Ongoing issue with Purple Heart zoas

trmiv · Sep 9, 2020

I’ve got a frag of Purple Heart zoas that I’ve had for probably 8 months. During that time they’ve gone from being healthy, to shrinking and closing up, I then dipped them in seachem reef dip and they came back healthy. Then about a month later same thing, they started closing and shrinking up. Dipped them again in reef dip and they came back again. Then it happened again, and I repeated the process and they came back yet again. Well they’ve been fine for about a month and half and now suddenly again here they are closed up for days and shrinking.

I’ve got 10 other zoa types including LA Lakers, Bob Marleys, Eagle Eyes, King Midas, Illuminati, Hyper Jubilees, Bam Bams, Scrambled Eggs, Demons on fire and purple monsters all doing well. These Purple Heart are on a rock I’m trying to make into a garden with some marleys, Lakers, king Midas and eagle eyes which look great.

parameters
ph 8.1-8.3
Alk 8.2
Cal 430
Mag 1430
Phosphate .08
Nitrate 10

Lighting is two Red Sea Reefled 90s over a Reefer 350. The Purple Heart zoas get like 115 par.

I feed Red Sea AB+ daily and reef roids and Benereef twice a week

Obviously I’ll try the reef dip again because it works, but I can’t figure out why it keeps happening to these zoas and them only? Any advice for some other treatment I can try for whatever keeps hitting them?

Oscar47f · Sep 9, 2020

Likely bacterial, I would try and put them in a higher flow area.. zoanthids and softies really appreciate iodine and it gets rid of bacteria when they’re dipped in it... that’s probably what’s going on

trmiv · Sep 9, 2020

Cool thanks. I dipped them again in seachem reef dip and moved them to one of my magnetic rock frag racks where they should get decent flow. We’ll see how they go. I wonder if it would be worth it to Furan2 dip them to see if I can get this away for good?

Oscar47f · Sep 9, 2020

trmiv said:
Cool thanks. I dipped them again in seachem reef dip and moved them to one of my magnetic rock frag racks where they should get decent flow. We’ll see how they go. I wonder if it would be worth it to Furan2 dip them to see if I can get this away for good?

You can try that if you’d like it’s a little harsh on zoas so just make sure they’re decently healthy before you try it

littlebigreef · Sep 10, 2020

Oscar47f said:
You can try that if you’d like it’s a little harsh on zoas so just make sure they’re decently healthy before you try it

I'm going to disagree with Oscar there on Furan-2 being harsh on zoas. That's my medium sized hammer I regularly use when zoas are acting up and not looking good. The one thing is that you have to do a full cycle of 4-5 days to really achieve any results, take a few days off, and then repeat as necessary.

rob s. · Sep 10, 2020

trmiv said:
I’ve got a frag of Purple Heart zoas that I’ve had for probably 8 months. During that time they’ve gone from being healthy, to shrinking and closing up, I then dipped them in seachem reef dip and they came back healthy. Then about a month later same thing, they started closing and shrinking up. Dipped them again in reef dip and they came back again. Then it happened again, and I repeated the process and they came back yet again. Well they’ve been fine for about a month and half and now suddenly again here they are closed up for days and shrinking.

I’ve got 10 other zoa types including LA Lakers, Bob Marleys, Eagle Eyes, King Midas, Illuminati, Hyper Jubilees, Bam Bams, Scrambled Eggs, Demons on fire and purple monsters all doing well. These Purple Heart are on a rock I’m trying to make into a garden with some marleys, Lakers, king Midas and eagle eyes which look great.

parameters
ph 8.1-8.3
Alk 8.2
Cal 430
Mag 1430
Phosphate .08
Nitrate 10

Lighting is two Red Sea Reefled 90s over a Reefer 350. The Purple Heart zoas get like 115 par.

I feed Red Sea AB+ daily and reef roids and Benereef twice a week

Obviously I’ll try the reef dip again because it works, but I can’t figure out why it keeps happening to these zoas and them only? Any advice for some other treatment I can try for whatever keeps hitting them?

so i had the same issue over about an 8 month period with a colony of Eagle Eyes. A couple days ago a friend gave me 4 new frags of some torches and hammers and while putting them in place we decided to move my power head for a better flow on the frags. About 20 minutes later i was amazed when i looked at the eagle eyes. They were all opened and bigger than i'd seen them in weeks. I can't wait to get home today and see if it was just a fluke or the adjustment in my flow made them happy. I've dipped them twice and turkey baster them almost daily and they were still hit and miss. I'll let you know if it was the flow for sure or just a happenstance but maybe a small adjustment on there flow could help?

Oscar47f · Sep 10, 2020

littlebigreef said:
I'm going to disagree with Oscar there on Furan-2 being harsh on zoas. That's my medium sized hammer I regularly use when zoas are acting up and not looking good. The one thing is that you have to do a full cycle of 4-5 days to really achieve any results, take a few days off, and then repeat as necessary.

Lol I’m still learning, what’s your big hammer when it comes to zoa treatment ?!?