Treating zoa-pox?

[The_Skrimp]

Hi folks. So I have a zoa garden and it’s been growing like crazy but over the past week or two zoapox has been spreading and it’s killed over half of them now. All of the research I’m doing leads me to out of date information because the one product I see recommended is furan 2 which is discontinued. I can’t find it anywhere. Are there any alternatives to furan 2 that are easier to find?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Use a cup of saltwater and mix one packet of Furan 2.by API AND place zoa in a container small enough to insure that the colony is submersed and dip in that solution
In a similar container with tank water, rinse/agitate it and return to the display tank

 

[zoaprince]

Use a cup of saltwater and mix one packet of Furan 2.by API AND place zoa in a container small enough to insure that the colony is submersed and dip in that solution
In a similar container with tank water, rinse/agitate it and return to the display tank

Unfortunately furan 2 is discontinued. Some people have tried chemi-clean as an alternative. not sure how that's worked out

 

[vetteguy53081]

Unfortunately furan 2 is discontinued. Some people have tried chemi-clean as an alternative. not sure how that's worked out

Available on Ebay

 

[Just John]

Perhaps you could use one of these:

Aqualife Nitrofurazone - Treats up to 200 Gallons | The Fish Room

Treats 200 gallons --split-- Effective Against: -Red Areas and Body Streaks -Peeling or White Body -Open Ulcers -Wasting Away -Bacterial Infections -Ammonia Exposure -For Ornamental Fish Use Only -Not For Human Consumption – use only as directed. Nitrofurazone is effective against gram-negative...

www.thefishroom.net

This item is no longer available.

www.dfwaquarium.com

Someone told me that the bifuran+ has been out of stock for a while now.

Maybe here: https://www.bbsave.com/p157a191/hikari-bifuran

 

[The_Skrimp]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I’m striking out on finding any sort of medication. No one sells Furan 2 anymore as far as i can tell. They’re all either out of stock or discontinued. I did try eBay but all i found was someone selling baggies of the stuff which I don’t trust. The pox are killing off my zoas so I’m willing to try something drastic at this point. My LFS suggested I dip the rock in hydrogen peroxide for a few minutes. I tried it yesterday and I’m pretty sure I killed off another half of the zoas I had left. I’ll see if they open up today. Either way, I’m crossing my fingers it was enough to kill the pox though and hope they will recover from here.

 

[littlebigreef]

You can try using chemi-clean as either a dip or by treating the whole system. Unfortunately, there aren't any good apparent alternatives known to treat pox at the moment. I've used chemi-clean to resolve a few bacterial issues this summer.

 

[zoaprince]

Perhaps you could use one of these:

Aqualife Nitrofurazone - Treats up to 200 Gallons | The Fish Room

Treats 200 gallons --split-- Effective Against: -Red Areas and Body Streaks -Peeling or White Body -Open Ulcers -Wasting Away -Bacterial Infections -Ammonia Exposure -For Ornamental Fish Use Only -Not For Human Consumption – use only as directed. Nitrofurazone is effective against gram-negative...

www.thefishroom.net

This item is no longer available.

www.dfwaquarium.com

Someone told me that the bifuran+ has been out of stock for a while now.

Maybe here: https://www.bbsave.com/p157a191/hikari-bifuran

this looks promising

 

[Just John]

How many colonies do you think can be saved?

 

[Just John]

Also, if you have not done it yet, call every store as far away as you are willing to drive. I did this and one store had an old box I bought. It took close to 10 stores, but I found it.


update: for $70 including shipping I found a box on facebook marketplace. I guess it depends on how much your zoas are worth

update: I decided to call and check because I might want some even with the cost. They don't have it.

 

[littlebigreef]

Also, if you have not done it yet, call every store as far away as you are willing to drive. I did this and one store had an old box I bought. It took close to 10 stores, but I found it.


update: for $70 including shipping I found a box on facebook marketplace. I guess it depends on how much your zoas are worth

I need to quit growing zoas and get into the fish medication business lol.

 

[The_Skrimp]

I figured I should update this thread since I’m on the other side of this now.

before:

after:

Between the pox and dipping in harsh dips like peroxide I ended up losing all but a few of my eagle eyes, a lot of the orange / purple ones in the top corner and a few of the pink ones top center. There are enough left over and luckily I was able to frag some before it happened so it should grow back quick.

Overall, dips didn’t do too much. I tried chemi clean and peroxide. The peroxide dip actually made things a lot worse killing some healthy zoas. I did a 50/50 peroxide tank water dip for about three minutes. I suspect the ones that died from the dip were already on their way out and weren’t showing as much as the rest of them.

I started blowing off any debri and dead flesh with a turkey baster daily which definitely slowed the spread.

I also noticed that out of all the zoas that were affected the orange ones on the front corner continued to spread. Those are pretty new to my tank and I really liked them so to encourage them to grow I was feeding them extra. I figured that might be why they were doing better so I tried feeding all of my zoanthids more often and the pox eventually cleared up. I run a low nutrient system and I think there’s definitely something to zoas needing extra nutrients in the water. That’s probably why my sps were doing great but my zoas were melting away. I’ve upped my phosphate levels by using less phosguard along with feeding more and I’m starting to see some baby zoa heads bouncing back.

thanks for all the help and suggestions folks!