All zoanthids closed/dying rapidly

ryanscott · Jul 3, 2019

Hello everyone, hoping I can get some help here.

In my frag tanks I keep primarily zoas with a couple other LPS/SPS frags. I am now on day 4 of what seems to be a tank crash. The issue started when I removed my GFO and and put some new carbon in. The very next day there was a huge Dino explosion and almost all of my zoas were closed up. There are a few colonies that are doing okay and my sps has good PE. I use rox carbon and this is the first time changing it since starting using it around 2 months ago. At the same time my nitrates bottomed out typically I keep them around 10 ppm.

I have since dosed nitrate back up to 10ppm and stopped all flow through my carbon reactor. I’ve also ran a skimmer line to outside air for oxygenation. Everything still looks awful and I’m stumped on where to go next. I’m at risk of losing thousands of dollars in coral here so im super stressed. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Parameters:
Mag 1240
Calcium 466
Alk 7.56
Ph 8.0
Nitrates 0
Phos 0
Salinity 1.024
Temp 78-79

Quick phone pictures:

LesPoissons · Jul 3, 2019

Thats awful. Sounds like you shocked your tank with the total nitrate depletion and then a big dose of carbon. Usually that can also result in a bacterial bloom. If youve got your nitrates back up and the rest of the parameters are normal it sounds like it might be a waiting game and you may take some losses. Obviously dont restart the carbon anytime soon. (If you even need too. I recently disassembled my gfo/carbon reactor and so far there has been no difference to my tank). Hopefully everything will come back with time and stability.

vetteguy53081 · Jul 4, 2019

Check underneath frag plugs/plates for any black bugs. If so - Dip.
If not, dip in a hydrogen Peroxide solution ( Peroxide 3:1)

ScottB · Jul 4, 2019

No nutrient conditions will definitely tick off your corals.
Sometimes, if I fail to rinse carbon well enough I will get a negative but brief reaction.

Dosing nitrates in the absence of PO4 is also a problem IMO.
Seachem Flourish Phosphorus or Trisodium Phosphate (food grade); whichever you can get first. Start dosing ASAP. Personally, I would not dose nitrate without any PO4 though.

Can you share a picture of the suspected dinos? Light brown, stringy snot with bubbles in some?

IF YOU REALLY THINK YOU HAVE DINOS:

Get through the first few pages here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinoflagellates-–-are-you-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/
Use those instructions to figure if you have them and what variety. This will determine the best treatment.

I wouldn't wait tho. Most varieties (not all) would require the following to regain control.
1) Dosing heavy to get NO3 and PO4 elevated at least to 10 & .10 but feel free to double that. You will be astonished how much dinos consume. I am on my third liter in 6 weeks.
2) Beg/borrow/steal / install UV reactor (3 watts/gallon) in/out of the display. Not the sump. Slow turnover like maybe 3X
3) You need to keep running carbon until you ID the species. A few varieties carry toxins. Ostreopsis (my personal favorite

) in particular
4) Stop feeding coral food or aminos
5) Skimmer is fine; no more GFO ever on that tank.
6) If Ostreopsis, you can hang a bunch of filter floss in areas of high light and flow and they will attach to that (see pic. very attractive, right?)

somethinq else · Aug 4, 2019

Coul also be zoe pox. We wouldnt be able to see from your picture's but you would be able to see it. Its little teeny white dots around the tip of the zoa where it opens. If.you have it you can dip in furan. I learned about zoa pox after buying 3 colonies of rastas, Bob Marley's, and red Hornets from a very well respected vendor that I will not mention names out of respect of our relationship and his buisness. He of course didn't know he had them. All of the colonies had 100 plus heads on the rocks and looked beautiful in the pictures. When I got them they were closed up and only a few would open. Shortly after I started seeing them deplete. Then I noticed my other zoas depleting. I ended up losing severalmthoudand dollars worth of zoas before I figured out what was going on.

kevin318 · Apr 8, 2020

How did you get rid of them? I think I have them but of some foundation rocks in my tank. I can’t remove them for treatment.

somethinq else · Apr 9, 2020

Hey kevin, I actually cured it with furan. That's the only method I know right off to do it the right way. If you do have zoa pox you need to act fast. If you want to pm me your phone number I can give you a call this afternoon and help walk you thru it as well as give you some things to look for/other possible options.

kevin318 · Apr 9, 2020

somethinq else said:
Hey kevin, I actually cured it with furan. That's the only method I know right off to do it the right way. If you do have zoa pox you need to act fast. If you want to pm me your phone number I can give you a call this afternoon and help walk you thru it as well as give you some things to look for/other possible options.

I'm not sure how to PM through this system