Zoos closing and dissolving???
 

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I have been having an issue with zoos lately. Some of the polyps close up not to open again and they get a film over the closed polyps that I try to brush off, it comes off but only to come back later. When this happens the polyp starts to shrink until there's only a thin layer of actual coral on the rock????? I managed to save a colony that regrew over a period of 2-2.5 mos. and is doing fine now but it's really a hassle to have it happen in the 1st place. And even worst not knowing what causes it. Any ideas??? I have the same thing happening on some of my blue zoos so you can imagine my concern

i had the same thing with my red zoos, i think it just a problem with certain species, but i really dont know

I had some yellows totaly dissolve in a week. Nothing I could do saved them.

Not what you wanted to hear I'm sure.

Happens to me too, they close up and then start getting thin and stick like, usually means that they'll be goners in a week or so, I don't think any dipping helps that.
What I also noticed is that the pods seems to clean the dead skin off and if there's any healthy ones left, they will usually make it.

It has been suggested to me by a fellow hobbist that it might be Beggiatoa sp. fungus. As a treatment a dip on a solution of 10% hydrogen peroxide and 90% RO water has been suggested. Anybody has any experience with this maladity? Has anybody tried this kind of dip b4? TY everybody.

i would like to know as one of my new colony is cover up w/ fungus. i'm not sure if i should frag out the good looking one. i hope they pull.

I have dipped some in tap water and it has helped. Not sure what was wrong with them. No nudi's or fungas. Just melt away.

Happened to a few of my colonies around January. I tried every single dip suggested on this site, peroxide, tetracycline, RO, RO with iodine, hyposalinity.....you name it i tried it and it didn't work. I had about 5 colonies do this over a period of a few weeks and lost all but 3 polyps of one colony. That frag has since grown to about 6 polyps. I had to frag way ahead of where the melting was occuring. Out of the 4 frags i made from that same colony that is the only one of them to survive.

Same thing happened to a colony of reds of mine. No dips or fragging would save them.

I'm glad I came across this thread because I think it's about the same thing that happened to one of my zoanthid colonies that had been really beautiful. They're pinks and they were thriving until some kind of film would cover the polyps and they wouldn't open. The film appeared to be a blue color and if I rubbed the affected polyps with my finger, the blue film would kind of start to come off but not completely. Every polyp that got covered with the film eventually died and I lost about 90% of the polyps but the problem is over now so I'm happy to have what I have left because they've already started to multiply and they're doing that fairly quickly.

I wasn't able to dip, because the colony was attached to a big rock. The way I solved the problem was to rub the closed polyps with my fingers to break the blue film up and then blast them with water using a turkey baster. I did this very thoroughly about twice a day. If I saw any polyp shrink in size at all, I scratched it off the rock with my finger along with any soft-feeling tissue on the colony. I scratched it right down to the rock in many cases. Obviously, this was a very drastic method, but there was no stopping that blue film from getting worse and worse until I did what I just mentioned.

By taking these measures, the blue film got less and less apparent over a matter of about two to three weeks and then finally it disappeared.

Along with what I mentioned I also put the infected colony in an area of high water flow, which I also think helped.

All in all, I do believe that what I did stopped the advancing of this infestation and that's why some of the polys survived and I think it will be back to its former glory in a few months.

If anyone tries this, please post your success or failure in defeating this problem as there isn't much information on it or on how to treat it when zoanthids are attacked by this fungus, if that's what it is.

One thing I think that needs mentioning here is water chemistry. Before dipping a failing Zoanthid colony I would get a good test kit. Your alkalinity should be that of natural seawater. Some Zoas are more sensitive than others. I just like to rule out the basics before I start dipping.

I think this would be a great opportunity for everyone who has experienced this to share what if anything they did differently prior to the onset of your zoos failing. Not saying you did anything wrong here, just asking to see if we can pool or thoughts and see if we can figure this out. Were they recently moved, was the substrate disturbed at all, were there any new additions, any changes in salt or other additives. Was there a temp spike or drop? What were all of your parameter reading across the board. Anything, I mean anything, would help us all out. Lets see if there are any common denominators/clues that we can extract from this.

Mucho

happens to me too. for no known reason at all.... i've had some sit in my tank for months in the same location, grow great, then all of a sudden do this without me doing a water change, or adding something new or anything. They just seem to close up, thin out and wither away. im stumped.

It seems to be a common problem. Unfortunately it seems to be uncurable so far. I had a crazy colony of yellows, that were growing like weeds, then slowly all closed up and disolved away. I dipped with the hydrogen mix and no luck. I've dipped other colonies the same way and it worked. I think it's just one of the problems yet unsolved with zoo's. Hopefully someone will come up with a solution soon. Hopefully there is some comfort in knowing your not alone. The best solution I can think of is try to get your different morphs, atleast your favorite ones out to local reefers so if something happens to yours, you can get a frag of them back from the people you traded with.

I know sometimes I might come off the wrong way, but believe me, I don't mean any harm at all with a lot of my question. I just know in my heart that there is a reason for a lot of what we all are experiencing with our zoos. The reason I ask those questions above, and I know someone won't believe a word of this, but here goes. 2 weeks ago, I purchased a 4 x 2 inch piece of branch rock covered with about 40 zoos. At the time of purchase, I could only see 2 polyps on the rock that were expanding, only two. The polyps were stunning so I took a chance, and this is something I never do. If the colony isn't expanding in the LFS, I won't touch, ever. This colony was an exception, great prices, lots of zoos, so I purcahsed it. I brought the colony home and did my usual dip. I have a specimen type tray set up that is shallow enough for water to barely cover half the colony. Using a stationary magnifying glass and a set ot tweezers, I carefully inspected every inch of the rock. I placed it in my tank and waited. For 7 straight days nothing changed, yet, the polyps were still intact and I saw no visable signs of decay or die off. On the 8th day, I notice the familiar algae green colored coating on all of the polyps in the center of the rock, about 12 or so. From the 8th day to the 14th day, I stuck my hand in the tank, not moving the rock which will only delay there opening, I used my soft tooth brush to brush up and over the crown to help remove the greenish coating. Still, no decay or die off. On the 14th day, I placed the colony underneath a branch rock which slightly shadowed the colony in question. Here's what happened next. On the 16th day, the colony began to come alive. Each day, 1, 2 or 3 new polyps would open that never opened before. I stopped my daily brushing on the first day that they started to rejuvinate. It appears that they were able to rid themselves of this greenish coating on their own. As I sit here at this very moment, I just checked the colony again. There are just a few polyps left that haven't sprung open. I did nothing spectacular, but why did this colony come back on its own? Why did your colonies perish and my colony recovered? I don't know, but it did. This was the first time I had moved the rock slightly under an overhang in my tank that was sick or having some issues. Was it the shadowing, maybe somehow the lighting was an irratant as it tried so hard on its own to recover? Again, I don't know, I just know that each of us have to ability to just watch, experiment and document what we do. If it happens again, and you had great success the first time, then simply repeat the process. This is what the pros do, and so can you. If I have a hunch, I just go with it. I mean, what can you lose if the colony is going to perish anyway. Ok, I rambled again, but I hope you can see my point.

I hope everyone can share as much info about their colonies so maybe we can all figure this thing collectively.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Mucho

Mucho, glad to hear your turn around. I can not recomend strongly enough doing what Mucho talks about with inspecting every piece added to your tank. It might seem like a pain when all you want to see is the piece in your tank, but it's better then dealing with a massive loss. I got a piece from a LFS that the guy told me used to be completely covered with bright colored orange and yellow zoo's. He said it was $100 piece, and he was selling it for $30 becuase it was dying. I thought it would be a great piece if it could make it. I brought it home and did a dip. Off popped a nudi, then another. I was like alright thats why it was dying.....well before I put it in the tank I got out the magnifying glass. I found about a third of the colonies had nudi eggs on them, as well as a few sundail snails. I pulled off all the eggs, and snails and did another dip. The colony has since doubled in size.

EXACTLY, EXACTLY, ...that's exactly my point. I'm not saying that you will never ever lose a colony, because you will indeed have a one that will crash on you for no apparent reason sometimes. What I am saying is that you can save most colonies that are sick or have issues by simply acting quickly. This is why I take just a few minutes each morning just to scan every single colony in my tank before I leave for work. I do the same once I return home. Through a process of elimination, try to find the root cause of the problem ( parasite, parameter, predator, fungus, BI etc,) or experiment with potential remedies. I would love to listen and hear what everyone has to share. This is how we all learn, we're not in this thing alone. That is why we ( I ) come here, to listen, learn and share all of the experiences we've had with Zooanthids.

For those who still choose not to dip new arrivals, you are playing mere Russian Roulette with your monetary investments in reefing. There's no doubt in my mind.

Ooops, did it again...rambling. I meant no offense to anyone BTW.

Just my 2 cents

Mucho

PS, I tip my hat to you SCRIBES. You wEre proactive, not reactive in taking the measures you took. I can only imagine what would have happend if you hadn't dipped that colony. But you did, and now look at what mother nature has rewarded you with, a rock full of new zoos. YOU DAH MAN !!!!

Here is another observation of mine that makes me go huh? I try to keep the water in my 55 as nearly perfect as possible. I have a refugium loaded with chaeto, sump with a decent skimmer,sqwd on return,I test weekly,15 gallon water change every 2 weeks with RO water and I feed my zoas zooplankton every 2 days. I have 250 watt 14k halides. I dont get that great of growth. A couple colonies do good but for the most part its pretty slow. Now the wierd part. My girl friend also has a 29 at her house. Its got alot of live rock,a seaclone that doesnt do much,and 110 watts of PCs.Jebos to be exact. Shes always had a pretty big problem with red algae on her rocks and sand and glass. She never does water changes and she tops off with tap water. Weve never done any testing to her water other than salinity. Every Zoa frag Ive given her does excellent in that tank. Double my growth. Are the high nutrients that cause her algae blooms feeding her zoas? It sure makes me think so and I just wonder if anyone else has experienced this.

I have heard more then once that zoo's do like dirty water. I think my zoo's are doing better now with a skimmer and a sump, then they did in my old 29 with no skimmer and no sump.

My zoos do great in my water, and It is really clean-- big changes once a week (in my nano) no measurable anything

I lost one colony last week to this fungus and now I am suspect of other colonies starting to look infected. Can you tell me how long to dip them and if this fungus will spread to corals that are not zoas. Is a quarantine tank necessary or can I dip and return to main tank?
Any help will be appreciated.

Can you describe what the "fungus" looks like, or better yet, post a good photo?

I'm losing a really nice one today :( .... Open great for weeks then one day they just close up and they are starting to disolve today :(

The only thing I can think of is the day before they closed I used Joe Juice. I think I dropped some on it or something :( ..

that sucks Elite...
Have you tried dipping them since they closed? or fragging off some good polyps before they die?

I got two very nice very large very pink colonies at the same time. Put one in my 29g Zoo tank, the other in the 20g frag tank. The one in the 29g looked awesome and was thriving, the other was looking kinda bad, I thought I was going to loose it at one point. Then the healthy one started to decline and the bad one started to look good. I dipped both, now the bad one is thriving in my 180g and the good one is on it's way out in the frag tank.
Go figure.....