Zoas Dying (1 Viewer)

[Linden]

My Zoas are slowly dying off. This started about a month ago. I was giving out some Frags, and Hong noticed a couple of Zoas that looked irritated. They were all fully open, and then one or two would close for no reason I could see. Hong suggested a 6 Line wrasse to possibly eat whatever may be irritating them, but it has not been any better, in fact it seems to be getting worse. What was an irritation for just one colony of Zoas, has spread to all my Zoas. They are all irritated and some are even dying off. It seems they are not opening for a few days, changing color, and turning brown, then kinda dissolving away.

All my other Corals are looking good. This problem seems to be just my Zoas.

What should I do to stop this death?

Any thought would be great

-Nick

 

[R-BallJunkie]

might try vitamin C dosing. lots of folks use it for zoa pox. i tried it for awhile, dont have anything negative to say about it...need a good skimmer
c

 

[Timanator]

Without seeing some detailed pics it's hard to tell if it's pox or not. I am wondering what all the green stuff growing between the polyps are?

Reference.

http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=761

 

[crvz]

I'd be looking for pests, and the sixline is not a definitive solution. The best solution is to remove all zoas to a QT for a period of at least 6 weeks in order to inspect and treat them.

 

[bangoo]

I've had couple of zoas not opening in sections. Then I noticed really small brown like things and thought it might have been nubibranch. I carefully did fresh water dip and saw many things come off. Afterward, all zoas opened up again. Does your zoas have any bleaching like areas around? That may be a sign of zoa pox. Look under "zoa pox" from the link below. I really don;t know how to treat it if it is. Good luck.

http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=384

 

[hank]

How long did you keep them out of the water when making the frags? Otherwise, all good suggestions; I like dipping stuff - try a quick iodine dip in addition to the QT.

 

[wmatt140]

I did a dip

A freshwater dip is an easy and cheap technique to try. I had nudibranches on mine. I tried picking them off but could never seem to get them all. I did a freshwater dip and had about 30 come off. Repeated a week later and got less than ten. Since then, my zoas have been looking much better.

 

[Linden]

Thanks for all the advise!!

I have been dosing with Vitamin C for a while now as well as Zoe.

I think that the green stuff might be some kind of algae, but I am not sure. I only have it on that one rock. It used to have a bad Hair Algae problem, but the polyps overtook it a year or so ago, and smothered out the hair.

I have not seen any spots around the polyps like in the photos. They just seem to close up and no open, then wither away.

I did have some hitchhikers on some live rock I got a few months back, but I identified them as a Sea Hare of some type. They have a little piece of shell on their back. I have never seen them in the polyps. I do have lots of bristle worms, and copepods all over the tank. They come out at night and are all over everything. They have been in the tank for years though, and polyps have never been bothered by them in the past.

The Frags were not out of the eater longer than 25 or 20 min.

I got some Dip today and am going to do it tonight.

Thanks

-Nick

 

[goby1kanobi]

Funny thing about the copepods. When I have an overgrowth of them, they irritate the zoa's alot.
When I do the dip, that's all I can id on the dip. No other pests. The zoa's open up for a couple of hours and then the copepods start their hovering all over the zoa's.
Anything in moderation is the key. I get a fish that likes copepods and then things return to normal. This has happened me 2 times.
Some of those copepods are aggressive little bugs. I swear I see the bigger ones gnawing on the zoa's. I use a magnifying glass.
Have never id'd any other zoa varmint in my tank?????
Keep us posted.

 

[Linden]

Well, my wife picked up some Kent Marine Tech D for me today while I was at work. Active ingredient is Iodine. I mixed with some water from the tank, and I followed the instructions and dipped for 6 - 7 min. I swished the polyps around in the container a little, and put them back in the tank. Some polyps have opened back up but most are still closed.

As I looked through the dip water I saw no pests!! How can this be? All the rocks are covered in bugs (Bristle Worms and Copepods) at night, I dont see many during the day.

Should I use the dip with freshwater???

I am not sure how this will play out, but it is very frustrating watching full colonies disintegrate

Ill let you know what tommorow has in store. Hopefully this will stop the necrosis, but at this point I am not very optimistic.

-Nick

 

[goby1kanobi]

That's what would happen to me.....just a few of the larger copepods.
But, when the lights are low-they get the larger copepods all over them.
Get an inexpensive hungry fish in there. See what happened.

 

[hank]

Well, my wife picked up some Kent Marine Tech D for me today while I was at work. Active ingredient is Iodine. I mixed with some water from the tank, and I followed the instructions and dipped for 6 - 7 min. I swished the polyps around in the container a little, and put them back in the tank. Some polyps have opened back up but most are still closed.

As I looked through the dip water I saw no pests!! How can this be? All the rocks are covered in bugs (Bristle Worms and Copepods) at night, I dont see many during the day.

Should I use the dip with freshwater???

I am not sure how this will play out, but it is very frustrating watching full colonies disintegrate

Ill let you know what tommorow has in store. Hopefully this will stop the necrosis, but at this point I am not very optimistic.

Thanks for all the advise!!

I have been dosing with Vitamin C for a while now as well as Zoe.

I think that the green stuff might be some kind of algae, but I am not sure. I only have it on that one rock. It used to have a bad Hair Algae problem, but the polyps overtook it a year or so ago, and smothered out the hair.

I have not seen any spots around the polyps like in the photos. They just seem to close up and no open, then wither away.

I did have some hitchhikers on some live rock I got a few months back, but I identified them as a Sea Hare of some type. They have a little piece of shell on their back. I have never seen them in the polyps. I do have lots of bristle worms, and copepods all over the tank. They come out at night and are all over everything. They have been in the tank for years though, and polyps have never been bothered by them in the past.

The Frags were not out of the eater longer than 25 or 20 min.

I got some Dip today and am going to do it tonight.

Thanks

-Nick

Pretty much any worthwhile dip is around 15 min.

You could get two "birds" with one dip by combining iodine and FW, you'll get the anestetic of I2 plus the FW really irritates most pests.

I do think that 25 min out of the tank is on the long side.

Your "sea hair" is a stomatella snail, they are great algae eaters that will spawn in your tank.

Bristle worms and pods are not the culprets, what you're looking for is a nudibranch or "spider".

 

[xskyzx]

sometime they just die on its own and no1 know why.
VC might help....

 

[Linden]

If I do a FW dip with Iodine, how long should I soak?

I have never FW dipped a coral.

 

[xskyzx]

usually i do for 5-10 mins make sure the temp are the same as tank...

 

[goby1kanobi]

I don't know Hank?????????????????????????

Bristle worms and pods are not the culprets, what you're looking for is a nudibranch or "spider".

Maybe, I have an aggressive, mutated, extra large, hungry copepod that I am misidentifying. Looks like a tiny brown shrimp.
One LFS told me that it is possible to have them irritate the zoa's.
And I have a worm phobia so bristleworms are so gross.
I've also been warned about alkalinity????
Hope it stops soon.

 

[hank]

I don't tend to listen to lfs... and I seriously think you should be searching for another diagnosis, not including CaCO3.


Honestly how much does your alk swing? I think this is one of the dumber catch-all cop-outs when someone isn't talking about a problem arising after dosing.

 

[Timanator]

I would look at some basics.

How often do you do water change?
What are you dosing?
Whats the temperature like in the tank?

 

[reefgnome]

There is a very long thread on reef central in the zoa forums that talks about dosing vitamin c. Check it out. I tried it for a bit but it is a carbon source and it was causing a large cyano bloom in my tank so I stopped. Dose in small moderations. Maybe even less then what they talk about on the thread.

 

[Timanator]

I dosed VC in my display for a long time as well but found no difference between my display and frag tank. Now I use Aquavitra Fuel exclusively.