Can my Utter Chaos be saved?

[holy carp]

I bought a single polyp of this Utter Chaos zoa coral about 6 weeks ago. It seemed to be doing fine where I had it glued and then retracted into a fat little ball and started sprouting out 2 babies about 2 weeks ago. I thought things looked great, but shortly thereafter, it reopened and the base of the coral started to pinch right above the foot/attachment to the rock. Over the course of the last 2 weeks, the coral seems to bend in the current at the pinch point, the bottom of the stalk has gotten thinner, the 'pinch' has traveled up the stalk, and the 2 babies have disconnected and seem to have died (one is now wobbling like it's about to fall off and is only ~1mm diameter).

 

Any ideas why this is happening? Any suggestions on how to save this guy?

 

It's not being touched by other corals, though the 2 clowns seem to like swimming pretty close to it.

 

I'll follow up with some photos soon.

[holy carp]

So after it was scrunched down like a blob and started the little baby offshoots, it started to pinch like this:

(12/11/15)

 

Then even though the polyp reopened, the stem kept getting skinnier day by day, and the pinch moved up the stem and looked like this:

(12/15/15)

 

You can see how the baby has also shriveled and shrunk... (there's a second baby I can't really get in the photo as it's behind the main polyp, but it seems to be shrinking in the same way)

The polyp's diameter has decreased as well.

 

Could it be in need of more direct feeding? This guy doesn't really seem to react to food like my other palys and zoas. What conditions is this guy looking for?

[jamescstein]

no idea.. but it looks horrible

[Merthynia]

Woah, that doesn't look good. Is there anything wrapped around the stalk? I'm not even sure if that is possible, but like a hair or something kinking it off?

[holy carp]

Woah, that doesn't look good. Is there anything wrapped around the stalk? I'm not even sure if that is possible, but like a hair or something kinking it off?

 

No, there doesn't appear to be anything physically on the coral except for a little bit of algae that you can see.

 

I had done some research on these, since they're not cheap, and got the impression that they often do pretty well in a variety of light and flow conditions, though their coloration may vary as a result. There is some continuous laminar flow there, but nothing really blasting it, and the light should be sufficient, though I don't imagine it's too much since it's only 2-3" from the bottom.

[holy carp]

Here's a little video snippet I filmed on 12/12 where you can see how it wobbles in the flow.

 

Maybe it's on a crash diet to shed those extra pregnancy pounds...

[uwdanno]

hate to say it... but I have had a zoa or two do this and unfortunately not recover. Hope yours makes it through though.

[Weetabix7]

I agree that it's hard to get them to recover once they start doing this. However, I do think it'd be worth dipping them either in a lugol's iodine dip or a Revive dip.

Do you have either of those on hand?

[metrokat]

Weetabix! Welcome back, where have you been?

[Weetabix7]

Weetabix! Welcome back, where have you been?

 

Howdy. Life got crazy, y'know? I recently moved to Greenville, SC with the Fam and started looking around here again after a visit to the LFS.

[holy carp]

Ugh... This sucks. Came home to this:

 

I agree that it's hard to get them to recover once they start doing this. However, I do think it'd be worth dipping them either in a lugol's iodine dip or a Revive dip.

Do you have either of those on hand?

 

Thanks, Weetabix. I have some Revive - will try that this evening. They are on a relatively small rock, so I'm thinking I might just dip the whole rock.

[Weetabix7]

Ugh... This sucks. Came home to this:

2015-12-16 19.28.26.jpg

 

 

Thanks, Weetabix. I have some Revive - will try that this evening. They are on a relatively small rock, so I'm thinking I might just dip the whole rock.

 

Perfect, do that and let us know how it works!

[holy carp]

Doesn't look like anything will help...

 

 

It's deteriorating so noticeably every day.

And those pink hemorrhoids at the bottom... Weirdness.

[Newstead]

Oh that is sad...

[Weetabix7]

It's hard to bring them back from this once it starts. I used to use Kent Marine Tech M to dip my zoas, but that's not around anymore, so....

 

It DOES need some kind of treatment, if you leave them alone once that starts they just die.

[D Z]

It's hard to bring them back from this once it starts. I used to use Kent Marine Tech M to dip my zoas, but that's not around anymore, so....

 

It DOES need some kind of treatment, if you leave them alone once that starts they just die.

You sure you talking about Tech M....Tech M is still around, but I have never heard of using it as a dip. I have heard of using it to try to combat bryopsis, but not as a coral "dip"

[outerorbiter]

You sure you talking about Tech M....Tech M is still around, but I have never heard of using it as a dip. I have heard of using it to try to combat bryopsis, but not as a coral "dip"

I just had a gallon of tech m delivered from marine depot last week.

[Weetabix7]

Goshdangit, I meant Tech-D.

This stuff: http://www.marinedepot.com/KENT_MARINE_TECH_D_16OZ_Saltwater_Aquarium_Additives_Supplements--KMTD16-FIAD-vi.html

 

Sorry bout that.

Yeah, Tech M is still around.

[Newstead]

Would an iodine dip help? After treating some zoas for pox they remained closed up and shrinking. Did a short (3-5 minutes?) dip in a povidone solution and in a few days they perked up. Only 1 was whitish, though.

[jamescstein]

This is why I am horrified of buying expensive single polyp frags.

[Weetabix7]

Would an iodine dip help? After treating some zoas for pox they remained closed up and shrinking. Did a short (3-5 minutes?) dip in a povidone solution and in a few days they perked up. Only 1 was whitish, though.

 

I think it'd certainly be worth trying.

[holy carp]

Would an iodine dip help? After treating some zoas for pox they remained closed up and shrinking. Did a short (3-5 minutes?) dip in a povidone solution and in a few days they perked up. Only 1 was whitish, though.

Wait, what's povidone? I can stop by the LFS this evening, but I'm unfamiliar with povidone - is it different from lugol's?

 

I wish I hadn't waited. At first I assumed the polyp was trying to distance itself from the babies like how my palys 'walk' away from them.

[Newstead]

Povidone is a form of iodine, it is what I just happened to have on hand. I googled it and found several references to using it as a dip when I decided it was time to try anything. You can get it at any pharmacy.

[holy carp]

I may not have been clear before. I did a TLF ReVive dip last night - 5ml in 1 pint of water for 10 minutes. Killed off lots of amphipods, but as I showed in the photo, coral still got worse over night.

 

I'll try the betadine/povidone iodine when I get home this evening. I did some searching, and what I found for that was to use only about 2ml/pint, but for longer based on this:

 

Acros 3ml/liter 25 min
Montis 2ml/liter 10-15 min
Zoas 3-4ml/liter 25 min
LPS 3ml/liter 25 min
Softies 3ml/liter 25 min

(from here: http://www.maast.org/archive/index.php/t-76628.html )

I came across a number of other references, but most of the others didn't have specific concentrations - more just based on color or # of drops in an unspecified quantity of tankwater.

[Nanofreak79]

Furan 2 dip. It's usually used for pox, but I've used it as a last resort with good outcomes. I'm not sure if yours is to far gone, but it looks like it still has a. Chance. Unfortunately when you get into the zoa game or just a few spendy pieces, things can happen and there's absolutely nothing you can do. Good luck. I'd do no more than 5 minute dips.