Zoa In trouble?

over0066 · Feb 25, 2021

I am conerned about this zoa. Most polyps opening but often not completely. Tried new location but not better. today I noticed white mucous along many of the stocks. Tonight I looked more closely had can see this little black spots all over them. Any ideas of what this is and what to do? Worried about all of my new frags I just put in from the WWC live sale. Help!

Brad Waddell Wrath's Reef · Feb 25, 2021

over0066 said:
I am conerned about this zoa. Most polyps opening but often not completely. Tried new location but not better. today I noticed white mucous along many of the stocks. Tonight I looked more closely had can see this little black spots all over them. Any ideas of what this is and what to do? Worried about all of my new frags I just put in from the WWC live sale. Help!

Looks like black bugs. Remove and dip. See what happens.

over0066 · Feb 26, 2021

Just dipped in coral rx. Tried scraping off what I could and shook vigorously. Definitely much less now. Is that a common issue? Will it spread to other zoa's?

Brad Waddell Wrath's Reef · Feb 26, 2021

over0066 said:
Just dipped in coral rx. Tried scraping off what I could and shook vigorously. Definitely much less now. Is that a common issue? Will it spread to other zoa's?

Black bugs are a pest. Yes they can spread. Keep and eye on your other corals and dip as needed.

PicassoClown04 · Feb 26, 2021

That absolutely looks like a pest of some sort, I would aggressively treat immediately with multiple dips. I also see that your zoas are stretched for light, which is a simple fix by giving them more par via moving them up or increasing the intensity of your light. If both of these issues are dealt with immediately, I think your zoas have a good chance of making a full recovery

over0066 · Feb 26, 2021

After getting it back in the tank, it doesn't appear I got as much off as i thought. Will do again tomorrow.

I had moved the zoa's to the side and realized today they were stretching. I moved them back center after dipping and may move them higher after a day or two.

Any other dip I should try?

Mydoghasfleas · Feb 26, 2021

This is a new frag from WWC?

over0066 · Feb 26, 2021

No. This is one from my lfs I got about 2 weeks ago. Don't want to infect my new ones though. Tempted just to toss it, but I need to learn how to deal with these types of issues.

namfuak · Feb 26, 2021

If the Coral RX didn't shake them all loose and being that they are zoas, you might want to try a hydrogen peroxide dip. There are many threads on here with anything from a 10:1 to 1:1 water to peroxide ratio. Personally, I've typically used something close to 2:1 or 1:1 and have never had long term problems with the zoas.

over0066 · Feb 28, 2021

I appreciate the help. I had quite the fiasco dipping! I took the zoa off the rock, put him in a cup with coral rx and let him soak for a couple minutes. I went downstairs to grab something and came back up to find our 55 pound puppy knocked the coral onto the floor spilling everything! I panicked since I just read about palytoxin. My dog was in the living room looking all innocent and guilty at the same time. I finally found the zoa on the rug under the dining room table. It didn't appear harmed, except for fibers it picked up from its travels. I redipped him, rinsed him and put him back in the tank. On Friday afternoon he opened up quite nicely, but still had some black spots. I did a hydrogen peroxide dip saturday morning. Today black spots are gone. About 75% of the polyps are opening so far. No other corals appear to be affected. Hopefully we are on the up and up. Thanks for the help!