Zoanthid pest?

Bracket at the end of the link was missing, so I added it to allow the pic to show. 

Edited by Mark Peterson - January 04 2015 at 7:39pm

When it comes to Zoanthids not opening up, there are reasons other than pests. I recently got some Zoas that I wasn't too sure about so I gave them and their rock a 15 second freshwater dip n' swish to see if anything would come off. Some things did come off, but I wasn't sure it was any kind of pest. Sometimes a bad bacterial film irritates the polyps. Sometimes it's an external bacterial or fungal disease that makes them eventually melt away. The freshwater dip n' swish is one way to help rid the polyps of external problems. Again ReefdUp will be able to provide more correct information.

I sometimes use a soft toothbrush on Zoa and Paly polyps. You'd be surprised how they actually like a "back scratch" of sorts and will open soon after. It's a good way to clear algae and detritus from between the polyps. 

That's good to hear, these new colonies are most likely just getting used to the tank still hopefully they open soon. thank you for your help :)

They were ordered in so I didn't see them in person but the five other colonies in the same box are doing great so it's confusing. Here's a pic of the two that are doing the worst, I've tried dipping them, lightly brushing them off and blasting them with a power head to keep them clean but no luck.

These new colonies have been on the sand bed since I got them I've only just started moving the ones that are doing well up in the tank. I'll try dimming them a bit too. As far as parameter swings everything is stable and normal. So I doubt it would be a water quality issue but I've done two changes since then to be sure. I'll be dipping them again today I'll see if anything changes. Thanks for the help!

They are tiny clove polyps, that colony is open and growing already so I wasn't going to remove them yet. If they'll end up causing problems I'll remove them though.

To me, your colony looks like it is infected with some sort of disease, not a pest. It probably succumbed during the trip to your tank. I would treat with Furan2 dips (good antibiotic with widespread applicability, particularly against gram-negative bacteria which is common in reef infections.)

Pete Moss wrote: I always recommend a bayers dip, quarantine, then a hydrogen peroxide dip, then quarantine, then putting the colony in the display. That will take care of pests most of the time :P

I do something similar. It's probably overkill for most people, but pests/algae still have made it past:

Remove all exposed rock
Hydrogen peroxide dip (takes care of many pests and algae...do not use on SPS)
Bayer dip (takes care of almost all pests)
Coral Rx (takes care of many infections and some pests...do not use on smooth-skinned Acropora)
Superglue over all remaining exposed rock

QT for 30 days

Repeat dips then move to secondary QT for growout.

Repeat dips then move to display.



Edited by ReefdUp - January 07 2015 at 10:04am