Losing Zoa Colony-Any Advice???

kkgaskin90 · Jul 8, 2013

Background: New tank, added a large colony of zoanthids (30+) plus a mushroom on a live rock. They stayed open for the first day then closed up and have remained closed ever since (2 weeks). They are in the lower portion of the tank, but not quite on the bottom. They get medium flow. My lights are: 36 Watt Actinic Blue Straight Pin (on from 10am-9pm) 36 Watt 10,000K Daylight Straight Pin (on from 12pm-7pm) 0.75 Watt Lunar Blue LED Bar (on from 9pm-12am). Tank temp stays 80-81 degrees. Water test last night:
Specific Gravity: 1.024
Salinity: 32
PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Calcium: 420
KH: 15 dKH
Phosphate: 0.25

Here's what they looked like:

Then I read through some forums and decided a FW dip would help. I put them in freshwater for less than 5 minutes (the mushroom got very angry so I was concerned), shook the rock, and a few critters fell off:

Copepods??? I also brushed them gently while they were in the freshwater and quite a few (10 +/-) dissolved away

This is what they look like now:

[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]I found Lugol's AFTER I did the dip, didn't want to dip again for fear of over stressing Any advice on what I should do? I upped the flow to them as much as possible by redirecting a powerhead... I'm pretty desperate [/FONT]

To make matters worse, I have a large order of frags (9+ zoanthids plus a few others) coming in tomorrow... What should I do with them? I have a 10g QT but the lights are simple fluorescents for tropical fish...20g pump and heater...other than that it's bare. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

Rob&Gab · Jul 8, 2013

sucks! sorry to hear. i just lost about 22 Blue Agaves. and 5 Seduction palys. soo much down the drain. you should dip them every week or every 2 weeks till you start seeing better signs of them doing better. i hope this helps!

Rob&Gab · Jul 8, 2013

also looks like brown stuff is covering the polyps it coud be the algee that is suffocating the polyps. make sure you blow that off or take it off with a soft tooth brush.

Doom616 · Jul 8, 2013

You could also do a hydrogen peroxide dip to dissolve the algae.

Coral Bay · Jul 8, 2013

does the polyps have white dots on it?

feh · Jul 8, 2013

I don't do freshwater dips for coral. I use Revive and Coral Rx for dips. Can't tell much from the pics though. Any white spots or anything? If you have too much flow where they are they won't open and will stress them even more. Also your Alk seems kinda high if the KH was meant to be your Alk reading. Should be more like 8 or 9 based on your calc level for it to be balanced.

MadCityReefer · Jul 8, 2013

Using bayer insect killer as a coral dip
I have been using this method for a few months now with great success
I use 8 milliliters Bayer to one liter (33oz) saltwater. After 20-30 minutes I then dip the corals in straight saltwater to rinse off any residual insecticide that is on the coral.

Please everyone note that this is for a coral dip only. DO NOT add the Bayer directly to the tank, that would be a disaster.

kkgaskin90 · Jul 8, 2013

Thanks everyone for the replies! Rob&Gab-I brushed off everything I could when I did the dip. That is when the ones that look more brown "dissolved". Doom-What are the instructions for a hydrogen peroxide dip? I'm assuming I should wait at least 5 days for another dip, yes? CoralBay-No white dots (I'm assuming you are talking about Zoa Pox?)... but that doesn't mean I'm not just missing them though I've scoured them looking for any clues. feh-My test kit says it is Carbonate Hardiness (also known as alkalinity)... and that a normal level is between 8-12... not sure how to reduce it but I've been told it's not TERRIBLE and to let it come down naturally. MadCityReefer-is that for pests or for all problems???

Should I put the Zoas in a low flow area to see if that helps? At this point I'm not sure there is any hope for them but I'm willing to try! Also, any preventative measures I should take with the batch coming in tomorrow morning?

feh · Jul 8, 2013

kkgaskin90 said:
Thanks everyone for the replies! Rob&Gab-I brushed off everything I could when I did the dip. That is when the ones that look more brown "dissolved". Doom-What are the instructions for a hydrogen peroxide dip? I'm assuming I should wait at least 5 days for another dip, yes? CoralBay-No white dots (I'm assuming you are talking about Zoa Pox?)... but that doesn't mean I'm not just missing them though I've scoured them looking for any clues. feh-My test kit says it is Carbonate Hardiness (also known as alkalinity)... and that a normal level is between 8-12... not sure how to reduce it but I've been told it's not TERRIBLE and to let it come down naturally. MadCityReefer-is that for pests or for all problems???

Should I put the Zoas in a low flow area to see if that helps? At this point I'm not sure there is any hope for them but I'm willing to try! Also, any preventative measures I should take with the batch coming in tomorrow morning?

I agree with letting it come down naturally. You don't want change it too quickly. Also, I'd move them to a place with reasonable flow. The new corals I'd dip with a coral dip then find a suitable place with the right flow and lighting.

kkgaskin90 · Jul 8, 2013

What for zoas is reasonable light and flow??? I've heard everything from High flow high lights to low flow and in the shadows :/

kkgaskin90 · Jul 21, 2013

Update: I lost the entire colony. The mushroom seems to be coming back, though the dip nearly killed it. On that note-is there a way to remove the mushroom from the rock safely?

All of the new zoos were initially open... right this moment 4 out of the 11 frags have at least one zoa open. Hm.

MacKrell · Jul 21, 2013

Zoaid. Works for me, I always keep it handy. Any signs of them turning sour I dip.

kkgaskin90 · Jul 22, 2013

MacKrell-I cant find that online-is it hyphenated or anything?

MacKrell · Jul 23, 2013

There is a guy on eBay, I knw it sounds different but his name is coralreefing, he sells the stuff. It's kinda expensive but it works. Let me knw if u have anymore questions.

MacKrell · Jul 23, 2013

http://bit.ly/141hbXg, I apologize its spelled zoa aid, that's my fault, I hope that link works.

mikeytags5 · Jul 23, 2013

It's a terrible thing to watch zoas melt away. I know people have different techniques to getting rid of disease and such for zoas so i'm going to give you my 2 cents on how I do it and It seems to work. I use Melafix, it's for fish and helps remove bacterial infections, but I use it as a dip and it's not harsh on the polyps at all. Cup of tank water and a little bit of Melafix for about 15 minutes and then I rinse it with fresh IO water. Should be good to go. Hope this helps