Advice on zoa issues

[Oscar47f]

Would it be better to do the whole tank instead of taking them out? I only have zoas/polys and acans and one candy cane.

No just because like any anti bacterial, it doesn’t always kill everything and they can mutate and become resistant to it that’s why I always separate it out and have a strong dosage like that... but you don’t have to do this iodine dios and furan 2 work in similar ways

 

[Mike33515]

No just because like any anti bacterial, it doesn’t always kill everything and they can mutate and become resistant to it that’s why I always separate it out and have a strong dosage like that... but you don’t have to do this iodine dios and furan 2 work in similar ways

I’m doing another 3 days of furan2 then a iodine dip and see what happens. I’ve increased the light and have them in direct flow after the furan2 dip.

 

[KellyCorals]

It’s a strong anti bacterial similar to Furan 2

If I’m thinking of the same thing Oscar is talking about yes you can dose the whole tank with Chemiclean. It’s usually used to kill off red slime algae which in fact is not an algae at all, but a bacteria. I used it once when I had a bad case of red slime that was covering my corals. It did work like a charm and in 24-48 hours all red slime was gone for good. I know that’s not why your considering using it, just sharing my experience with it. As far as stretching corals goes, I usually see my zoas react the next day when the lights come on by mid day.

 

[Oscar47f]

If I’m thinking of the same thing Oscar is talking about yes you can dose the whole tank with Chemiclean. It’s usually used to kill off red slime algae which in fact is not an algae at all, but a bacteria. I used it once when I had a bad case of red slime that was covering my corals. It did work like a charm and in 24-48 hours all red slime was gone for good. I know that’s not why your considering using it, just sharing my experience with it. As far as stretching corals goes, I usually see my zoas react the next day when the lights come on by mid day.

Very very true you can dose the whole tank but when I talked to friends who work at these big stores they treat their zoas with chemi clean outside their holding tanks in a separate system because if you use it too much in one system the bacteria will adapt and render the medication useless in order to prevent that you just gotta treat in a different container (;

 

[Aqua Man]

Peroxide does wonders for Zoas. Cup of tank water, add frag, slowly add peroxide till bubbles form on plug and zoa. Let sit for 5 minutes.

 

[KellyCorals]

Peroxide does wonders for Zoas. Cup of tank water, add frag, slowly add peroxide till bubbles form on plug and zoa. Let sit for 5 minutes.

This sounds interesting and I haven’t tried it yet but I have a couple frags in mind I’m going to try this on. You’ve have good luck “reviving” zoas with this method?

 

[Aqua Man]

I’ve only needed to dip a couple times and it’s not something I do regularly. The few that I have dipped looked like the above pics from OP. Half open or not opening polyps.
They started opening a few days later after the dip. Side benefit of peroxide is it kills algae on plug too.

 

[Mike33515]

So I decided to do a second round of furan2 an hour after the first dip almost all started to open. Not sure how one dip did this and the three dips didn’t do nothing the first time around. Not complaining lol just happy they are coming back around. The only thing I found was the furan2 I used the first time was expired and the one I just did was new package.

 

[Mike33515]

Update on my zoas
New light on tank and no more stretching. More flow and the ones not opening are opening now. Lost two zoas tho all together.

 

[KellyCorals]

Good job! They look great!

 

[Mike33515]

Good job! They look great!

Thanks! I’m guessing the Fluval light wasn’t enough light for that many in the tank and I added a 2nd wave marker for flow. I’m trying to make my mind up if I should take my skimmer out or not and see if I can get more growth.

 

[KellyCorals]

I tried running reduced skimmer and I didn’t see better growth...actually worse. Then I read the science behind it. You want the zoas zooanthalgae to make most the food and not rely on tank nutrients or the algae inside the zoa will die off. Supplement with feeding the zoas with reef roids or something like that once a week. Just my advice. How long has your tank been going? Your zoas look healthy.

 

[Mike33515]

that’s what I was reading and just wanted someone else’s opinion. So I feed phyto 3x a week and reef energy ab 2x times a week. This frag tank been up and running since April.

 

[Saltyreef]

Try this method with the furan

 

[Mike33515]

Why would a zoa not grow? I’ve had a wwc aoi I got in January and it’s still has 4 heads on it. It’s open and happy.

 

[KellyCorals]

Why would a zoa not grow? I’ve had a wwc aoi I got in January and it’s still has 4 heads on it. It’s open and happy.

Some zoas are just slow growers or they may not have enough light / flow / nutrients to grow. Have you tried feeding them zooplankton or reef roids?

 

[KSReefing]

Glad to hear you had success getting your zoas back on track. Interesting for me to read since I'm dealing with a similar situation but had copper leech in to the tank from a faulty pump wire that rusted out.

 

[michael inocencio]

Why would a zoa not grow? I’ve had a wwc aoi I got in January and it’s still has 4 heads on it. It’s open and happy.

I bought AOI's from WWC last year and they seemed happy but no growth for months. I moved them to higher light and flow 2 months ago and it's growing 3 heads per month. They seem to like higher lighting.

 

[Mike33515]

Some zoas are just slow growers or they may not have enough light / flow / nutrients to grow. Have you tried feeding them zooplankton or reef roids?

The light is now good and flow better. I feed phytoplankton and reef energy ab. Haven’t tired reef roids yet is it good?

 

[Mike33515]

Glad to hear you had success getting your zoas back on track. Interesting for me to read since I'm dealing with a similar situation but had copper leech in to the tank from a faulty pump wire that rusted out.

Yea unfortunately I lost two zoas and it could of been worse.