Derry Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 I religiously dip all of my new corals before putting them in the tank, but I've got some zoas that are acting weird, and I don't know what to do about them. It started with some cats' eye zoas. After a few polyps had melted away, I dipped them in a strong Lugol's bath for about 10 minutes, but it didn't help - the rest of the colony (about a dozen or so) just wasted away. Now my Green Bay Packers are having the same problem. I've attached a couple of photos that show what's going on, and they look just like what Borneman describes as zoa condition 1 in Aquarium Corals. Anybody have any idea 1) what's going on, and 2) how to fix it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoneroller Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 I'd start by making sure all of what appears to me to be cyano is removed from the polyps. Take a baster or small powerhead and blast the rock and clean it up. Are they growing on rock or sand? PS. IME Catseye (or any pink polyps) are pretty finicky. One false move and they are gone! I have it best to find a good spot and leave them be, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoneroller Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 PS. can you summarize or repeat what he "describes as zoa condition 1 in Aquarium Corals"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 I have seen this happen to blues that are considered deepwater. They will be going along fine and just up and melt away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derekreefer Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 i've had the same thing happen with purple ones, when all the others are fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 I wish I could help Derry, but I have seen this happen to so many of my zoas...it can make one suicidal... I have many variations all over my sandbed where one cluster is a beautiful flower bed next to a cluster of melted death. No cleaning, moving or dipping helped at all...it doesn't spread to any others...it keeps its demise all to itself, and I'll never understand it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 I can save about half of the zoas that close up on me by dipping in hydrogen peroxide mixed with tank water, then freshwater. I drop the zoas in a really small cup with enough water to cover them. I slowly add hydrogen peroxide until the zoas start bubbling slightly. I leave them in there for 10-15 minutes and then I drop them in freshwater for about 10-20 seconds before placing back in the tank. Don't be scared, I have used this method everytime I have a problem with a colony of zoas. One tip is to gently push on the heads of the zoas when you place them back in to your tank to release little air bubbles that can get trapped underneath the skirt if its closed (from the hydrogen peroxide). A few air bubbles trapped are ok, they will come out on their own once it opens back up. This kills the fungus, bacterial, or algae that is growing on the zoas keeping them from opening up. It will take 2-3 days before they will open up again but you will see a noticable difference in the outside of the zoas, 24 hrs later they will look really clean. If they don't open up after a few days and start to look dirty again I will retry the peroxide/freshwater dip. This might seem extreme to the zoas but they seem to handle it just fine. I healthy polyp will always open back up after this type of treatment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 2 other tips. Always cut away the good polyps away from the bad. Don't wait until its too late, cut out dying polyps right away from the healthy colony. Polyps can be closed and be healthy still, when they are funky looking they need to come out of the tank. Also move the zoas in to the shade when they are having problems, just make sure they still have good flow. Taking away the stress of the light will usually help them to open back up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 I had this happen in my old tank. Every darn frag would close up and melt away. Never did get to the bottom of it, I ended up giving up on zoos altogether. I assumed I must have picked up some baddie like a sundial snail, that was chowing down on them. I must admit I didn't really take any steps to remedy the problem, just cursed my bad luck. Hopefully freshwater dipping and some drying out can help. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Saw someone linking this page on another forum: http://www.coralpedia.com/articles004.php Not sure if its the same thing or not, but I thought it might be helpful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derry Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 Nice link, Aaarrrggg. I performed a hydrogen peroxide dip per Hydro's recommendation a few days ago, and the affected zoas look like they might (?) be recovering a little. I will DEFINITELY keep Furan-2 in the mental rolodex for any future problems, though - looks very promising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Nice link, Aaarrrggg. I performed a hydrogen peroxide dip per Hydro's recommendation a few days ago, and the affected zoas look like they might (?) be recovering a little. I will DEFINITELY keep Furan-2 in the mental rolodex for any future problems, though - looks very promising. Did the layer if funk come off so they look clean now? Did you wash off with freshwater after the peroxide? I dip my zoas at the first sign of the brown slime getting on them before it spreads to the other polyps it. I'm confident with using diluted peroxide as a dip with a freshwater rinse, I wouldn't hesitate to dip my most expensive zoas if I thought that something might be wrong with them. I tried the furan dip myself and I think that it was harder on the zoas and none of the ones I dipped ever opened back up. Not saying it doesn't work, I just like peroxide better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derry Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 Yep, the funk did come off, and I rinsed them off well with RO water after the dip. A few have opened back up, but I'm just trying to leave them alone and let them recover at this point. As a side note, bristle worms practically melt in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaJMasta Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I see a few flecks of white in the picture, zoa pox look like white lesions on the polyp or slightly under the skin layer. I've saved zoas using a fairly high power furan 2 dip several times (I did 3-4 days of dipping). Their melting away in my case included thinning of the stalks and general loss of tissue integrity. That said, I don't think I saved any of the extremely thin stalks, but the colony as a whole was fine afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I see a few flecks of white in the picture, zoa pox look like white lesions on the polyp or slightly under the skin layer. I've saved zoas using a fairly high power furan 2 dip several times (I did 3-4 days of dipping). Their melting away in my case included thinning of the stalks and general loss of tissue integrity. That said, I don't think I saved any of the extremely thin stalks, but the colony as a whole was fine afterwards. Good to know. I have never dealt with zoa pox before and it proably does take a medication like that get rid of it. With my luck though I'll get it next week . When I was having problems with zoas its was because of them closing up and then getting a brown slime over them. That seemed to irrated them enought that they woudn't open unless it was removed. I've used a toothbrush before to clean them off many times if I'm not able to dip them and that seemed to work ok but dipping them seems like less stress. With the toothbrush I would have to clean them once a day but with dipping it usually it was only needed once or twice to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffT Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I tried the hydrogen peroxide technique last night on a colony of AOGs that had not opened in probably a week. Hopefully whatever was messing with them will be remedied by the h202 dip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Derry how are the zoas? Good luck Jeff, let us know if it worked. After a week of being closed it will be harder to save them. I got a few of those AOG from you right? Mine closed and all melted away but one, I think that the dipping and removing the bad heads is what saved the single polyp. I think they initially got stressed from to much light and then they got that brown slime on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffT Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I did see a few polyps peeking out last night, so I am feeling better about the situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 My do that occasionally. It is usually because they don't have enough flow around them and too much detritus gathers between the polyps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derry Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 Out of the 75 or so that I pulled away from the main colony, maybe a dozen are trying to mount a comeback. The rest are melting away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I can save about half of the zoas that close up on me by dipping in hydrogen peroxide mixed with tank water, then freshwater. I drop the zoas in a really small cup with enough water to cover them. I slowly add hydrogen peroxide until the zoas start bubbling slightly. I leave them in there for 10-15 minutes and then I drop them in freshwater for about 10-20 seconds before placing back in the tank. Don't be scared, I have used this method everytime I have a problem with a colony of zoas. One tip is to gently push on the heads of the zoas when you place them back in to your tank to release little air bubbles that can get trapped underneath the skirt if its closed (from the hydrogen peroxide). A few air bubbles trapped are ok, they will come out on their own once it opens back up. This kills the fungus, bacterial, or algae that is growing on the zoas keeping them from opening up. It will take 2-3 days before they will open up again but you will see a noticable difference in the outside of the zoas, 24 hrs later they will look really clean. If they don't open up after a few days and start to look dirty again I will retry the peroxide/freshwater dip. This might seem extreme to the zoas but they seem to handle it just fine. I healthy polyp will always open back up after this type of treatment. Tried this on a colony I had that was starting to get some crap on them. Worked wonders! I was about to post something about it last week and saw this. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 These are great suggestion when the zoas are on frag plus or small rocks. But I a, curious if anyone has had success when the zoos are on a large rock. Most of mine are on a massive bolder in the tank. So when. A colony starts to melt, I pretty much thought that I just had to go with the flow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 These are great suggestion when the zoas are on frag plus or small rocks. But I a, curious if anyone has had success when the zoos are on a large rock. Most of mine are on a massive bolder in the tank. So when. A colony starts to melt, I pretty much thought that I just had to go with the flow. If I can't take the rock out of the tank to dip it I instead use a soft toothbrush and lightly clean them off every other day. I also use a turkey baster in between to help keep them clean. I think that the most important thing is to cut away the bad zoas from the good ones. Don't wait to long to do that, if they start melting then they are done for. If the polyps look abnormal, especially after dipping and or cleaning them, IME they never recover. If after being cleaned they look like normal zoas that are closed then they have a good chance of pulling through, but if they are discolored or soft they usually won't pull though and should be removed. Sometimes I just cut the mat in between the zoas and this usually stop the spread of the funk. If there is anyway to shade them while they are closed while still leaving them in good flow will help alot too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austx Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 (edited) I pmed Hydro about this question but I wanted to post it on here as well. When yall refer to hydrogen peroxide, are you speaking of the regular store bought hp, correct? I just dont feel like making a careless mistake when I could simply ask and be reassured before I kill any zoas off haha. Edited November 9, 2011 by bchap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 I've watched Hydro do this very thing in person, he uses the store bought stuff that you find at the pharmacy in the brown bottle. Just normal everyday HP nothing crazy like hair bleaching or such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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