What are these critters that I came off my zoos?

T

TCU Reefer

I did my usual freshwater dip with lugols and I found these things dead in the bucket. What the heck are they? I'm assuming, by the way they look, that they aren't a welcome hitchiker. Glad I dip before each frag goes in.

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Thanks
 
Those are zoanthid-eating spiders. Chris gave me one to take a picture of, but it didn't survive.
 
I'm sure that other people would like to know where the zoo's came from. I for one would. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't purchase any coral from that store, only that you should be extra careful prior to placing anything into your tank. :wink: Some would argue that you should do this anyway. It is much easier to open the bag and throw your new addition into your tank than potentially stressing out your coral with a freshwater and iodine dip.

Some vendors have good quarantine practices, others do not. Fact of life, there are always potential hitchhikers on any liverock or coral that you put into your tank.
 
Unfortunately, these came from our beloved zoo studs at Tranquil Scape. I'll always go there to buy my zoos, but I'm a firm believer of dipping before they go in my tank to get rid of unwanted critters.

***This is not a bad review for our sponsors. I will still go there for most of my reef tank needs.***
 
Maybe you could let the folks from TS know about your little hitch hikers and see if they could start to dip prior to placing their zoo's into their tanks. I'm sure they wouldn't want any scavengers eating what they are trying to sell.


*aside just again proof that their "frags" aren't frags* :evil:
 
Yes, please do, they are usually most willing to listen, and take more care to look for - er - bugs. Customer service is very key to Vincent! (Spoken as a fan of their zoos, and prior experience.)

(I'm not sure about Servo's comment, but please remember this thread is for ID of critters. Another thread can address any issues of another nature. This is mentioned as Moderator.)
 
TS is where my spider came from. It is the first one I have found. I was pulling it off and didn't know what it was til it climbed up the toothpick a little and I kind of jumped back a little. It was rather funny.
 
@TCU Reefer wrote:
I'll send a friendly PM to Vincent and the boys. I'm sure they would appreciate the feedback. said:
..Yes, we do appreaciate the information. We try our best to dip our zoos when they come in to keep these criters away, but by no mean we can guarantee that every single hitch hiker will be killed when we dip. This is the first time I actually get to see what the criter looks like.

Thanks again,
--vincent
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@extinguishfire wrote:
TS is where my spider came from. It is the first one I have found. I was pulling it off and didn't know what it was til it climbed up the toothpick a little and I kind of jumped back a little. It was rather funny. said:
Didn't you already complain about it in his forum? Did he fix you up?

EDIT: I realized that hey it isn't my problem. But I do know this. I have yet to post a complaint about another LFS besides price. I try to keep things private and fix them, if they don't get fixed well then the big guns come out.

Some people on this forum seem hostile towards other stores. I walked into Aquatic Designs the other day for the first time and it was a pleasant experience. But some of y'all would go out of your way to smear other's reps just cuz you can.
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I don't want to see this thread get ugly guys. The fact is, this is a pest that sneaks in on zoanthids, and that can happen at any store. When I found the predatory snail at one store, I took it to another store so that the LFS owner would be aware of them and remove them as they appeared.

Sharing knowledge is always best, especially for the welfare of the livestock.
 
I was not complaining at all. TS is my favorite LFS and they will have my business for a long time. I simply needed assistance identifying those hitchikers.

Mods, you can lock this thread if you want.
 
Vincent did fix me up and I wasn't complaining I just believe that saying something about it happening to me is ok. I have gone back and bought things from there since and I encourage other people to go check out their awesome store. I love all the zoos they have and they have some nice corals that alot of fish stores don't have. I have even encouraged a friend of mine that owns a fish store to go check it out cause I like Vincent and Liem's store so much.
The thing with Aquatic Designs having so many people so bitter is very within reason. If you do a search on this forum you see why and maybe not be a person to jump on others explaining their experiences at different places as a club must do. Share experiences so that other will learn from them and not have the same problems.
Dien I know you and Vincent have become good friends but I don't see in anyway how my post was dogging his store. I was just simply stating that it happened to me so don't jump on my case.

And finally to Vincent. I apologize if my post in some way hurt your store or caused other people to stop going to your store cause I stated an experience I had. Apparently someone in this post thinks that I am ragging on your store and livestock. It is far from it and hopefully he just oversaw something you never saw or thought.
 
Chris,

I did not mean to dog you or single you out. I just knew of what happened with your zoos but did not see anything so far as a resolution as to what happened. All I and others can see was the bad posted twice. And knowing Vincent I'm sure he would have helped you out.

As to another guy in this post who said something off subject I did not respond as I have no idea why he posted. Fueling the fires? :?

Anyways I just like sticking up for the LFS stores I visit. I'm sure you would for Exotic Aquatics too. Yea I've become friends with Vincent but as you know I'll drive up to Plano for the hell of it to visit a LFS and I've been to Jimmy's in Glen Rose twice and will make the "pilgrimmage" again tomorrow.

This post started off as informative but then got off a bit, otherwise I'd keep my mouth shut. =X
 
@TCU Reefer wrote:
I was not complaining at all. TS is my favorite LFS and they will have my business for a long time. I simply needed assistance identifying those hitchikers. Mods said:
TCU Reefer,
Don't worry about it man! You did the right thing by letting us know about it. Also, thank you for being a gentleman about it by contacting us directly and not taking those cheap shots!

Well, it has been a long & busy day today. I'm going to get some dinner (possibly Spider Rolls :lol: )

Be kind y'all! Save the fireworks for July 4th..
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Gosh, I know it's no ones fault but my own that I didn't do what I should have done when I bought my zoas. I will make a point to get some of that dip just as a preventative for future use and take care of things a little better myself.

I do have a problem though and I don't know if it is something that I'm doing wrong or if it is a simple fix that I don't know about.

Two little bunches of my zoas are opening up realllly nice every day and they are beautiful, can't wait until they start spreading.

However, there is two other little bunches of the zoas that I purchased that has yet to open up at all, they stay closed up all the time. I know there was a white, worm looking thing about an inch long and very tiny like a thread except that it was squirming and I think there was also some pods on my zoas but I didn't know for sure what pods looked like when I saw them at first until after I spoke to another member and they discribed pods to me. I'm still learning.

I have never seen so many beautiful zoas before in one place as what there was at TS and when I get ready to get some more the chances are that I will make the almost 2 hr.trip (one way) drive to their store again. It was really worth the drive.

This being said, could someone help me understand why two of the bunches zoas have not opened up yet? TIA....
 
I picked up some nice zoo frags at TS today and came home and dipped them in a lugol/type dip. Just before I put them in the QT tank, I shook them off and did see one of the spiders come off. It did not however kill the spider though, so I'm not sure what actually does kill them. We added to the QT tank and later in the evening found another and picked it off with tweezers.

On another note, I also picked up some great riccordia from another LFS in the area and found yet another spider in it also. I've not contacted the LFS where I got the riccordia and let them know, so I'm not posting to complain about it. Just want everyone to know that the problem is certainly not isolated to any particular shop. Just as any store can have ich/other hitchhikers, we should quarantine as much as possible.

I haven't begun to do the searches to find out how to kill the little guys, but if someone know or has some idea of it's life cycle, I'd appreciate info/link.
 
Dien,
Yeah, that may be the ONLY way to get rid of them. :sad: :sad:

At any rate, I've done some research now and it's rather dishartening. Dr. Ron says to pretty much throw it all out and start over in one of his articles and others are just QT'ing for long extended times and continuing to remove them as they find them. The lugol's,dips,etc seem to have limited effect though it does seem to be at least somewhat effective for some of the bugs. One fellow it now try Interceptor treatment (like for acro - red bug treatment) but at 3-4 times dosage. I've included the links below if interested:

Short synopsis:
http://oceanlink.island.net/oinfo/biodiversity/pycnog.html

More full length discussions:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/rs/index.php
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=586324
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=563969&highlight=pycnogonid

Experimental treatment with Interceptor:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=581991

So for now maybe multiple lugol dips,etc while in QT....
 
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