Copepods Eating My Zoas/Palys?

[felixpaws]

Anyone have trouble with they're copepods eating they're Zoas/palys? I witnessed it, and couldn't belive my eyes. I had a hitchhiker zoa on some live rock, which turned into 5 in a matter of two months, and they were all severely damaged overnight. I've bought a few polyps, that I glued to a piece of live rock, and they were eaten, also. Just yesterday, I bought a couple of yellow polyps, and a few red center zoas, on two pieces of live rock, and the yellow polyps are gone, and the red center look extremely stressed, and are closed up. I only bought more corals, because I figured the problem was not enough food, due to no fish in the tank, but I added a purple firefish, a yellow watchman goby, and a lawnmower blenny, have a peppermint shrimp, and a cleaner shrimp, which I'm feeding twice a day. What the heck am I missing? Are these just predatory copepods or is it something else? I have small red legged, and blue legged hermits, which I suspected as the culprits, but I actually witnessed the copepods attacking the polyps. I have a small green tree coral, a kenya tree frag, and a small anemone that the copepods have totally left alone. Please help? :help2: I'm at my wits end. I just passed through a bout with red cyano, which I am curing with aggressive skimming. Already, the cyano. is dissappearing, and no longer is on the sand. If you need any info. on the tanks specifics, just ask. Thanks.

[<3Oscar]

Copepods are very small. How exactly did you witness them eating your zoas? Are you sure they aren't something else?

http://melevsreef.com/id/pods.html

This might help you find out what the things you saw were.. but i'm positive copepods do not damage corals.

[redfishblewfish]

The “standard” aquarium copepod does not eat health corals. My guess is that you have nudibranchs…again, just a guess. Do a search and see if the little buggers look like the pictures. My second guess is red bugs, but I didn’t think they hit zoa’s. I believe they are in fact in the copepod family.

[Amphiprion]

There have been reports of amphipods suddenly going rogue and consuming zoanthids. It is likely linked to some sort of negative reaction or secretion that prompts it. They could be dying, as well, which would also cause the amphipods to eat them.

[ferrettim]

i believe it...i got some copepods in a batch of sand years ago and i'm convinced they killed my pleco and school of tetras. had to dump everything n bleach the tank.

[flossyfloofloo]

fw copes?????

[Amphiprion]

Lots of freshwater copepods. They are amongst the most populous organisms (short of bacteria) in most ponds.

[felixpaws]

They're Amphipods, not copepods, sorry. I doubt they were ailing, since they were producing new polyps. At first i thought they were hurting due to poor tank conditions, but now, I can't keep a polyp alive for more than a day. They close up, and slowly get smaller. I still have a few that are all closed up, and won't open. I bought the two yellow polyps, and they disappeared overnight. I bought some green star polyps, a very small kenya tree frag, and a green tree of some kind, and all are doing very well, even bigger than a week ago. I'd love to keep zoas, and palys, but for now I guess I'll just have to stick to true soft corals for a while. My stepmom suggested I remove the pods, but, really? They're amphipods. I can't imagine a saltwater tank without amphipods. I thought feeding them more, might help, so, I put a leaf of Romaine lettuce in, and it was almost totally gone, overnight. So, I put a few more pieces in, and they've lasted a couple days, now. Maybe they were just really hungry? Help!:confused: