Zoa troubles (pics)

[earlybird]

This frag was doing really well until last week when half of it closed up. It's funny b/c it's two different zoas on it and only one species (if you will) seems affected. I've recently eradicated a small cyano bloom and am at the end of clearing my tank of some nusiance algae from when I accidentally overfed a few weeks ago. At least that's the only thing I can think of that could have caused it. There appears to possibly some hair algae around the zoas but there's also some white strands of something that don't come out in the picture and it doesn't appear to be vermetid snail webbing. I don't see any bugs so I'd appreciate any input. Thanks.
SG 1.025
77 degrees
pH 7.8 (since day 1)
Amm 0
Trite 0
Trate 0
Phosphate 0
Picture 1 is what they began as a few months ago. You'll see that the "yellow" are the ones that are closed up.

 

[jrthomas40]

maybe try to bust the ph and keep the cyano at bay...i had some cyano wipe mine out

 

[nycbob]

try a fresh water dip.

 

[paintballer768]

Im not sure, but in the last pic it could be either hair algae or aiptasia. Theres alot of zoa sites with help, I cant post links but google it and you should be able to hopefully find whats going on.

 

[eastland]

I'm sure this sounds radical, but here's what I do. I take the zoas out, go to the kitchen sink and get the water temp around what feels like 80. Then I place a bowl under the zoos, and spray them with water from the spray nozzle...just a few seconds of high pressure, and I do not overflow the bowl, I want to see what comes out. I have never lost a single zoa, and often see a rogue nudibranch that found it's way into my tank.
I did however, loose a very pretty neon green daisy polyp colony to hair algae, it's nasty stuff...I got 3 emerald crabs and they doo a good job in my 90.

 

[yosemite sam]

I had this same thing happen to me a few weeks ago. I lost some zoos, but all the zoos I lost were of only one color morph that was in a colony of several different morphs. I know at least one other person on this board recently posted about the same problem as well. This appears to be a type of zoo pox. I have read that this happens often in the winter months, and could be seasonal/temperature related. I noticed my 'event' happened after I had left the heater off for a few days, and the temp dropped down to 73 for a few nights. Someone on my local reef club website posted some info that might help. Apparently someone has had good luck using a fish antibiotic called Furan 2 to treat this. I have not used this, so I can't give any advice one way or the other, but if you search the web for zoa pox and furan 2, you'll find the info. I hope this helps.

 

[jimmy 4]

mine are doing the exact same thing as yours. ill have to try the fresh water dip thing so theyll start spreading for once.

 

[earlybird]

Well I've secured them to a rock so a fresh water dip will be tough to do. I don't think it's aptasia. The white strands kind of look like individual strands of filter floss but are at most 1/8". I got in there with tweezers and pulled at one of the strands and it appeared to keep coming like pulling at a loose thread on a shirt and broke at about another 1/8".
I don't think temp is an issue either as it remains stable between 75-77. It's still warm down here in Florida. I'd rather stay away from medicating my tank. Honestly, I'm not too worried about these zoas and I don't see any pox on it but I might just be missing it but I don't want this to spread. I'm at a loss.

 

[offsetfactor]

Originally Posted by Yosemite Sam
This appears to be a type of zoo pox.
Unfortunately this may be the case. I lost a 100+ head colony of the same color as yours to this when the weather changed here. You can see the small white spots starting to form on the closed polyps. There is a treatment listed on a popular Zoa site, you have to get them out and treated if you want to save them. I see you used epoxy putty to secure them. I wouldnt be surprised if you could still pry it off, that stuff doesnt hold like cement.

 

[sambucus]

Well I've secured them to a rock so a fresh water dip will be tough to do. I don't think it's aptasia. The white strands kind of look like individual strands of filter floss but are at most 1/8". I got in there with tweezers and pulled at one of the strands and it appeared to keep coming like pulling at a loose thread on a shirt and broke at about another 1/8".
Possibly spaghetti worms, I know i've found these in my tank and they often disturb and try to latch on and around colonies.

 

[earlybird]

Originally Posted by offsetfactor
Unfortunately this may be the case. I lost a 100+ head colony of the same color as yours to this when the weather changed here. You can see the small white spots starting to form on the closed polyps. There is a treatment listed on a popular Zoa site, you have to get them out and treated if you want to save them. I see you used epoxy putty to secure them. I wouldnt be surprised if you could still pry it off, that stuff doesnt hold like cement.
Okay it seems right that it is Zoa pox but I'm skeptical about Furan 2 as a treatment. I don't like additives and am afraid to use this product. Are there any problems with this product? Also, will the pox spread to my other zoas causing me to have to treat them also? Not sure.

 

[myzislow]

Originally Posted by earlybird
Okay it seems right that it is Zoa pox but I'm skeptical about Furan 2 as a treatment. I don't like additives and am afraid to use this product. Are there any problems with this product? Also, will the pox spread to my other zoas causing me to have to treat them also? Not sure.
Furan 2 dips work awesome, and it's pretty much ur only choice unless you just let nature do it's thing. I had a terrible case of zoa pox last year and finally after losing some colonies and seeing it continue to spread I had no choice but to do the furan 2 treatment. Fortunately for myself all of my zoos were easily removable so I could perform the dips no problem. The dips didn't harm anything and did wonders for the zoa pox. Had I not done the dips I wouldve lost all my zoas no doubt.

 

[saltn00b]

i have a different idea. a bunch of my zoos started to get closed up, and at a closer glance i noticed an infestation of rust colored zoa / paly -eating flat worms.
in your last pic i have circled what looks to me VERY much like a dark green flat worm.

 

[earlybird]

Originally Posted by saltn00b
i have a different idea. a bunch of my zoos started to get closed up, and at a closer glance i noticed an infestation of rust colored zoa / paly -eating flat worms.
in your last pic i have circled what looks to me VERY much like a dark green flat worm.
10-4 on that. I'm going to pay extra attention to my tank today. Gives me a reason to get things done around the house. I'm going to keep the Furan-2 on the back burner for a bit. I'm really trying to aim for as natural of a tank as possible. Heck, I rarely run carbon. *I can't believe I just typed heck. Twice.*
I have another question about zoa pox. What is it's official name, google purposes. I found the site with Furan-2 explained but it's lacking some science. Will it just diminish this colony and will it spread? Is it "truly" a bacteria?

 

[yosemite sam]

I've only ever seen it called zoa pox (or zoo pox). There isn't a lot of hard science on zoa pox, from what I have seen (although this may be changing). It seems that most of the 'research' is done by hobbiests, which is primarily experimentation without much scientific analysis to back it up. From my understanding, it's not clear whether it is a bacterial infection, auto-immune response, or even several different problems that manifest themselves in similar ways, but I have only started to read up on it since I had it.
When I had it, it just attacked one color morph and left the rest of my zoas alone. As others have posted, it can also wipe out all the zoas in a tank.
FWIW, I would disagree with saltn00b's ID in the photo. I'm pretty sure that is a small bubble algae, which is a nuissance by itself, but probably not responsible for your zoa problems.

 

[earlybird]

Originally Posted by Yosemite Sam
I've only ever seen it called zoa pox (or zoo pox). There isn't a lot of hard science on zoa pox, from what I have seen (although this may be changing). It seems that most of the 'research' is done by hobbiests, which is primarily experimentation without much scientific analysis to back it up. From my understanding, it's not clear whether it is a bacterial infection, auto-immune response, or even several different problems that manifest themselves in similar ways, but I have only started to read up on it since I had it.
When I had it, it just attacked one color morph and left the rest of my zoas alone. As others have posted, it can also wipe out all the zoas in a tank.
FWIW, I would disagree with saltn00b's ID in the photo. I'm pretty sure that is a small bubble algae, which is a nuissance by itself, but probably not responsible for your zoa problems.
This is what I've found through what little there is on the subject. I think I'm going to wait it out as the rest of my tank looks really good right now. And I checked the spot and there's no sign of that green thing today. I'vef got a good view of that piece because it's near a corner and there's no buble algae among them either.

 

[reefin419]

Originally Posted by saltn00b
i have a different idea. a bunch of my zoos started to get closed up, and at a closer glance i noticed an infestation of rust colored zoa / paly -eating flat worms.
in your last pic i have circled what looks to me VERY much like a dark green flat worm.
Or it could maybe be a little bubble algae?

 

[sh00tist]

I dont think they are getting enough flow. If you look from the first picture to the second you can see the the skirts on the open polyps are not nearly as extended in the second pic as in the first. Also if they arent getting a lot of flow debris can collect on the rock around their bases this will make them close as well. Take a turkey baster and blow around the rock they are sitting on and see how much stuff comes up. Sometimes when they close up they may not reopen for weeks and sometimes never. I know they really love a lot of flow. They may close up at first but after a week or so they will be open wider than ever and it helps to induce growth IMO,good luck.

 

[earlybird]

Originally Posted by sh00tist
I dont think they are getting enough flow. If you look from the first picture to the second you can see the the skirts on the open polyps are not nearly as extended in the second pic as in the first. Also if they arent getting a lot of flow debris can collect on the rock around their bases this will make them close as well. Take a turkey baster and blow around the rock they are sitting on and see how much stuff comes up. Sometimes when they close up they may not reopen for weeks and sometimes never. I know they really love a lot of flow. They may close up at first but after a week or so they will be open wider than ever and it helps to induce growth IMO,good luck.
I've been basting them daily since this happened. My tank turns 32x/hr and I believe they are getting enough flow. I've always heard and read that zoanthids like low to moderate flow but it may be worth a shot though I don't think this is a flow issue.

 

[earlybird]

I just did a water change and gave them a fresh water dip. I'm going to repeat every other day or so.