Zoa Pox? (Pics)

[SelectedByNature]

I have a couple of Zoas/Palys that were doing good for 3-4 months and recently (about a month) have been "fading". 

 

The Red People Eaters are noticeably thinning and only a couple of polyps barely open.

 

The Utter Chaos are pale and melting and are kind of open but look just terrible. 

 

Other zoas in my tank have never looked better, and I know Zoas are hit or miss in some tanks but since they used to be so healthy and growing I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to save them...

 

The only thing I changed is trying to keep the tank pristine with increased daily maintenance...

[Lugmos12]

I can say that my Utter Chaos thrive under heavy flow. I have them placed under direct light on the sand. 

[SelectedByNature]

5 hours ago, Lugmos12 said:

I can say that my Utter Chaos thrive under heavy flow. I have them placed under direct light on the sand. 

Thanks. I must say that flow has often varied in my tank. I killed a hammer early on due to stripping and my pretty cautious about it now.

 

I'm leaning towards some kind of pods eating them at night... Anyone have experience with this??

[Lugmos12]

13 minutes ago, SelectedByNature said:

Thanks. I must say that flow has often varied in my tank. I killed a hammer early on due to stripping and my pretty cautious about it now.

 

I'm leaning towards some kind of pods eating them at night... Anyone have experience with this??

That's possible too. Try to look at the tank with a flashlight 4-5 hours after lights out. That's how I first noticed pods in my tank.

[Clown79]

If you had pods that eat zoas, wouldn't they eat all of them.

 

Different zoas require different things. Some like high light, some don't. Some like lots of flow while others seem to not.

 

In my 10g my zoas are growing like crazy but in my 15g they just slowly die off.

Only difference between tanks is flow and lighting.

 

Have you checked for zoa pox? 

[SelectedByNature]

8 hours ago, Clown79 said:

If you had pods that eat zoas, wouldn't they eat all of them.

 

Different zoas require different things. Some like high light, some don't. Some like lots of flow while others seem to not.

 

In my 10g my zoas are growing like crazy but in my 15g they just slowly die off.

Only difference between tanks is flow and lighting.

 

Have you checked for zoa pox? 

I really cannot confirm Zoa Pox at. One of the failing colonies has symmetrical white marking at the very top of the polyp, though it really doesn't look like Zoa Pox.

 

At night there are particular tiny pods, barely visible that always seem to be on my melting Red People Eaters, granted I know they may just be interested in the dying flesh...

 

Think I should up the flow for a while?

[GunslingerGirl]

2 hours ago, SelectedByNature said:

I really cannot confirm Zoa Pox at. One of the failing colonies has symmetrical white marking at the very top of the polyp, though it really doesn't look like Zoa Pox.

 

At night there are particular tiny pods, barely visible that always seem to be on my melting Red People Eaters, granted I know they may just be interested in the dying flesh...

 

Think I should up the flow for a while?

I would look at them a few hours after lights off. Red light only. I have scared away many pods while trying to catch them (luckily in friends tanks and not mine).

Sometimes zoas just melt. I know many people have issues with them long term.

 

Could try to up the flow if you want. Might help. Might not. Every frag is different... which is where we run into issues with zoas I think.

[SelectedByNature]

2 hours ago, GunslingerGirl said:

I would look at them a few hours after lights off. Red light only. I have scared away many pods while trying to catch them (luckily in friends tanks and not mine).

Sometimes zoas just melt. I know many people have issues with them long term.

 

Could try to up the flow if you want. Might help. Might not. Every frag is different... which is where we run into issues with zoas I think.

Exactly.

 

I'm new so I don't know if the whole "some Zoas just die in some tanks" thing means that particular Zoas do not do well in certain tanks, or that sometimes Zoas are doing well and growing but suddenly melt away.

 

My situation would be the latter of those. Hence my thoughts that it must have been something I did/something changed/pests/illness.

 

I'm going to try upping the flow a bit and just continue doing good maintenance.

 

Maybe an unspoken lesson of reefing is you can't keep EVERY coral healthy?

[SelectedByNature]

These are pics of both failing frags. Does it look like zoa pox? The white striations don't seem like pustules to me and they are also tiny.

[Minmay]

I've read that zoas are very finicky and that when buying coral. Its best to ask LFS how it was aquired. What location like indo-pacific or aussie. The zoas I have are fire&ice, blondies, sunny D's and fruit loops. Out of all the zoas I have, the ones that gave me trouble was my fruit loops. I only had 4 polyps and the 4th one melted. They would always be closed. I moved the frag closer to the light and and now they always open. So I guess some zoas are more high maintenance than others. Good luck with yours ☺

[SelectedByNature]

7 minutes ago, Minmay said:

I've read that zoas are very finicky and that when buying coral. Its best to ask LFS how it was aquired. What location like indo-pacific or aussie. The zoas I have are fire&ice, blondies, sunny D's and fruit loops. Out of all the zoas I have, the ones that gave me trouble was my fruit loops. I only had 4 polyps and the 4th one melted. They would always be closed. I moved the frag closer to the light and and now they always open. So I guess some zoas are more high maintenance than others. Good luck with yours ☺

Thanks Minmay.

 

We know so much about reefing. Except we don't! XD

 

Reefing kind of does validate anecdotal evidence as valid learning material though... 

[Lula_Mae]

Try a Lugol's iodine dip, a couple drops of Lugols in a cup or so of tank water for 3-5 minutes.  It may not do any good, but it might help.

[SelectedByNature]

23 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Try a Lugol's iodine dip, a couple drops of Lugols in a cup or so of tank water for 3-5 minutes.  It may not do any good, but it might help.

Thanks Lula_Mae. Definitely worth a shot! I don't not have any Lugols but I'll try to get some.

 

Is Revive, Coral RX or Furan2 worth dipping or just get some Lugols?

[Minmay]

45 minutes ago, SelectedByNature said:

Thanks Minmay.

 

We know so much about reefing. Except we don't! XD

 

Reefing kind of does validate anecdotal evidence as valid learning material though... 

O the joys of reefing. No matter how much we research. It all depends on the animal lol. Its endless learning thats for sure. 

[Clown79]

That doesn't look like pox, just zoa markings.

 

Pox looks like a bunch of white bumps.

 

Sometimes some zoas just melt away, it may be nothing you have done.

 

Some corals just don't do well in one tank yet flourish in another. No one really knows why. 

 

All of mine have just gone bye bye in my 15g. My 15g is stable. My birdsnest is huge yet zoas, I simply can't keep in that tank.

 

A dip don't hurt them.

 

Are they directly under light because some don't do well under direct light.

[SelectedByNature]

5 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Are they directly under light because some don't do well under direct light.

Awesome well I dipped them yesterday with Revive but I also have Lugol's on order.

 

Yeah it doesn't look like Zoa Pox to me.

 

All my Zoas are under direct light more or less. Not in high PAR ranges (actually I just upgraded to an AI Prime last week!) but they aren't in shady areas, just lower on the rocks

[Clown79]

They look to be stretching a bit. Try moving them up  a bit

[SelectedByNature]

5 hours ago, Clown79 said:

They look to be stretching a bit. Try moving them up  a bit

Okay kewl.

 

I'm acclimating with my new AI Prime but I feel like they were stretching before too. Hmm. Other things I never considered were that I changed my lighting period to curb algae woes, and also I have Kenya Tree higher up that perhaps could have been shadowing in the last couple of months (granted the LED Biocube hood I was using before has a pretty broad (but weak) dispersion.