Jump to content
inTank Media Baskets

Zoa algae treatment


reefer916

Recommended Posts

I read a zoanthid article in Coral magazine's May/June 2010 regarding treating polyps with algae covering their polyps. I decided to treat my small colony of Spartan's Pride because of several of the polyps became covered with a brownish/redish algae. I dipped the colony for 5 min as instructed and rinsed with tank water.

 

Anyone else try this method? The author mentioned it's harmless to zoas. I had 2 bristle worms and a small brittle star immediately die after being placed in the solution.

Link to comment
  • Replies 72
  • Created
  • Last Reply

I'll definitely let you guys know. It's just weird watching your zoas bubbling. Very similar to when we put it on our cuts. I'll keep you guys updated.

Link to comment

It's been about 12 hours since I did the Hydro/Salt bath and everything seems to be fine. We'll see how things look after my lights turn on, but they haven't melted:)

 

From what I've read it could also be used as a hitchhiker dip for zoas. Again, it only says it doesn't damage zoas, but doesn't say anything about sps or lps.

 

I still think it's weird watching the zoas bubble and even while I was rinsing them the bubbles seemed to be coming from underneath the tissue. However, it also mentioned that it does that in the article. Anyways, so far so good and I'll let you know how they recoupe and if the algae is completely gone.

Link to comment
Do you have any links to the article?

 

I actually just picked up the magazine at my LFS. It has a pic and main article of Pygmy Seahorses. Here's the short paragraph right out of the article.

 

" Algal overgrowth is sometimes a problem, but it has been recently shown that five minute baths of 50% over the counter hydrogen peroxide and 50% saltwater is effective at killing the algae. Zoanthus seem unharmed by these oxidizing baths, even when oxygen bubbles develop under their tissue. I would not be surprised if these hydrogen peroxide baths were also effective for hitchhiking predators and their eggs. More experimentation is in order to understand the full potential of hydrogen peroxide."

 

The author is Colin Foord who is a marine biologist and partner in Coral Morphologic, a licensed marine life collection and aquaculture organization, in Miami, Florida. (www.coralmorphologic.com)

 

Hope this helps.. I'm sure you maybe able to go onto his website and ask some questions.

 

By the way, it's a little early to speculate since I just did the bath yesterday afternoon, but I could already tell that there is very little algae left on the colony of Spartans Pride. The tissue also looks healthy on the polyps. I'll keep you updated and my lights turn on in 20 minutes.

Link to comment
FiletOFish
I read a zoanthid article in Coral magazine's May/June 2010 regarding treating polyps with algae covering their polyps. I decided to treat my small colony of Spartan's Pride because of several of the polyps became covered with a brownish/redish algae. I dipped the colony for 5 min as instructed and rinsed with tank water.

 

Anyone else try this method? The author mentioned it's harmless to zoas. I had 2 bristle worms and a small brittle star immediately die after being placed in the solution.

 

There was a member who did the bath on acros - forget where the thread is - that got me curious. I tried the bath on a small colony of radioactive dragon eyes and they're doing fine. However, I didn't use the 50/50 diluted solution. I just used peroxide straight from the bottle - 7%(?) I can't remember. I had a load of copepods and isopods die along with algae that was on the rock - coraline included. Basically the whole piece of rock turned white and the zoas turned a little brown but regained their color.

Link to comment

Hmmm very interested in this thread lol. I just picked up some zoa frags from a local reefer and one has some hair algae I want to get rid of before I take them off the plug and attach them to my Live rock. Will be tagging along to see how yours came out.

Link to comment

I noticed the author of the article is here on NR as one of the sponsors.. I just saw his post about 14 zoas and 5 ricordias for sale. His ID is Morphologic.. Could probably hit him up with some questions.

Link to comment
I noticed the author of the article is here on NR as one of the sponsors.. I just saw his post about 14 zoas and 5 ricordias for sale. His ID is Morphologic.. Could probably hit him up with some questions.

 

 

I pmed morphologic earlier tonight. We will see what he has to say about it.

Link to comment
I pmed morphologic earlier tonight. We will see what he has to say about it.

 

Cool, so far so good on my colony. There isn't a speck of algae left on the colony. However, it hasn't opened back up all of the way. The tissue looks fairly healthy, but I did noticed a slime coat on some of the polyps. I just used my coral feeder to blow it off. Looking forward to what he has to has to say about the treatment.

Link to comment
Cool, so far so good on my colony. There isn't a speck of algae left on the colony. However, it hasn't opened back up all of the way. The tissue looks fairly healthy, but I did noticed a slime coat on some of the polyps. I just used my coral feeder to blow it off. Looking forward to what he has to has to say about the treatment.

 

 

Ok so he pmed me today and heres what he had to say:

 

Hi Bill,

 

I have found that it does in fact kill hair algae, and I have also found that the zoanthids don't seem to be too negatively affected by the hydrogen peroxide amazingly. They will bubble a lot, and even sometimes even get bubbles that form under their tissue that causes the frag to float if it is not on a heavy rock/plug. Don't worry, the bubbles will dissipate and the zoanthid should open back up within a day.

 

Cheers,

Colin

 

Seems like I will be good to go on the hair algae. I think im going to try this later today around when my lights go out. I am going to try it on a 3 polyp colony I got for free so not a huge lose if things go wrong.

Link to comment

Thanks for the update.

 

Yep, my colony of about 20 polyps of the Spartans Pride started floating in the bath and they're glued down to a rock in my tank right now. They seemed to be pretty pissed all day yesterday and a few polyps barely opened. This morning I noticed a few more are starting to open and the tissue looks much healthier. The ones that were affected by the algae are still closed, but they're stalks are plump and no longer limp looking. So far I haven't lost any of them and will keep you guys up to date.

Link to comment

It's been about 2 days, since I tried the 50/50 Hydro/SW Bath. The colony is recovering very well and most of the polyps are about 80% open. I have them in moderate light and relatively high flow to keep the tissue clean from any detritus or slime the colony produces. The tissue looks healthy with no signs of algae. I'll try to get some pics later this afternoon, but work's just been keeping me busy.

Link to comment

I appreciate your continued updates on this.

I tried a Hydrogen Peroxide bath once a while ago but was kinda freaked out by the fact that it made the tissue of the polyps bubble up.

I ended up losing the Palys dipped, but it's quite likely because they reached me in pretty bad shape cause they weren't shipped very wisely.

Link to comment

No problem guys, I'm glad to see how this stuff works. However, I came home and my colony didn't look too hot. I had to move the colony because the flow was a little too much. However, the tissue still looks healthy besides a clear film. I think it's the colony shedding a light mucus. I'll keep you guys posted and tell you, if the colony survives or melts. I really hope they survive because it's a really beautiful piece. Wish me luck

Link to comment
No problem guys, I'm glad to see how this stuff works. However, I came home and my colony didn't look too hot. I had to move the colony because the flow was a little too much. However, the tissue still looks healthy besides a clear film. I think it's the colony shedding a light mucus. I'll keep you guys posted and tell you, if the colony survives or melts. I really hope they survive because it's a really beautiful piece. Wish me luck

 

Haha I have been nervous about doing it. Today and yesterday I was all ready to do it then i chickened out. Glad to hear they havent melted yet at least. Looking forward to more updates.

Link to comment
Haha I have been nervous about doing it. Today and yesterday I was all ready to do it then i chickened out. Glad to hear they havent melted yet at least. Looking forward to more updates.

 

LOL... Yea, I had some anxiety when I was getting the Peroxide mixed with the SW. I actually put the Peroxide back twice and finally I just said F*** it. Figured that it'll save me a lot of money later on if it works, when any of my zoas run into issues. I also figured that Hydrogen Peroxide 50/50 solution is used to clean our ear canals, which is a pretty sensitive tissue along with the microscopic hairs that we use for our hearing. If it was that bad it would probably make us deaf :)

 

I woke up this morning and checked out the colony. Everything looks good and a few of the polyps are now 100% open and healthy looking. I'll really try to get pics today, but I'm in the middle of changing financial advisory firms. Holly crap, I didn't realize how much work it is to change:)

Link to comment
LOL... Yea, I had some anxiety when I was getting the Peroxide mixed with the SW. I actually put the Peroxide back twice and finally I just said F*** it. Figured that it'll save me a lot of money later on if it works, when any of my zoas run into issues. I also figured that Hydrogen Peroxide 50/50 solution is used to clean our ear canals, which is a pretty sensitive tissue along with the microscopic hairs that we use for our hearing. If it was that bad it would probably make us deaf :)

 

I woke up this morning and checked out the colony. Everything looks good and a few of the polyps are now 100% open and healthy looking. I'll really try to get pics today, but I'm in the middle of changing financial advisory firms. Holly crap, I didn't realize how much work it is to change:)

 

haha awesome im glad to hear they are pulling through. Also thank you for being my guinea pig!!! You are probably right about the 50/50 solution but when I hear my zoa's are going to be bubbling it makes me think twice :lol: I am going to be fairly busy today but tomorrow is probably going to be the day of judgment for that hair algae.

Link to comment

Ok I can wait no longer. The hair algae on that frag is getting out of control and I dont want it to spread anywhere. Time to dip. Ill post some info on how it went for me when I get some results. I am going to be doing 50 hydrogen peroxide / 50 tank water for 5 minutes. Wish me luck.

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions


×
×
  • Create New...