zoanthid won't open

[fadedfish]

does anyone know why my one zoanthid colony won't open up? I have other zoanthids in the tank, but my one colony will not open up. I checked it out and dont see any fungus or spyders or nudi's. Some of the zoanthids open up but the majority don't. They have been closed up for about 2 1/2 weeks now. Any help/advise is much appreciated.

[Mr. Fosi]

Have you given them an iodine dip?

[k_davies35]

ive heard sometimes that nudies can change the color of the zoo colony they are on so that might be a possibility. my zoos will close up from time to time for a day or so but i have a nano so its probably a water quality problem. Is your tank a nano?

[fadedfish]

Mr. Fosi....i have not done a iodine dip. how do i go about doing that?

 

k_davies35....I have a 29gal tank. it could be water quality, but my other zoa's are doing fine?

[Mr. Fosi]

Dunno how big your colony is but here is a recipe I got from Weetabix7:

 

1 cup tank water

1-2 drops of lugol's iodine

2-5 minutes

 

More iodine, less minutes and vice versa. Multiply it up (except for the minutes) for as many cups as you need to cover the colony.

 

Once you have dipped them, give them a couple days and if they don't improve, you may want to think about a more targeted microorganism poison. Weet is fond of Furan 2 but it contains Furalidone which is recognized by the FDA as a carcinogen so don't eat any of it.

[gena]

I've had trouble lately with a couple of my zoa frags. They too were not opening. I examined them closely one day and found a nudi! I promptly killed it and haven't seen any since. I did do an iodine dip on them and everything is opening up as usual now. Get some Lugol's iodine. Get a cup of your tank water. Mix one drop Lugol's with one cup of tank water and let it sit for 3-5 minutes. I have read of people doing 2 drops to one cup as well. You can do a search on dipping zoas here as well for lots of information. Good Luck!

[fadedfish]

Dunno how big your colony is but here is a recipe I got from Weetabix7:

 

1 cup tank water

1-2 drops of lugol's iodine

2-5 minutes

 

More iodine, less minutes and vice versa. Multiply it up (except for the minutes) for as many cups as you need to cover the colony.

 

Once you have dipped them, give them a couple days and if they don't improve, you may want to think about a more targeted microorganism poison. Weet is fond of Furan 2 but it contains Furalidone which is recognized by the FDA as a carcinogen so don't eat any of it.

 

Thanks for the help. I will try that over the weekend. Is the brand called Weetabix7? and can i get that at my LFS?

[Mr. Fosi]

Weetabix7

[fadedfish]

I've had trouble lately with a couple of my zoa frags. They too were not opening. I examined them closely one day and found a nudi! I promptly killed it and haven't seen any since. I did do an iodine dip on them and everything is opening up as usual now. Get some Lugol's iodine. Get a cup of your tank water. Mix one drop Lugol's with one cup of tank water and let it sit for 3-5 minutes. I have read of people doing 2 drops to one cup as well. You can do a search on dipping zoas here as well for lots of information. Good Luck!

 

Thanks for the advise gena...I will go buy me some Lugol's. and i hope i dont have a nudi, but ill check carefully again

[marvhopak]

What would cause a similar problems in terms of water parameters? I dipped, but my zoas are still very small or not opening at all

[Mr. Fosi]

Low Mg.

[marvhopak]

Thanks - got a favorite way or product to dose Mg.?

[Mr. Fosi]

I think Kent and ESV both make an Mg supplement but it is usually just MgCl, which you can pick up for cheap on BulkReefSupply.com or in flake form (during the winter) at home improvement stores.

 

In the meantime, you could pick up some Epsom salts from your local pharmacy/Walmart. These aren't good for long-term use because you add several times more sulfate than Mg with each dose but they are a good stop-gap until you get some MgCl.