Zoas shrinking, melting and dying

[Bars]

Since I don't want to add any new fish at the moment, I gave them a dip. Got a free sample from my lfs and put them in a bucket of aquarium water mixed with the solution.

Except for an asterina and a couple of pods nothing fell off. I'll get my iodine tested this weekend.

 

[Roush427R]

You said you have red pods? Is it possible that these are flatworms or something else that is bad?

 

[45ZoaGarden]

You said you have red pods? Is it possible that these are flatworms or something else that is bad?

+1 on possible flat worms.

 

[Terry Mattson]

Since I don't want to add any new fish at the moment, I gave them a dip. Got a free sample from my lfs and put them in a bucket of aquarium water mixed with the solution.

Except for an asterina and a couple of pods nothing fell off. I'll get my iodine tested this weekend.

After trying everything I tried iodine. To less than 48 hours to open 100 plus zoas and a handful of palys. .06 is the target. I have a thread "zoas not opening solved " under my name. Terry Mattson A lot of detail there. Worth a try. Let us khow.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

But iodine is a band aid. Why were the zoas closed in the first place?

 

[jeffchapok]

How old is the tank? I didn't have any luck with zoas until my tank was about 8 months old. If yours is fairly young, I'd say wait until it matures a bit more, then try again with a couple of inexpensive frags and see how they do.

My water is fairly dirty too, PO4 runs .5 and NO3 40-50. Most of my softies seem happy at that.

 

[Terry Mattson]

But iodine is a band aid. Why were the zoas closed in the first place?

Iodine was .01

 

[Terry Mattson]

Iodine was .01

I use fritz salt but make small water changes daily. Dose calcium and alk bu the hour. I have all zoas, mushrooms, goniopora, hammer, frogspawn, duncan, acan, pinwheel, candyland, war, and something else (lps) and one SPS Birdsnest. Tank is a year old. Since keeping iodine at .05 or .06 ppm. My zoas have grown like crazy in number and some in size. Have not counted them but in 4 months they are more than 150 and have a frag growing on one that popped off the colony. 91 gallon system with refugium. Skimmer and run gfo to help phosphate buildup. I test everything I can.

Fish 3 fire, sand goby, khole tang, 2 pajamas, mandarin, dowdy black, 2 sets of two clowns. Fire shrimp, cleaner shrimp, 2 tuxedo Urchins, crabs, snails ....

Po4 .03 to .08
No3 about 1 using low range test kit.
Cal 430 to 460
Ph 8.1 to 8.2
Temp 78 to 79
Dkh 8
Mag 1400
Iodine .05 to .06
I dose with kalkwisser and occasionally adjust with soda ash, or bicarbonate and calcium cloride. Mag as needed....

 

[Bars]

You said you have red pods? Is it possible that these are flatworms or something else that is bad?

The front half is transparant and the rear is red. I only see them at night running around like crazy, so I assumed they're pods.

After trying everything I tried iodine. To less than 48 hours to open 100 plus zoas and a handful of palys. .06 is the target. I have a thread "zoas not opening solved " under my name. Terry Mattson A lot of detail there. Worth a try. Let us khow.

I'll have a look!

How old is the tank? I didn't have any luck with zoas until my tank was about 8 months old. If yours is fairly young, I'd say wait until it matures a bit more, then try again with a couple of inexpensive frags and see how they do.

My water is fairly dirty too, PO4 runs .5 and NO3 40-50. Most of my softies seem happy at that.

The tank was 8 months old before the move. Got a new tank 2 months ago and transfered al live rock, got new sand though. My phosphates and nitrates have always been fairly high, but not dangerously high.

 

[malacoda]

But iodine is a band aid. Why were the zoas closed in the first place?

I wouldn't consider iodine as just a band aid.

If the zoas are lacking in a key element they require for health and growth, it could be a key cause of fading away.

Think of it like grass under a tree. As the tree grows and casts more and more shade, the increases lack of sunlight will eventually cause the grass to fade away.

 

[Bars]

Alrighty, idodine levels are at 0.02 according to my lfs. I'll head over there later today to pick something up to increase iodine. See if it helps.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

I wouldn't consider iodine as just a band aid.

If the zoas are lacking in a key element they require for health and growth, it could be a key cause of fading away.

Think of it like grass under a tree. As the tree grows and casts more and more shade, the increases lack of sunlight will eventually cause the grass to fade away.

I just realized

Alrighty, idodine levels are at 0.02 according to my lfs. I'll head over there later today to pick something up to increase iodine. See if it helps.

i dose acro power

 

[Terry Mattson]

Alrighty, idodine levels are at 0.02 according to my lfs. I'll head over there later today to pick something up to increase iodine. See if it helps.

I use brightwell iodine but anything to increase it about .06 / .05 ppm in your tank would be good. I had a private owner of a saltwater aquarium store and who sets up and services aquariums in homes and businesses give me the tip. That zoas use iodine. And trace element is needed. In seawater it is about 60 ppb. I use a red sea iodine test kit to make sure I do not under or over dose the iodine element. Hopefully this will help with your challenge. When I added a large Colony, over 100 zoas to my 91 gallion system, everything was great then after 4 weeks began to close, shrink. In all I had nearly 125 zoas then. Struggled for months. Tried lights, position in tank, etc. My iodine level was less then your .02 and when I increased it to .06 it was a miracle. Within 24 hours most openned and 48 hours all opened. That was many months ago and today they have grown in size and number. Again, hope this helps you.

 

[NanoDJS]

I dose Iodide like religion in my systems , it get consumed like mad. I would not suggest putting in iodine ever.

 

[Bars]

I use brightwell iodine but anything to increase it about .06 / .05 ppm in your tank would be good. I had a private owner of a saltwater aquarium store and who sets up and services aquariums in homes and businesses give me the tip. That zoas use iodine. And trace element is needed. In seawater it is about 60 ppb. I use a red sea iodine test kit to make sure I do not under or over dose the iodine element. Hopefully this will help with your challenge. When I added a large Colony, over 100 zoas to my 91 gallion system, everything was great then after 4 weeks began to close, shrink. In all I had nearly 125 zoas then. Struggled for months. Tried lights, position in tank, etc. My iodine level was less then your .02 and when I increased it to .06 it was a miracle. Within 24 hours most openned and 48 hours all opened. That was many months ago and today they have grown in size and number. Again, hope this helps you.

Thanks! I saw your thread and gave me a little bit of hope haha. I've never added any trace elements manually, always assumed the salt I use (or my lfs actually) would keep everything in check (Aquaforest reef salt). Unfortunately I don't have the space to make my own saltwater and can't choose what salt to use.

I dose Iodide like religion in my systems , it get consumed like mad. I would not suggest putting in iodine ever.

Will iodide raise iodine levels though? What's the difference between the two?

 

[Terry Mattson]

Thanks! I saw your thread and gave me a little bit of hope haha. I've never added any trace elements manually, always assumed the salt I use (or my lfs actually) would keep everything in check (Aquaforest reef salt). Unfortunately I don't have the space to make my own saltwater and can't choose what salt to use.


Will iodide raise iodine levels though? What's the difference between the two?

Well, I am not a chemist but here is the relationship.

 

[Bars]

So, I read something about black asterinas being harmful. Because my green monti is slowly losing polyps and I think I saw a nudibranch, I gave them a dip as well.

This asterina fell off, has a black body and white legs. Harmful? Maybe part of the zoa problem?

 

[Bars]

Quick update. Gave them a dip, dosed trace elements and have been actively on the hunt for asterinas.

Rastas have been closed since I dipped them, the small orange ones are looking fine. So are the lotr frag and the golden. Although the golden seem to have lost some color and a few small heads are staying closed, it doesn't look crippeled anymore.

The frags that were already closed for weeks are still closed. Pretty sure they are goners.

 

[Terry Mattson]

Thanks for the update. How long since u dipped? I had to dip twice to get rid of nudibranchs introduced by a frag before I started dipping. They opened several days later. I am assuming you jow have iodine at .06.

 

[Bars]

I dipped them once on friday and again on saturday. As for iodine, I just followed the instructions, so I assume that's on 0.06 now. Don't have my own test kit yet unfortunately.