slowly loosing zoas

blurry · Aug 29, 2011

I seem to be slowly loosing zoas. I've been away from the tank for a while with work and found about 5 plugs empty. Seems that only the pricey stuff is vanishing :cry: A few have a brown/green film on them. The tank is a 50 gallon brute with 4 small powerheads (koralian nano 425's) and low light (4 T5s about 18 " up to 8" of water - PAR about 100 max) The light bulbs are old, probably a year. I'll get new ones ordered this week. I did a H202 dip on the king Midas - the original polyps are gone, only the new growth on the side remains. In another tank, the Galaxy's wont open, but look clean. Green cloves are melting and have a film on them. also did H202 on these.

I did miss some water changes and got caught up with a few larger ones (12% 3 times in one week). losses are still happening.

The tank is connected to the mixed reef which is doing great and ZOAs seem to fair better there (no loses if that is a measurement). The mixed reef has dual halides.

SPS look great.

KH- 11.5 (this crept up on me, usually 8.5. dropping about .5/day right now
Ca - 430
PO4 - 0 on hanna
NO3 - showing up yellowish instead of pink? usually between 0 and 1
Mg 1400
Salinity 35ppt against calibrated refractometer

If the flow is too low I can try to increase, I struggle with getting flow in the tank because its so shallow. any advice is appreciated!

thanks!

FishScale · Aug 30, 2011

your alk is high but are things eating them instead? sun dial snails?

Sugo · Aug 30, 2011

I'd suspect a pest, dip when you can.

Wy Renegade · Aug 30, 2011

With the brown film you described, it sounds like you have algae growth due to lack of flow. I would try moving the existing powerheads to increase the flow in the areas were the zoas are and/or adding some additional powerheads. As you already mentioned, its most likely time to add some new bulbs.

wish · Aug 30, 2011

Wy Renegade said:
With the brown film you described, it sounds like you have algae growth due to lack of flow. I would try moving the existing powerheads to increase the flow in the areas were the zoas are and/or adding some additional powerheads. As you already mentioned, its most likely time to add some new bulbs.

If algae grows on them... your fish like a tang would eat them! I have two tangs and I've seen it happen

more flow and dip as mention earlier

nano junky · Aug 30, 2011

the algae could be growing as a result of flow or a pest has rendered the zoas to angry to open ive had it happen sound like bristle worms or spiders

blurry · Sep 1, 2011

haven't been ableto find a pest. seems that the smaller pieces (2-8 heads are affected the most. working on bulbs and KH is still dropping

Anyone else find it hard to put a lot of flow in a 8" deep tank?

mallorieGgator · Sep 1, 2011

A brown film is usually a fungal or bacterial infection in your zoas. I would look up the furan dip. I'm not sure the ratio but they need to be dipped or they will all melt away.

blurry · Sep 6, 2011

I have furan, need to see what the effects on the SPS could be

blurry · Sep 6, 2011

alk is back to 8.5 - lost some more zoas

also noted two heads of of multi-color frogspawn are lost, and nuclear candy canes are not doing well.

the peroxide dip seems to help, thinking I might need to mix larger batches!

davelink · Sep 6, 2011

you might have zoa eating nudibranchs my friend, and they are almost impossible to spot witht he naked eye unless you really know how to look for them. google it and see if anything you find helps

robert · Sep 6, 2011

"The tank is connected to the mixed reef which is doing great and ZOAs seem to fair better there " - I think this kinda says the water parameters are ok...

If the zoas are disappearing quickly (as opposed to to shrinking and melting away) and especially if there are signs of damage, missing skirts etc. - I' suspect pests.

But with what you describe, and if the zoas are shrinking and fading away, I tend to agree with Wy Renegade.

Pull out a frag plug and scrape an open area with a chisel or clean flat bladed screwdriver. If you scrape off a substantial amount of slime - its flow.

Scraping and swabbing with H2O2 will help keep the problem at bay also flushing with a turkey baster daily, but you'll have to keep it up until you fix the flow...and yes the same slime/algae issue affects clove polyps - but I'd bee reluctant to H2O2 threat cloves.

bluepit · Sep 6, 2011

u r needing more flow,and probably better light, because most zoa s come from turbulent shallow waters. algae growth on zoas is lack of FLOW

blurry · Sep 6, 2011

took some pictures. the LPS are starting to take a beating. a gorgeous multicolor in the display is hurting and another LPS in the display is receding.

sorry for the lack of color balance, I need to buy capture NX2

The ugly:

this says it all. H202 no effect:

galaxy paly - been through 2 10% H202 dips, still will not open

LPS starting to get affected -

frogspawn:

Favia:

on the other hand some stuff is doing great:

ReeferDave · Sep 7, 2011

Thats the same brown film that covered my rastas and darth mauls

They melted away

Dowtish · Sep 7, 2011

I hate to see this. I just went through the same thing with a large colony. Doing great, and then suddenly closing up, and then some opened, and then less and less. The discoloration started. I dipped in Furan 2, then went to Hydro P. NOTHING. Moved them in higher flow, different light, turkey baster etc. NOTHING. and all the while everything else looked great. I ended up just tossing the whole colony before it rotted in the tank. I am thinking that a combo of possibilities: a couple of small aiptasia popped up in the colony, then I swore I saw some sort of hydroids. I'm thinking the initial stings and possible reactions caused the bacteria to set in.

Then I had a nice 15 polyp colony with no sign of anything wrong just close up and melt away in a 3 day period....Needless to say I am baffled, and just kinda over Zoas right now.

blurry · Sep 7, 2011

not liking the sounds of this

I did a 50% peroxide dip and the bubbling was WAY up from the 10%. followed with a dip in revive. tomorrow will tell the tale.

rosshamsandwich · May 31, 2018

any updates?

that Reef Guy · May 31, 2018

Click on the Link Below for Tips on Keeping Zoanthids

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/s...nthids-happy-healthy-and-growing-fast.250791/

The Thread Might Help you Figure Out the Problem You are Having.