Brown "Fungus" on Zoas

[Pufferpunk]

I'm so sick of this stuff! I have lost many colonies due to this. They can be doing fine for years, then close up, get covered in what looks like brown algae & then slowly dissappear. Most of my zoas are growing on my large pieces of LR--no hope of removing & dipping. Can I add something safe, like Maracyn to the tank, w/o disturbing the biological filtration?

 

[Ike]

You need to do something to prevent it from happening rather than looking for a quick fix. Maracyn or any other antibiotic is not the answer.What type of flow do you have and in what size tank? What type of nutrient export do you have? What is your PH level typically? How often and how large are you waterchanges? Lastly, any pics of the algae/fungus?

 

[Pufferpunk]

It's a 90g, with about 150lbs of LR. ASM G-2 in a 20g sump, alog with 2 bags of Purigen in a chamber attached to a pump that pushes aover a hundred gallons/hr thru it. Attached, there is a 20g fuge with a huge wad of cheato.
NO3 0.2 or less
pH 8.3
Ca 450
KH 9.3
I do water changes sporaticly, as the tank's nitrates are always very low.

These colonies are completely gone:

Currently affected:

The above pic are very expensive PE palys that I got from a friend. I've had them over a week & they still haven't opened.

 

[er1c_the_reefer]

i have the same problem on one of my colonies. i'm going to be trying an experiment with some antifungals (both OTC and rx only) in about a week.

if anyone can help identify what type of fungus it is, it would be helpful though. my first guess is a species of Aspergillus, but i haven't studied microbiology in depth enough to identify anything just by looking at it.

 

[impur]

I feel like a broken record, but i've rec'd zoas looking just like that. One 20min dip in Furan-2/RO and med-high flow did the trick for me. The stuff just flakes off after that. I know you can't dip, but it might be work chipping or scrapping those zoas off the rock for a dip.

 

[Ike]

Puffer, you still didn't answer the question about the flow in the tank. I had a issue with some dinos and what looked a little like cyano bacteria growing on my zoanthids. Upping the flow, cutting down on the feeding a little, and skimming a little wetter cleared it up in about a week. I also elevated my PH to 8.5-6. This is something you need to figure out the root cause of, not something you should solve with a dip, though a dip could be a short term soloution.

 

[Eklikewhoa]

Puffer, you still didn't answer the question about the flow in the tank. I had a issue with some dinos and what looked a little like cyano bacteria growing on my zoanthids. Upping the flow, cutting down on the feeding a little, and skimming a little wetter cleared it up in about a week. I also elevated my PH to 8.5-6. This is something you need to figure out the root cause of, not something you should solve with a dip, though a dip could be a short term soloution.

If a fungus dip is just a quick fix what is the cause of this red/brown fungus? It seems as though you know what causes this problem....please inform the rest of us so that we can prevent it from happening.

What parameters/flow/lighting/etc. should one have on their tank to keep from running into problems with this fungus?

 

[Pazazz]

Furan dip is GREAT!!! Works very well... I do not preform freshwater dips anymore. If you are looking to rid of most hitchhikers I used 15 to 20 drops of lugols to 1/2 gallon of tank water or just add it to the bag they arrive in and start a timer for 20 min and rinse in fresh tank water... Never had issues since doing this....

 

[Ike]

If a fungus dip is just a quick fix what is the cause of this red/brown fungus? It seems as though you know what causes this problem....please inform the rest of us so that we can prevent it from happening.

What parameters/flow/lighting/etc. should one have on their tank to keep from running into problems with this fungus?

I feel it's more of an algae or cyanobacteria. However, that's just as much of a guess as the people that are calling it a fungus. I feel excess nutrients and too little flow are at least contributing factors.

 

[Eklikewhoa]

Thanks for your input on this Ike..... the cyanobacteria is good hunch....maybe Erythromycin would be a better medication to use for this since that stuff knocks out cyano.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Puffer, you still didn't answer the question about the flow in the tank.

Yeah, forgot to mention--I've got a SeaSwirl on there that makes everything move well in the tank.

 

[Ike]

Is that all you have for circulation? How many GPH?

 

[Pufferpunk]

I'm not sure about the pump but it seems pretty strong. It's a Clark magnetic pump. I have the model # & looked it up but I can't find what the GPH is. Everything in there is waving around quite well.

 

[Ike]

I think the biggest seaswirl is rated at 1150 gph. Even if you're maxing it out that's not nearly enough flow for a 90 gal. tank.

 

[MarvinsReef]

Jeni, how's the progress coming along?

any updated shots of the affected zoas?

 

[Pazazz]

I think the biggest seaswirl is rated at 1150 gph. Even if you're maxing it out that's not nearly enough flow for a 90 gal. tank.

Ike, Why do you believe that is not enough flow for a 90 gallon? If it is not an sps dominant tank that does not seem to be a problem to me...

 

[Pufferpunk]

I did a 20 min dip w/Furan-2 & brushed with a soft toothbrush. No difference at all. I have a nice frag of really special palys that still haven't opened in 2 weeks.

 

[Ike]

Ike, Why do you believe that is not enough flow for a 90 gallon? If it is not an sps dominant tank that does not seem to be a problem to me...

The main problem would be keeping detritus suspended and allowing it to be filtered/skimmed out. As it stands now that detritus is settling on the zoanthid colonies and just acting as fertilizer. Also, odds are that the Seaswirl isn't maxed out because an AGA overflow is only rated for around 650gph IIRC. Even 15 years ago my reef tanks had far more turnover than that. Puff, I'd suggest you get a Koralia/Tunze powerhead or two and see if that improves things at all.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I added a Koralia to my brain frags on the sand bed. Really, everything moves really great in there. Every inch of the tank is covered by the flow of the SS. I just went over everything in the tank with my turkey baster & there was no detrious to be found anywhere on the corals.