimes it could be they just need more flow. I have read that people who have had it dipped in iodine and peroxide. But i personally have no experience with it just stuff that i have read.

 

Zoa pox which is more like a disease will also spread throughout the tank pretty quickly affecting all zoas and palys from what i have read

 

Thanks Jeremy thats a good one i have heard of red bugs but i have no experience with them. Ill have to look up that pill

 

I think it would be a good thing but i would also think it would be good for people to write it here so that its on the forum if people need guidance on how to take care of the problem or at least see what others did to eradicate the issue

 

Also i would like to point out if you know you have a pest or recently had one in your main systems please dont sell or give away your corals because it will just spread the problem make sure they are gone first. Luckily i didnt put them in my frag tanks or display.