Help I'm melting!

MTsquared · Nov 21, 2017

So I have a frag of a Darth Maul variant - similar but not exactly the same with green mouths. Anyway, frag was doing great however, now appears to be melting [emoji51][emoji35]! All my other zoa frags and colonies are thriving and doing well. Not sure how these went from hero to zero so quickly. I would say this has been going on for about a week. Initially, I thought they were just closed up. The picture is not great but you can see where they look like they are melting. Not sure of water parameters right now will check tomorrow. Did water change a week ago when I first noticed. LFS said alk was a little low but everything else was great. Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Others that are fine:

There are other zoa frags and colonies that are also doing well that I didn't snap pics of. Just wanted to try to paint the picture.

ilan84 · Nov 21, 2017

My guess is that you are to low on nutrients.

MTsquared · Nov 21, 2017

What nutrients are you thinking? Why would all the others not have any issues?

Going to try to snap some more/ better pics tomorrow when white lights are on. Also going to test the water and post info here.

audikers · Nov 21, 2017

I want to know what they say about this as well. I have some zoas that have shrunk and I want to know the best way to encourage them to grow again...

ilan84 · Nov 22, 2017

They are all not fully open. What are your no3 and po4 parameters?

MTsquared · Nov 22, 2017

Here are a few shots white lights on flash and no flash. Testing water now will post results soon.

MTsquared · Nov 22, 2017

Water test results:
Salinity 1.023 low for sure
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 0-5.0
Phosphates 0

ilan84 · Nov 22, 2017

That is to low in nutrients [emoji6]

MTsquared · Nov 23, 2017

ilan84 said:
That is to low in nutrients [emoji6]

So you would like to see the water "dirtier" higher Nitrates and Phosphates?

ilan84 · Nov 23, 2017

Yes, i dose them both myself. If i dont dose, and they come closer to 0, they are starting to close. Keep nitrates between 5 and 10 and po4 between 0,05 and 0,1. See What happens if you dose it

DSC reef · Nov 23, 2017

I will say that this is one of those things with polyps that I could never pinpoint. Ive got quite a few colonies growing for years and all frags doing great then there's one that will close up and melt away. Honestly, it's something I've accepted that just happens. I do have nutrients in the tank and feed reef nutrition oyster and reef roids, nitrates around 10-20ppm

DSC reef · Nov 23, 2017

Here's an example, all polyps doing great but one set doesn't like the tank no matter where it is.

MTsquared · Nov 23, 2017

ilan84 said:
Yes, i dose them both myself. If i dont dose, and they come closer to 0, they are starting to close. Keep nitrates between 5 and 10 and po4 between 0,05 and 0,1. See What happens if you dose it

Very interesting. Runs counter to everything I have ever thought about reef keeping and having low levels of nitrates and phosphates to eliminate nuisance algae. Who makes products that you dose?

danschoenherr · Nov 23, 2017

Nutrients need to be up for zoas. I don't run a skimmer, just a fuge on my growout tank and have pretty high nitrates. Doesn't look like "melting" that I am used to, looks more like a bacterial infection, which I have experienced before. Try using a soft brush and brushing off the polyps and then dipping them. I've used a Lugols dip, Coral RX and even the dip used for zoa pox with some success.