Sudden Zooanthid brown jelly

[MartinM]

Any idea what's going on? This is the first time I've ever seen this. I have dozens of Zoanthid colonies and this is the only one being affected. It's been progressing since yesterday. Yesterday I tried an iodine and revive coral dip. It clearly didn't work. . Whatever this is, it's not like the brown jelly in LPS corals which is external, this is something causing them to melt from the inside out as far as I can tell. When I hit them with the turkey baster, nothing really comes off, whereas with BJD on LPS, it would all come off.

For the time being, I've isolated the colony in QT and am treating with Ciprofloxacin, clove oil, and iodine.

Photos:

 

[fishguy242]

#reefsqaud

 

[MartinM]

Antibiotics seems to have no effect, and the situation accelerated a lot

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

is anything stinging them? Is that aptaisia on the rock right beside? Maybe an aptaisia got inside the zoa colony?

 

[fishguy242]

Sorry no reefsquad ?? @footgal @Lost in the Sauce @F i s h y @MERKEY

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I'm not convinced this is bacterial vs a nasty algae. Can you get a swab under a microscope?

 

[PicassoClown04]

Looks like it could be some nasty film algae. Do a 10 second dip 1:1 ratio H2O2:H2O and brush gently with a toothbrush. Hopefully it’s problem solved as medications will not kill algae

 

[F i s h y]

I'm not convinced this is bacterial vs a nasty algae. Can you get a swab under a microscope?

I agree I know I have had some diatoms that seem to attack soft corals like leathers. Happens most often to bright green nepthea and sinularia in my experience. Can take out whole healthy colonies in just a day or 2.

 

[MartinM]

Looks like it could be some nasty film algae. Do a 10 second dip 1:1 ratio H2O2:H2O and brush gently with a toothbrush. Hopefully it’s problem solved as medications will not kill algae

I just tried this, I hope it works. However, they’re definitely dying from the inside out. Even ones that look healthy when I gently spray them with the turkey baster, the heads will come off like they’ve been decapitated from the inside. I’ve never seen anything like this, and I’ve been in the hobby on and off for 30 years.

 

[PicassoClown04]

I just tried this, I hope it works. However, they’re definitely dying from the inside out. Even ones that look healthy when I gently spray them with the turkey baster, the heads will come off like they’ve been decapitated from the inside. I’ve never seen anything like this, and I’ve been in the hobby on and off for 30 years.

Wow that really sucks. Zoas are melting for some reason. Did you switch salts/additives/lighting recently? Sometimes even little things like trace element shifts can cause them to melt away like that. Best I can tell you is frag healthy looking polyps off the colony and try to put them in a different system (friend’s tank, LFS, a different tank you own) as a last resort Hail Mary. You could also do a large (at least 25% but better 50%) to see if that helps at all

 

[MartinM]

Yeah, I had an ATO snafu that resulted in too much freshwater, I was wondering if that might have been it. I have another entirely separate system, I’ll try to frag them into. Currently they are still in QT.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Yeah, I had an ATO snafu that resulted in too much freshwater, I was wondering if that might have been it. I have another entirely separate system, I’ll try to frag them into. Currently they are still in QT.

I wouldn't currently add them to any system you have other corals.. You have no idea what this is or how easily it will spread.

 

[MartinM]

I wouldn't currently add them to any system you have other corals.. You have no idea what this is or how easily it will spread.

Thanks, they’re still in QT with Ciprofloxacin after the h2o2 dip.

 

[MartinM]

Well, they got their course of antibiotic treatment, and then, when moved back into the display, they all came back to life. I could’ve sworn most of them were going to die or were already dead. I have no idea what happened.

 

[kevgib67]

Wow, what a comeback, good for you.

 

[Reef-_-Noob]

Are they Halle Berry Zoas??

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks to be the start of zoa Pox which has an appearance of the zoa being attacked with pimples and will have dots either white or yellow and will cause the zoa polyps to close up or melt and also is contagious to other zoa but not paly in your tank. It is often caused by lack of maintenance, leading to a bacterial or fungal infection and even protozoan. Tissue loss begins which have the appearance of zoas melting.
Years ago, best treatment was Furan-2 which is impossible to find but can be replaced with nitrofurazone and possibly kanamyacin. Assuming its pox, iodine dip may slow it down

 

[MartinM]

Looks to be the start of zoa Pox which has an appearance of the zoa being attacked with pimples and will have dots either white or yellow and will cause the zoa polyps to close up or melt and also is contagious to other zoa but not paly in your tank. It is often caused by lack of maintenance, leading to a bacterial or fungal infection and even protozoan. Tissue loss begins which have the appearance of zoas melting.
Years ago, best treatment was Furan-2 which is impossible to find but can be replaced with nitrofurazone and possibly kanamyacin. Assuming its pox, iodine dip may slow it down

Furan-2 is Nitrofurazone if I'm not mistaken. I can source virtually any pharmaceutical so it's not an issue.

That being said, I don't know what this was, and I don't think anything I did assisted in the recovery. It only affected these particular zoos (all of them, no matter where they were in the tank). But they've almost come back now. No other zoas were the least bit affected, and I have dozens of types and dozens of colonies.

Btw, I don't know what 'name' they are, I don't get into all that fad name stuff, and I think that's mostly an American thing anyway...