Zoa algae treatment

[kamikaze_fish]

Good luck lol

[streetsong]

Any word? I'm curious what the outcome will be?

[Bill Nye]

Any word? I'm curious what the outcome will be?

 

 

Oooook soooooo

 

I just took them out and plopped them back in the tank. Algae did in fact get owned and any left on the frag is dead (at least im 90 percent sure it is). The polyps on the other hand look pretty beat up. For some reason one of the polyps opened while in the bath and it looks rough as hell. The outside of the polyps have white flecks on them like the skin is peeling or something. We will see how they do and ill re post tomorrow. Im turning my lights off now for the rest of the day to let them rest.

[reefer916]

Oooook soooooo

 

I just took them out and plopped them back in the tank. Algae did in fact get owned and any left on the frag is dead (at least im 90 percent sure it is). The polyps on the other hand look pretty beat up. For some reason one of the polyps opened while in the bath and it looks rough as hell. The outside of the polyps have white flecks on them like the skin is peeling or something. We will see how they do and ill re post tomorrow. Im turning my lights off now for the rest of the day to let them rest.

 

That's what mine looked like after taking them out of the dip. I swung by the house and took a look at the zoas and they look good. The white skin stuff is gone and the tissue looks healthy. The only thing is that the polyps are partway closed. Not sure if it was my dragonette that was hanging out near it. I also placed them in the shade under one of my K-1's to help it recoupe a little. So far none of them are showing signs of melting. Keep you guys posted

 

Bill: Hope your finger's doing better. I'd just use some of the peroxide to clean it and rinse the cut. I think you'll be fine. I've accidently handled my zoas with an open cut after bumping a live rock and it did make me feel a little weird. I believe it's a neurotoxin.. I'm pretty sure I'm ok...I'm pretty sure I'm ok... Just sometimes I repeat.. I repeat... myself...jk

[reefer916]

Again my lights are off, so I can't get any pics for you guys. The colony is still looking good with no signs of melting. However, there are several polyps that are still closed and the others are pretty much open. I believe they'll recover nicely because the stalks look nice and plump. So far the treatment seems to be working.

 

I think I may even use the solution to clean my powerheads because for some reason the only place in my tank with GHA are on my powerheads. Everywhere else is clean..

[Dani3d]

You mean the 50% peroxide and 50% tank water? I never tried that either but next time I see a problem I will surely do.

 

Let us know how it works for you.

 

I think they mentioned that it would be good as well for desinfecting for parasites?

 

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.

[Bill Nye]

You mean the 50% peroxide and 50% tank water? I never tried that either but next time I see a problem I will surely do.

 

Let us know how it works for you.

 

I think they mentioned that it would be good as well for desinfecting for parasites?

 

 

Lol Im pretty sure you will kill anything on your zoanthids with this dip. The hair algae that was on my frag plug went all limp and lost its green color after using this method. I scraped what I could off and a cerith came along and finished up the job later that day. Today my polyps are looking pretty good as far as the outside goes. They lost the white flakiness but still havent opened.

[reefer916]

Lol Im pretty sure you will kill anything on your zoanthids with this dip. The hair algae that was on my frag plug went all limp and lost its green color after using this method. I scraped what I could off and a cerith came along and finished up the job later that day. Today my polyps are looking pretty good as far as the outside goes. They lost the white flakiness but still havent opened.

 

Yea, it looks like you dropped the zoas in acid and every little hitchhiker immediately evacuates and dies. I definitely think it could eventually be used as a parasite and hitchhiker dip, but before I do again I want to make sure my Spartan's recover. Went home again to check on them and they're slowly opening. I think I may end up moving them more into the light now because those who are getting light are opening. The shaded ones are still closed.

[kamikaze_fish]

Do either of you have cleaner shrimp? I'm curious if the cleaner shrimp will clean the bad parts off the zoas after the dip.

[Bill Nye]

Do either of you have cleaner shrimp? I'm curious if the cleaner shrimp will clean the bad parts off the zoas after the dip.

 

 

Nah I dont have a cleaner shrimp, but I would imagine they might. I was expecting my polyps to look all flaky and gross for a while but after a night in high flow they look pretty good. None of them have opened yet but they are all in direct light and you can see the pink wanting to come out from inside the opening (they are pinkish zoas). I dont know if I would use this dip for every possible problem or as a parasite dip unless it was really out of control though. I think if you were putting new frags in or they were really stressed, this might put them over the edge. IMO freshwater+ iodine is good for pests and new frags and tank water and iodine, furan or a revive type product are good for infections or things like that.

[Dwankmuller]

there is an epic amount of hair algae, aiptasia, weird worms on one of my zoa frags...im going to try this as well and let you guys know how it does...I bought 3% Hydrogen peroxide, and am going to dilute it 50/50 as well...ill update with pix in a bit

[reefer916]

Do either of you have cleaner shrimp? I'm curious if the cleaner shrimp will clean the bad parts off the zoas after the dip.

 

I have a cleaner shrimp that has been cleaning the colony a little, as well as, one of my blue legged hermits. It's also a little weird because the tissue looks a little too clean:) I would agree with Bill that I probably wouldn't do it to all of my zoas, unless it was a last resort and I've tried every other possible dip or condition change. I'd use the dip if I saw nudi's or eggs of some sort on a zoa frag that I buy as well. The reason why I decided to do it was because I dipped the colony in Coral Revive and it didn't do anything. I've done Iodine dips before with zoas that were covered in the Red algae, but they ended up melting anyways. I just decided to try this one because IME if I didn't do anything I would have lost them anyways. Good luck to everyone who's trying this method. As always, I'll keep you posted and have pics up tomorrow.

[Bill Nye]

Just a little update if anyones interested...

 

The colony of zoas I dipped is looking pretty good. 1 of the polyps is pretty much fully open with the other two looking like they want to open up. If you got algae problems on a frag this seems to be an effective way to fix it. All algae on the frag is gone.

[Bill Nye]

Quick question ....

 

 

I just picked up some Purple Death Palys from a local guy and theres a little bit of something that looks like red hair algae i guess. Do you think palys will survive the hydrogen peroxide dip? I dont have alot of experience dipping palys but I know they are alot more sensitive than zoas.

[reefer916]

Quick question ....

 

 

I just picked up some Purple Death Palys from a local guy and theres a little bit of something that looks like red hair algae i guess. Do you think palys will survive the hydrogen peroxide dip? I dont have alot of experience dipping palys but I know they are alot more sensitive than zoas.

 

I probably wouldn't worry about dipping those guys in the 50/50 solution. It seems pretty harsh and some of my polyps are still part way open, but there are a few that the tissue is almost translucent. I moved my colony back into the shade. It could be that it was because they were already sick, but just to be safe I wouldn't dip them just yet.

 

How's your other frag doing?

[Bill Nye]

I probably wouldn't worry about dipping those guys in the 50/50 solution. It seems pretty harsh and some of my polyps are still part way open, but there are a few that the tissue is almost translucent. I moved my colony back into the shade. It could be that it was because they were already sick, but just to be safe I wouldn't dip them just yet.

 

How's your other frag doing?

 

 

No change really since my last update. 1 polyp is open and doing great. The other two are still in hiding.

[Bill Nye]

Ok another update if anyone cares at this point

 

Polyp number 2 is opening today. Unfortunately hair algae is growing again on that plug. The dip was unsuccessful in fully killing it off I guess. Since it is growing on the plug and on the glue at the base of the zoas, I may try doing a full strength coverage of these areas with the hydrogen peroxide instead of dipping the whole frag in and stressing the zoas again.

[kamikaze_fish]

Keep the updates coming. I find it to be an awesome experiment. I actually have some zoas I'm thinking about trying this with because of their declining health. I'm wondering if it would be a good dip or if they'll just flip me off and die afterward.

[reefer916]

Well my Spartan's are still hanging in there, but I have noticed that the colors have bleached a little. They still don't look a 100%, but they're still alive and the polyps are opening up slowly.

[wazupjames]

Cool, I have been checking this everyday so keep the updates coming Please!

 

Thanks

[DaneMarx]

also following. Thanks for giving this a shot guys.

 

as an aside. surely a lower dosage peroxide would be a good idea to play with?

[Bill Nye]

also following. Thanks for giving this a shot guys.

 

as an aside. surely a lower dosage peroxide would be a good idea to play with?

 

 

Perhaps but as I said the 50/50 mix did not effectively kill off the hair algae. I have no other hair algae in my tank other than on the plug i received from a local reefer, so it could not have come from another spot in my tank. The two polyps that have opened out of the 3 that were dipped look as vibrant as before they were closed. The last one that hasnt opened is most likely the one that opened in the dip and got owned.

 

Are spartans pride palys or zoas? If they are palys it could explain why they are taking longer to recover and have suffered bleaching.

[DaneMarx]

True that... I think this technique could be applied differently. How about dipping in a strong algacide/herbicide concentrate? then thorough rinsing afterwards....

[reefer916]

Perhaps but as I said the 50/50 mix did not effectively kill off the hair algae. I have no other hair algae in my tank other than on the plug i received from a local reefer, so it could not have come from another spot in my tank. The two polyps that have opened out of the 3 that were dipped look as vibrant as before they were closed. The last one that hasnt opened is most likely the one that opened in the dip and got owned.

 

Are spartans pride palys or zoas? If they are palys it could explain why they are taking longer to recover and have suffered bleaching.

 

That could be because I think they are a paly..hmm I guess we're testing Palys and Zoas:)

 

True that... I think this technique could be applied differently. How about dipping in a strong algacide/herbicide concentrate? then thorough rinsing afterwards....

 

Maybe using a little stronger concentration and using a Q-tip to apply it directly to the GHA.

[Bill Nye]

Ooooooook ... update time

 

 

So I just got home and went and checked out the tank. The zoas I dipped are looking bad right now. One of them has formed a blister and the other two are looking somewhat opaque. They might be melting only time will tell.