davea Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 hi all my zoas over the last couple of weeks have been slowly disappearing and now it's getting to a critical point and i can't see why! nothing has changed all water parameters are the same as they have been previously the only thing i haven't checked is ph as i don't have a test kit. i have no issues with my palys or xenia or star polyps. any advice is obviously appreciated i'm just totally confused and i don't want lose all my zoas!! parameters: kh - 161ppm nitrate - 20ppm phosphate - 0.25 calcium - 420ppm ammonia - 0ppm temp - 25 salinity - 1.024 led lights on for 10.5hrs tank: 12 gallon 1 clown 1 dotty back 2 small hermit crabs 1 blood red fire shrimp various turbo snails Link to comment
natalia_la_loca Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Pix might help with diagnosis. FTS plus good close ups of the afflicted zoas. Link to comment
ndrobey Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Could they be getting eaten? Link to comment
davea Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 see pics - the first pic was full of zoas only a week or so ago and now in the last few days its completed depleted! the 2nd pic of the larger group of zoas was also completley covered with no gaps but now slowly they are receding i thought it was a possibility they were being eaten but i just can't see anything! theres a new stomatella that you sometimes see at night but normally on the glass and quite a few brittle stars but other than that nothing. i did spot several months ago a nudibranch what looked to be eating the coral but i removed him so was looking for something like that again but i just can't see anything! maybe i should set up 24hr cctv!! Link to comment
natalia_la_loca Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Not 100% sure, but I think I see pox on some of the closed polyps. Google zoa pox to look for example pics. If the pics are similar to what you have, the standard zoa pox treatment is three dips in Furan 2 during three successive days. Instructions here. The treatment has worked for me. Link to comment
davea Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 ok can you not add furan 2 direct to the tank? all my zoas are attached to large pieces of rock Link to comment
natalia_la_loca Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Unfortunately no. It's an antibiotic, not to be used in display tanks. Link to comment
davea Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 Damn it!Why is nothing straight forward Link to comment
natalia_la_loca Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 C'est la reef Link to comment
davea Posted March 5, 2015 Author Share Posted March 5, 2015 All went quiet then a few days back coral starting dissapearig again! I noticed alot of large asterina star fish knocking around aswell as smaller ones.could this be a cause? Link to comment
Tenor Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Pay more attention to those two Hermit crab when zoa suddenly disappearance. Link to comment
2020reef Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 It is possible the asterina stars are irritating them so much they close up. I would try to remove them and see if this helps. Link to comment
davea Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 I've had the same hermits in the tank for 12 months! Could they suddenly start eating the polyps? Link to comment
Sunstar Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 I was reading about zoa pox and larger rocks, and the solution was to put them into a tough bag and get them in the dip Link to comment
davea Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 Yep their little devils Great! won't removing them be detrimental to my clean up crew? How would i know for sure that is the hermits? Link to comment
GokesReef Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Hermits are nice for thicker algae, but aren't necessary. I would doubt they're eating the zoas though, unless the zoas are already on their way out. But yeah, no problem taking them out of the tank. I would keep looking for any signs of disease or infection or maybe a zoa eating nudi, though I don't see how one would have just showed up in there. Ideally, get them out for a dip of some sort whether it be antibiotic or something like coral RX or iodine to try to fix them up. Link to comment
tibbsy07 Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Hermits are nasty little buggers when they get hungry and when they want bigger shells. Say goodbye to your snails - at least I had to. I always get rid of any hermits now. The asterina starfish could be eating your zoas, too. To be honest, though, sometimes zoas are just pissy and they close up and melt away for no known reason. Many many reefers here, including yours truly, have had "perfect" tank conditions and had zoas just up and die over a couple of days. They are finnicky mistresses and they thrive on keeping reefers on the edge of their seats. I have found begging, crying, and feeding them my tears and blood work really well Link to comment
Amy Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 I agree on this post... Hermits are nasty little buggers when they get hungry and when they want bigger shells. Say goodbye to your snails - at least I had to. I always get rid of any hermits now. The asterina starfish could be eating your zoas, too. To be honest, though, sometimes zoas are just pissy and they close up and melt away for no known reason. Many many reefers here, including yours truly, have had "perfect" tank conditions and had zoas just up and die over a couple of days. They are finnicky mistresses and they thrive on keeping reefers on the edge of their seats. I have found begging, crying, and feeding them my tears and blood work really well Link to comment
davea Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 Thanks again everyone for your input not sure quite ready to give blood yet! Its very weird no signs of pox on anything and although it was a few different batches of polyps effected to start with it is now only one batch and the others seem to be reviving themselves! But the one batch still effected which is (was) my pride i've had 12 months that grew from a few polyps to a vision of perfecion a gleaming neon carpet thriving beyond expectation but this has now turned into a dog eared tired collection of fading has beens Link to comment
GokesReef Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Well it would seem like something may have gotten in there and things are starting to recover.. if you can't get that last colony out for a revive dip, stick with large, frequent water changes and carbon to get things back in line. hope they bounce back! Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.