Zoa colonies melting - please help
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Topic: Zoa colonies melting - please help
Posted By: peiji
Subject: Zoa colonies melting - please help
Date Posted: August 15 2014 at 11:37am
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I've put off posting anything like this for a long time thinking I could tweak something myself and all my zoas would come back and all look healthy. However, I've now lost countless colonies over the past 4 or 5 months. Huge colonies (25+) of Clementines, blue hornets, Rastas, CARS, and the list goes on and on. You can imagine the cost. I have other colonies that seem to be fine so far. I have blondies, fruitloops, frostbites, bam bams and much more that are still doing OK but I just can't seem to figure out what is melting them. I've never thought zoas could be the most delicate corals in my tank because I don't have a problem with anything else. I'm basically going to ramble on with everything I can think of that is going on in my tank and I'd appreciate any experienced insights. First off, my parameters: Nitrate: just checked and it's been consistently between 5 and 10ppm for as long as I can remember. I can't seem to get them any lower than 5 regardless of how many water changes. Phosphates: I just bought a Hanna checker and it read as 0 twice. Salinity: 1.023-1.025 pretty consistently. Temp: 78 Alk: 8.4-9 Calcium: 420-450 pH: abt 8.1 I have read that blue hippos can eat zoas and I have one but I've never seen it nipping at any corals. Ever. Is it possible? I guess but it seems odd that the entire colony one at a time would suddenly close and then over time melt when zoas around them seem to be fine. I have flatworms but I don't think they are harmful to zoas. I've never seen any other pest. No astrea, no snails that I've ever noticed. I've looked closely with the naked eye and have never discovered any pest. Could there still be something I'm not noticing with my naked eye? Possibly. I've checked my colonies to notice what might look like Fungus or pox and although it seems like there's an algae slime covering them sometimes when they're closed, I've never noticed what looks like the pox compared to the photos I've seen. I've also tried coral dips of Furan 2, hydrogen peroxide, Coral RX and nothing seems to make a difference and the colonies just eventually melt anyway. I have a 50g Cadlights II and I've automated everything. I have the BRS dosing pumps dosing Alk and Calcium throughout the day so there should be pretty consistent levels. I have an ATO. I run GFO and activated carbon in a BRS reactor. I even removed it about a week ago to see if that made any difference. Doesn't seem to yet. I run my protein skimmer 24/7. I have been adjusting my lighting to try to see if the zoas look better or worse. Some of the SPS corals as they've grown or as I've added have started to block some of the lighting. Is that the cause? Could be. Kind of doubt it though because I've lost zoas from all over the tank. I have a Maxspect razor 16k 160w. Right now my lights are scheduled to start from 1% blue at 9:30 am to 80% whites and 80% blue by noon. They stay that way until 4pm where they go to 60% blues only by 10pm. Then down to 1% blue by 11pm. As far as flow, i upgraded to two MP10s. I had them on the back of the tank near the top pointing towards the front for several weeks, maybe a month. I then experimented with putting one on the side in the middle and after about a month things looked worse so I just moved it back to the back of the tank. I've tried different flow methods. The flow could be the problem but even after several days or weeks, I don't see the zoas really improving. I would think that SPSs would be much more finicky to light and flow and so far, they seems to be doing well. I still have good polyp extension and color, at least as far as I can tell. They don't look as great as what I've seen in others' tanks but I attribute that to my lighting and simply because they haven't been in the tank as long and adjusted. I used to do about 5g water change a week using Instant Ocean and I've since been doing about 10g a week to see if that would make a difference. As far as food and dosing goes, I dose about 3 times a week Oyster Feast and I also feed things like Golden Pearls, dry copepods. I also dose Korallen-Zucht Amino Acid Concentrate about 4 times a week (when I remember) but I haven't noticed any drastic difference. Here are some pics. Unfortunately, I can't get any decent pics close up. I really need a good macro lens. This bam bam colony is still relatively good but it does seem like it's thinned out and several polyps stay small or closed now.  You can't really see well but the top rock has a ton of closed up Palys of what used to be very large pink palys. This is the latest huge colony that seems to have closed up.  ------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer |
Replies:
Posted By: FishnFriendz
Date Posted: August 15 2014 at 11:52am
| Oh man, it is suck. And I would like to know too. Cuz I have a same issue to one of my zoa colony, they shrink up, and thin out dramatically. But everything else doing ok. So I frag them out, and transfer to a different tank, now they are doing fine again. It is still an unsolved mystery to me :( |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: August 15 2014 at 11:54am
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I remember when you first brought this up in another thread a few months ago. I believe I suggested that you go visit Brandon at Zooanthids.com in Orem. That's still my best advice, because he knows all about this disease and the various ways to treat it. Aloha  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Posted By: Molli
Date Posted: August 15 2014 at 12:04pm
| I do know that some zoas are especially sensitive to phosphates. You mentioned that your tank has slime algae. Not sure your zero phosphate reading is accurate with this algae. |
Posted By: herrera
Date Posted: August 15 2014 at 12:50pm
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I lost a huge amount of zoas last year. my only regret Was not having a backup tank to quarantine them in until I figured out the problem. you may want to consider just buying a small 10 gallon Etank to keep them until you figure it all out. Good Luck! ------------- 125g Aggressive tank SWC-Xtreme cone prtein skimmer 40g Sump ------------------------------ 16g Innovative Marine Reef AI led 75W |
Posted By: Molli
Date Posted: August 15 2014 at 1:07pm
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Did you figure out what the problem was? Are zoas in the area being traded around with diseases (not necessarily on purpose)? |
herrera wrote:Posted By: bstuver
Date Posted: August 15 2014 at 1:54pm
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Flat worms may not eat the zoas but they can smother them out, that may be what is happening. Also have you checked your mag levels? ------------- Jackie Stuver "wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas? I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart |
Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: August 15 2014 at 2:51pm
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Mag is fine. I don't have slime algae. Sorry for that impression. I just mean that when the zoa colonies start closing up and melting, it seems like a thin coat of algae or something covers them but I don't think it's the same thing. I've seen slime algae and I know I don't have that. My tank is pretty clean otherwise. If the phosphate test isn't accurate, i'm not sure what else i can do to check it. The kit is brand spanking new and I ran the test two times to be sure. This weekend i'm planning on biting the bullet and finally trying to get rid of the flatworms for good. I've been nervous to for so long but I figure I have to do it eventually. I don't think I have enough to smother them out but it's certainly a nuisance either way. ------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer |
Posted By: bstuver
Date Posted: August 15 2014 at 2:55pm
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Well a lot of the time even if they are just irritating the zoas that can do it. It might not be the only problem but it may be something that is contributing to it. ------------- Jackie Stuver "wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas? I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart |
Posted By: Molli
Date Posted: August 15 2014 at 2:55pm
I just picked up on the algae comment and know that algae will feed on phosphates so you can end up getting a false LOW reading. But it doesn't sound like you have an algae problem. Good luck to in finding the problem! |
Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: August 15 2014 at 3:43pm
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I spoke to Brandon Hill. First thing I'll do is try to get rid of the flatworms. Then I'll try using the ChemiClean red slime remover just in case as there have been people saying this works, even if there's no red algae in the tank. I'll also continue to look more closely for spiders, worms, etc. that might be causing damage. I really think it sounds like some kind of critter because whole colonies end up being affected at random from different locations in the tank. If I had a chemistry problem, it seems like all the zoas would be affected but who knows. ------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer |
Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: August 15 2014 at 9:07pm
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Any thoughts on my lighting schedule? If a zoa is getting too little or too much light, how does it react? ------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer |
Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: August 15 2014 at 10:12pm
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Here's another thought. Would sand landing on the zoas all the time bother them enough to close up and then melt? I have a stupid pistol shrimp i'll never catch that always disturbs the fine sand in my tank and it blows around and settles on the corals. I never thought it was a problem but... ------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer |
Posted By: FishnFriendz
Date Posted: August 16 2014 at 12:22am
| Everything is possible, but in my case, I don't have pistol shrimp or any inverts that make the sand cover my shrink/melted zoa. About the light, after I took that sick zoa away, and replaced with a different zoa in the same spot, and you know what.. They are thriving so good up to now. So in my case, lighting and sand cover didn't apply... ! The only thing I found out after I did the coral dip of that sick zoa..I found two spaghetti worms underneath it. Still unclear answer to me :(( |