Zoa fungus/pox?

fiction · Mar 10, 2008

Well I've been having a lot of problems lately with my tank (alk/ph issues) to the point where I listed my tank for sale but then I noticed yet another problem so I had to back out of selling it. There seems to be white specks on 2 zoa colonies and they look awful, part of one colony is already dead. I take it this is called zoa "pox" or fungus? what can I do to save them, I don't have fast access to any special kind of dipping solution so is there anything I can use that most lfs's would stock?

TIA

J. Montgomery · Mar 10, 2008

fiction said:
Well I've been having a lot of problems lately with my tank (alk/ph issues) to the point where I listed my tank for sale but then I noticed yet another problem so I had to back out of selling it.

I would have seen that as yet another reason to sell . . .

fiction · Mar 10, 2008

I'd rather not sell people dieing corals though.

coral88 · Mar 10, 2008

I bought a wild zoa colony a few months ago. I had it about a week(in quarantine tank) and noticed small white spots on some of the zoas that weren’t opening as much as the others. A day or so later The spots had spread to some other zoas in the tank. After reading everything I could find online it appeared I had zoa pox. The only treatment that is said to work is dipping in furan-2. I don’t remember the exact amount I used Do a search for furan-2 and zoa pox and something should show up. It works I did it three day in a row and after five days did it again two days in a row. The only thing is you really should dip all zoas in the tank. I found a few people who only treated what they thought were the infected colonies and had to treat all over again. I found Furan-2 two at one of my local big box stores and then ordered more from Foster and smith just to have some on hand. In the end I only lost about ten polyps.

Hope That helps

fiction · Mar 10, 2008

Thanks for the info, I just ordered the furan-2.

Could you tell me your dipping process?

coral88 · Mar 10, 2008

I don't really remember the exact amount, I don't think I really followed the directions very closely. Best I can remember, I put 2 packets furan-2 In two cups RO water and soaked zoas for 20 minutes. Don't worry about buffer, pH etc. in RO water. I've done this several times as a preventative and have never had a problem just using RO water. The furan-2 from Foster and Smith and local stores in my area is a powder in a packet and the equivalent of what I think they refer to as a pill. The only difference is it does not contain methylane blue but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I added methylane blue to the solution the first time, but have since tried it without and have had the same results. The link below gives more precise treatment instructions

http://www.zoaid.com/articles004.php

coral88 · Mar 10, 2008

Good luck
Let me know how it works.

fiction · Mar 12, 2008

uh I should of selected two day shipping, the furan wont be here until next week. In the mean time I set a 5 gallon QT tank with fresh saltwater, I read on zoaid moving the infected colony to qt tank could help get rid of the infection?

big · Mar 14, 2008

I too have Pox on some of my Tubs Blues, and am now treating with Furna-2. I can;t remove and treat all my Zoas . Too many bunches attached to big rocks over time etc. Hope it has not spread to them, do not see sigms of Pox on any others.

I am in the second day or the initial tretment now. Will follow along and post an update........

fiction · Mar 14, 2008

big said:
I too have Pox on some of my Tubs Blues, and am now treating with Furna-2. I can;t remove and treat all my Zoas . Too many bunches attached to big rocks over time etc. Hope it has not spread to them, do not see sigms of Pox on any others.

I am in the second day or the initial treatment now. Will follow along and post an update........

It seems to spread around pretty fast, so far I've lost one colony and it has spread to 3 other ones. I've ripped out 2 colonies that had some nice growth around the rocks so it's a shame to see them torn apart now. I'm hoping the furan-2 works for you, people seem to have a good success rate with it.

Christel Mei · Mar 17, 2008

Furan 2 works wonders. IMO only stressed zoas catch the pox. If you have an older system and your colonies start to get pox, its a red flag to double check your parameters!