What is growing on my palys?

[Abby]

I was doing some maintenance today and decided my Sunny Ds were definitely getting too much light, and decided to move them down. After fussing with them the polyps (which have been unhappy, but mostly open, for a while now) closed completely. I took a close look at them and discovered little specks on their skin, with small hairs growing from the light spots. I examined the rest of my frags and discovered the same thing on only one other.

The spots are not nearly as light as they appear in the images, that's something my camera did. They are barely lighter than the zoas skin.

 

[scoopsthedog]

I was doing some maintenance today and decided my Sunny Ds were definitely getting too much light, and decided to move them down. After fussing with them the polyps (which have been unhappy, but mostly open, for a while now) closed completely. I took a close look at them and discovered little specks on their skin, with small hairs growing from the light spots. I examined the rest of my frags and discovered the same thing on only one other.

The spots are not nearly as light as they appear in the images, that's something my camera did. They are barely lighter than the zoas skin.

Have you dipped then? Had an issue with my fine that Furan seemed to have halted.

 

[joshporksandwich]

Bigger zoas or plays usually cover their skin with sand or other stuff. If they were open then there's nothing wrong. One way of knowing is take them out and smell them. If they smell rotten there's something wrong and use furan 2 like suggested.

 

[ahiggins]

Bigger zoas or plays usually cover their skin with sand or other stuff. If they were open then there's nothing wrong. One way of knowing is take them out and smell them. If they smell rotten there's something wrong and use furan 2 like suggested.

Thats very helpful

It could be hydroids...they have that general look

 

[Abby]

Bigger zoas or plays usually cover their skin with sand or other stuff. If they were open then there's nothing wrong. One way of knowing is take them out and smell them. If they smell rotten there's something wrong and use furan 2 like suggested.

Ooh! That's really helpful. The one colony is definitely a Paly, the other (pictured) is an unidentified larger zoa/paly. They are the largest polyps in my tank. I'm not home right now, but I'll be giving them a good whiff later.

Thanks for all the helpful replies

 

[Pola0502ds]

Ooh! That's really helpful. The one colony is definitely a Paly, the other (pictured) is an unidentified larger zoa/paly. They are the largest polyps in my tank. I'm not home right now, but I'll be giving them a good whiff later.

Thanks for all the helpful replies

did you smell them?

 

[Abby]

did you smell them?

I did! I don't think I had ever bothered to smell zoas/palys before? I'm more than a little bit familiar with the smells of SPS so I was expecting something strong like that. I sniffed both colonies as neither was glued down and they were absolutely not rotten or foul smelling! They had very little smell at all and I think it was surprisingly plantlike? That could be a bad description too, I think I'm getting a cold lol.

 

[Pola0502ds]

I would be a little worried to smell them, lol, as they have been known to "spit" and your nose can be one way for palytoxin to get into your system..
Just being overly cautious I guess.

 

[wattson]

Could it be the start of hair algea ?