Do Amphipods Bother Zoa's?

[Prest0nC]

Over the past couple of days my zoo's placed on a rock near the bottom of the tank seemed a bit irritated. Some polyps were closed and a portion of the colony appeared deflated. Tonight, after all the polyps went to "sleep" I looked at my zoos and found amphipods crawling all over the colony.

I thought amphipods were supposed to be good for a reef aquarium. Is it normal for them to bother zoo's? Has anybody had similar experiences? Any possible remedies?

Thanks in advance. I attached a pic of what these critters look like:

 

[nata]

Just saw one eating my only polyp of purple hornet ..bad for zoas for sure !!!

 

[Bored4ever86]

not all amphipods are bad. Amphipods refers to a whole phylum(been a long time since marine bio class) that includes 1000's of species. Just like there's good and bad snails, there's good and bad amphipods. Some like Natalie's (hope I spelled that right) will bother and even consume zoas/palys, others are great at removing algae and detritus from around and in our colonies. As per the irritant factor yes they can irritate colonies and cause them to close up/deflate but majority of the time the zoas reopen a short time later no worse for the wear (atleast thats what happens in my tank).

 

[nata]

I believe also that not all amphipods eat zoas..or I would not have any zoas left as I have lots of amphipods in my system..but I really fo not trust them
lol..and btw my name is Natalia!!good guess though,i am impressed!wouldn't know how to get rid of those buggers..my christmas wrasse does not have a taste for them..some corals try to eat them
but they are really fast..

 

[mal1099]

my melanuras wrasse destroys amphipods. if your looking for something that likes um