Palythoa half guts out half open

shrimped · Apr 19, 2019

I got this Palythoa a few weeks ago that did really well in the tank and sprouted a new polyp on the side. Yesterday it was kinda acting up and not opening all the way (the half open half close thing). And today it seems like it’s puked it’s guts out and the other half is open like nothing happened.

It’s with UtterChaos, Psychosis, fat head dendro, plate coral, Nessarius snail, cerith snail. The tank has almost no sand as it’s a frag tank. Everything else is doing really well.

April 12 Params:
SG: 1.025 (Refractometer)
PH: 8.1 (API)
dkh: 7.5 (Hanna)
Calc: 370 (Hanna)
Phosphate: less than 0.25 (API)
Nitrate: 0 (API)

Everything has been pretty consistent and I will check the water again later tonight.

Equipment:
Radion G4 Xr15 (no diffuser)
VortechMP40
Reef Octopus VarioS-4 or 6 I forgot
Nyos Quantum 120

I feed reefroids to the coral every other week, waterchange every month, dose Aquaforest Calcium Plus when needed to.
AF Amino Mix, AF Vitality, AF Build, AF Energy, AF Micro E twice a week.

I’m wondering should I frag the small baby polyp or not because it’s by far the most expensive coral I bought to date ($200 Predator Paly) I really don’t want to lose it. Just my luck with things over $100 none has lived past 3 weeks lmaooo.

Before:

After:

Hemmdog · Apr 19, 2019

Did you dip it when you got it? It almost looks like zoa eating nudis.

shrimped · Apr 19, 2019

Hemmdog said:
Did you dip it when you got it? It almost looks like zoa eating nudis.

Yes I dipped all the coral in Coral Rx when I get them (also shaking it to dislodge things).
All my zoas/palys come from Calikid Corals my local place to get coral and where I can closely inspect the coral for any parasites (none to be found). I get home and take the coral out closed to even closely inspect for any small eggs or unwanted parasites (none to be found). I take pictures of each coral often (once every two weeks) for Instagram posts so I’m very sure no nudibranchs.
I however have seen a lot of pods running around each coral and they never seem to do damage but ya never know since a Australian(?) guy got swarmed by amphipods and was bleeding from them biting him.

Hemmdog · Apr 19, 2019

shrimppsacc said:
Yes I dipped all the coral in Coral Rx when I get them (also shaking it to dislodge things).
All my zoas/palys come from Calikid Corals my local place to get coral and where I can closely inspect the coral for any parasites (none to be found). I get home and take the coral out closed to even closely inspect for any small eggs or unwanted parasites (none to be found). I take pictures of each coral often (once every two weeks) for Instagram posts so I’m very sure no nudibranchs.
I however have seen a lot of pods running around each coral and they never seem to do damage but ya never know since a Australian(?) guy got swarmed by amphipods and was bleeding from them biting him.

Oh nice, he’s a good guy. I met him at the coral farmers market this year.
You said it’s a frag tank. Any fish or shrimp in there? It could be a bite if it’s not a nudi. I’ve just never seen zoas/palys melt just a 6th of itself. Trying to think outside the box.

That’s crazy about the amphipods, I hadn’t heard that. It sounds awful lol.

shrimped · Apr 19, 2019

Hemmdog said:
Oh nice, he’s a good guy. I met him at the coral farmers market this year.
You said it’s a frag tank. Any fish or shrimp in there? It could be a bite if it’s not a nudi. I’ve just never seen zoas/palys melt just a 6th of itself. Trying to think outside the box.

That’s crazy about the amphipods, I hadn’t heard that. It sounds awful lol.

Yea Ben from Calikid is awesome! I don’t have any fish or shrimp in there. All hermits are in the sump eating algae and stuff down there. I haven’t changed the settings on my light fixture for months and I only upped the Vortech by one bar. Same movement and everything.
Here’s the link to the video, I really hope my pods don’t go rogue on me one day lol

Hemmdog · Apr 19, 2019

shrimppsacc said:
Yea Ben from Calikid is awesome! I don’t have any fish or shrimp in there. All hermits are in the sump eating algae and stuff down there. I haven’t changed the settings on my light fixture for months and I only upped the Vortech by one bar. Same movement and everything.
Here’s the link to the video, I really hope my pods don’t go rogue on me one day lol

Wow that’s crazy!
Yea I’m not sure about the paly then. Hopefully it will start healing, that’s a really cool one.

shrimped · Apr 20, 2019

Hemmdog said:
Wow that’s crazy!
Yea I’m not sure about the paly then. Hopefully it will start healing, that’s a really cool one.

Thanks I hope so too!

shrimped · Apr 20, 2019

Update: it has gotten a lot worse and the other Palythoas aren’t opening as much in the morning (sunlight through window). Once I get back home I will check the water again.

Bigbaby · Dec 6, 2019

What ever happened to your palys? Did they get better?

DSC reef · Dec 6, 2019

Those are mesenterial filaments, never good on a palythoa

shrimped · Dec 6, 2019

Bigbaby said:
What ever happened to your palys? Did they get better?

nope it unfortunately never gotten better. recently, another one of my zoas actually revealed guts and all that after i fragged it. thought it was a goner but i guess daily coral rx dip was the key to help it out and now it’s healed, opening up, and eating just like every zoa for the past week. i only have a pic of it freshly fragged, i’ll take a pic of it open later on today.

Bigbaby · Dec 6, 2019

shrimppsacc said:
nope it unfortunately never gotten better. recently, another one of my zoas actually revealed guts and all that after i fragged it. thought it was a goner but i guess daily coral rx dip was the key to help it out and now it’s healed, opening up, and eating just like every zoa for the past week. i only have a pic of it freshly fragged, i’ll take a pic of it open later on today.

That looked like an acro at a glance. Cant believe it came back from that. Amazing!

shrimped · Dec 6, 2019

Bigbaby said:
That looked like an acro at a glance. Cant believe it came back from that. Amazing!

thank you!

Yeet.Reefing · Mar 12, 2021

Old thread but any recovery pics? Going through the same issue with my zoas right now and am trying to save them. Any ideas if this is infectious?

Tonyreeffish · Mar 12, 2021

All i know is thats a bad sign and the zoas are probably going to melt. Unleas you can figure out whats causing then to spill their guts, and fast, they prob arent gonna make it. Zoas are so frustrating but i love em so much.