Zoanthids Color Fading

[Iconz]

I have a small colony / large frag (of about 30 polyps) that has a line of about 8 polyps running through the middle that have lost most of their color... Anyone have a clue why?

Thanks!

Iconz...

[jojo22]

Have you noticed an amphipods around it???

[Iconz]

i think i saw one floating the other night in the tank. but not on them...

Do you think a 5 min FW dip could be in order?

[jojo22]

I would watch tonight after lights out and see if you see anything bothering them first, if it is amphipods you will need to get something that eats them, like a 6 line wrasse.

[Whoyah]

Why would amphipods cause the zoas to change color?? Looks more like a lighting issue to me.

[jojo22]

Why would amphipods cause the zoas to change color?? Looks more like a lighting issue to me.

Along the same line as a spider or sundial snail, if an amphipod is eating at the zoa it will close up some (notice the skirts appear to be closed part way) this will then cause the zooanthellia (sp) algae to not get enough light causeing lack of color.

[Sweetpea]

How about looking out for one of those nasty spiders?
http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?modul...&g2_itemId=396

[melev]

You may have zoanthid eating nudibranchs in your tank. They are very visible when the zoas are closed up (use a turkey baster to blast them with a few puffs of water. Nudibranchs eat the polyp, and absorb the color in their bodies to blend in perfectly.

However, it could just be a weird event too. Color morphs change and sometimes corals change due to their expelling zooxanthellae. I've never seen anything about amphipods damaging zoanthids, although I've seen them on zoas many times in my tank. They are in the pod family looking for food, but I would expect them to find whatever happens to be trapped between the polyps rather than blame them for eating an actual zoa.

[jojo22]

Really, I learned about the pod deal on RC, seems to be a comon problem but maybe I misunderstood

[Iconz]

Thanks for all of the replies... I don't see anything on them, but that doesn't mean that something's not there. I'm gonna blast them with a baster and see what happens while they're still closed this morning.