Z/P Skirt issues

[ADAM]

Is there a reason the skirts would be retracted or rolled-up? Seems to be polyps with red coloring are more so than any other color, however most are showing some sign of retraction. CARs and Bowsers have no skirts whatsoever showing, Hyper Jubilee barely visible, Buttkissers and WWC SuperStar look normal.......WTW?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Can you post a picture? Are they curling in or vanishing completely? Could be a pest bothering them.

 

[ADAM]

First two pics are polyps with some shade of red or pink with the skirt in question. The third is a Buttkisser colony directly beside these that appear healthy and happy....

 

[Crabs McJones]

Have you added anything to the tank recently that could have brought in a pest

 

[ADAM]

92 Quarter Circle, 2 XR15s: AB+ at 70% 12”AWL.
Ca 440, ALK 11, Mg 1350, pH: Midday 8.1/ Night 7.9

As for other livestock;
Yellow Tang
Yellow Wrasse- 50/50 with shrimp, snails...
2 Mocha Storm Clowns
Mystery Wrasse
Ceriths and Nerites for snails
Coral Band Shrimp

These polyps and fish have been together for months. Heavy on the feeding so don’t think it’d be a hunger issue.

Fresh water dip with no visible pest.

After photos I moved half of the frags to my sons tank in case it was a fish nipping or rogue CBS

 

[Crabs McJones]

Let's get some more expert eyes in here #reefsquad

 

[ADAM]

Have you added anything to the tank recently that could have brought in a pest

Possibly as I have had a few orders in the last two weeks (SSHHHH!), but no pests were found during dips and visible inspections with magnifying glass

 

[MTBake]

Looks like something is bothering them. Any hydroids or tiny aiptasia under the polyps? Amphipods crawling over them perhaps?

 

[ADAM]

Nothing that seems out of the ordinary Pod wise. Have seen a new aptasia or two on the rockwork but none on or around these polyps.
The only common ground I can find is that they all have some red based pigment.

 

[MTBake]

Nothing that seems out of the ordinary Pod wise. Have seen a new aptasia or two on the rockwork but none on or around these polyps.
The only common ground I can find is that they all have some red based pigment.

I've seen a kinda of algae grow on the stalks and under sides of zs and ps in the past. It was more of a brick red color. It's been several years since I've seen it in my tank though. I dipped what I could in half tank water and half hydrogen peroxide. It seems to help this issue. I let them sit in the solution for 2 or 3 minutes, rinse in clean tank water a few times and back in the tank they went. This may or may not help what you're dealing with. Pull a small frag and try it before doing lots, just to test it out. It's been years since I've had to do this as I don't keep z and ps anymore.

 

[MTBake]

Fwiw, that retraction in your pics really looks like they're being stung from underneath. Get a close look for little hydroids or aiptasia.

 

[Travis Stewart]

You I noticed mine do this when my salinity is a hair off.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I've never had them, but I've seen some zoas being eaten by nudibranchs. And to my eye, based on your photos, that's what it looks like to me. Especially in Post #3 and the 2nd pic. Some of the skirt looks OK and some of it looks like it's gone. In my experience when a zoa is disturbed it retracts the whole skirt. These look like they were chewed on in the past and are now opened again with missing parts. But that's just my opinion. If I'm not mistaken, I think the nudibranchs are only active at night and they take on the color of the zoa they are eating, so they become very difficult to see.

 

[ADAM]

Gong to dip two of the frags in question using hydrogen peroxide today. One of the frags I plan to return to the main tank in a similar location with regard to light and flow but not directly where it was prior, the other I plan on moving to my sons tank.

 

[ADAM]

I've never had them, but I've seen some zoas being eaten by nudibranchs. And to my eye, based on your photos, that's what it looks like to me. Especially in Post #3 and the 2nd pic. Some of the skirt looks OK and some of it looks like it's gone. In my experience when a zoa is disturbed it retracts the whole skirt. These look like they were chewed on in the past and are now opened again with missing parts. But that's just my opinion. If I'm not mistaken, I think the nudibranchs are only active at night and they take on the color of the zoa they are eating, so they become very difficult to see.

This was my initial thought as I had a war with them early last summer. I haven’t seen any evidence of them for months and some that I have dipped had no signs of nudis, spiders, or similar. I have pulled frags at different points of the day and night for FW dips but never a sign. Some that looked the worst, as far as the entire skirt seemingly gone and the polyp almost fully retracted, I dipped and dissected one or two of the polyps to see if there was an inhabitant inside the polyp, but no luck. Definitely not out of the question that these critters could be to blame though.

 

[Ron Reefman]

If you had them before, I'd say the odds just went up that you have them again, IMHO. And if you have a lot of zoas (90% of my tank is zoas) a couple could nibble here and there for a long time before the damage really became noticeable.

 

[rogersb]

I've never had nudis, but those zoas in the 2nd pic are nice.

 

[ADAM]

They’re- Space Chaos AKA Stiff Red Drank and they are some that bother me the most that are having issues.

 

[ADAM]

If there were a pest of some sort in the tank, could the skirt damage be coming from one of the wrasses picking the pest off the polyp?

 

[ADAM]

I have dipped several different frags and colonies and can’t find anything other than amphipods and a stray tiny starfish or two. I’ve seen these for years in the tank with no ill effects but have since started removing the starfish I see manually. Figure the wrasses and other fish will pick off the pods....
Any other ideas? Could it be a element missing or an element build up in the water that would effect certain Z/P and not others? No other corals seem stressed or abnormal behaviors noticed.