Djbacon Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 OK, I have seen zoas that were shipped cold, wither away and die before, but I have a weird thing happening with some beautiful watermewlons I got two days ago. When they arrived they opened right up and looked awesome The next morning, most polyps were colsed and 3 looked like they opened so far that they just melted right off the neck? Are these things OK? My water paameters are steady, everything else in the tank is thriving The after photo of the same watermelon zoas is here Can anyone tell me if they have seen this before? Are these a gonner? I acclimated them just like you would a fish....everything else in the shipment is doing well. p.s. the other sad looking zoas on the same rock are the sole survivors of a shipment that arrived at 60 degrees... Link to comment
Rubicon06 Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 Most people just throw corals in without acclimating, personally I don't acclimate either other than temp. They look like my brothers zoas did before they died, and unfortunately we don't know why. His water conditions were good, he keeps SPS and LPS, only the zoas were dying off, he dipped them but only managed to save 1 or 2... (not sure if the dipping helped or not)... Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 What exactly are your params? NO3? Your tank is only 2 months old, it may not be as stable as you think. Rule # 1 in zoanthid keeping is never add zoas to a tank with unhealthy zoas, no matter the cause. In the other pics there are other strains that are obviously not doing well, I'm not sure if they were from poor shipping as well. Zoas are also prone to a number of diseases. you should fully understand them and how to cure them before you even purchase zoas. They are not the beginners coral that everyone makes them out to be. If those were mine, depending on what your NO3 levels are, I would do a furan 2 dip immediately. Also, this should be in the coral or disease forum. Link to comment
Djbacon Posted March 14, 2008 Author Share Posted March 14, 2008 What exactly are your params? NO3? Rule # 1 in zoanthid keeping is never add zoas to a tank with unhealthy zoas, no matter the cause. Zoas are also prone to a number of diseases. you should fully understand them and how to cure them before you even purcahse zoas. They are not the beginners coral that every one makes them out to be. If those were mine, depending on what your NO3 levels are, I would do a furan 2 dip immediately. All right- exact params - SG1.025 PH 8.1 N03 <.10 NH3/4 0 Dkh 9 Calc 440 Phos 0 Temp79-80 They came from a VERY reliable source - all his other stock he sent is doing great and as you can see from the before photo - they looked VERY healthy on arrival - I thought perhaps they needed to be better acclimated to my light?? I did not change my photoperiod when I put them in. All of my other zoas are very healthy and showing new growth, save the couple behind them that arrived cold, trying to nurse those to health and they are coming back from the brink of complete death. That one piece of rock is turing into my sick bay. Do you think proximity to them could be an isssue? ps, yeah the tank is only 9 weeks - true, but these parameters have been absolutely constant for the last 6 of them....these are small frags with little load...I do weekly 3 gallon changes in a 14g.....kinda perplexed. Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 If you params are good, then you need to be thinking disease. Zoas IMO carry bacteria that can cause health problems at any time if the animal is stressed. I would do a Furan 2 dip immediately. 1 capsule of Furan 2 to one cup of tank water. Dip with an airstone for 10 minutes. You should see next day results if you have good water and it is in fact disease. Link to comment
Djbacon Posted March 14, 2008 Author Share Posted March 14, 2008 If you params are good, then you need to be thinking disease. Zoas IMO carry bacteria that can cause health problems at any time if the animal is stressed. I would do a Furan 2 dip immediately. 1 capsule of Furan 2 to one cup of tank water. Dip with an airstone for 10 minutes. You should see next day results if you have good water and it is in fact disease. Thanks for the advice...I would be VERY surprised if they are diseased, given the source and all of the other stock I got from him being so healthy, but I am reading up on furan 2 and will give it a whirl...They may just be stressed from the trip...they came to san francisco from florida so who knows... Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 Trust me, zoa diseases have nothing to do with where they came from. Dont think any less of the seller. IME they are dormant for long periods of time to re emerge for unknown reasons, usually stress though, i.e. tank moves, frags getting knocked over, long periods in shade. Many things can bring it on. I have a pristine tank, and from time to time I have to battle these diseases, and all my zoas are usually super healthy and fast growers Link to comment
Djbacon Posted March 14, 2008 Author Share Posted March 14, 2008 Trust me, zoa diseases have nothing to do with where they came from. Dont think any less of the seller. IME they are dormant for long periods of time to re emerge for unknown reasons, usually stress though, i.e. tank moves, frags getting knocked over, long periods in shade. Many things can bring it on. I have a pristine tank, and from time to time I have to battle these diseases, and all my zoas are usually super healthy and fast growers Looking at that photo a little closer now it does look like those affected polyps have a few little white spots on them...In the absence ofmy LFS stocking FURAN II dip - will an iodine dip do the same thing? Not sure my store stocks it. Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 Iodine will help, but furan is a more effective dip. I buy it by the jar from my LFS. Link to comment
Djbacon Posted March 16, 2008 Author Share Posted March 16, 2008 Iodine will help, but furan is a more effective dip. I buy it by the jar from my LFS. All right, I bought a product called BiFuran+ - seems to be the clsosest thing to the API product my store sells. Will see how they respond. Everything else in the tank is now doing great. I disposed of the neighboring frag that was killed in shipping. Was hoping they might recover but I just got an unexpected gift box of new zoas of the same type from the shipper that are in perfect health. The watermelons look the same the day after treatment - 6 of nine polyps retracted, the 3 that opened up and spewed I think are gonners. Anyway, thanks for the advice - Im being much more cautious about acclimating and dipping new stuff to be safe. Link to comment
Djbacon Posted March 26, 2008 Author Share Posted March 26, 2008 Sadly, the affected Zoas ,did not make it. Tossed em last night. Everything else in the shipment survived without any issue. this one is gonna remain a mystery. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.