Educate me please.

[dkelley]

I was really upset over the weekend and I don't have pics or "evidence" of what transpired except some dead/dying coral. I didn't plan on making this post but my wife "suggested" I should and she's likely right, you know how that gos right guys???

Ok, I received two rocks with zoas on them from someone my father knows. The zoos didn't look to healthy, almost like zombies or black and white zoas, the were grey to look at with only a three or four that had decent color out of hundreds.

I put these rocks in my frag tank and the next day all of my meaty brain corals were dead or dying. Needless to say I was ticked, beyond ticked. My little frag tank only has about 15 corals in it but all of them were super healthy and thriving, numbers were perfect and it was my favorite little tank I owned. Now everything is crappy.

Palytoxin? Zoe Pox affect brain coral? Something else?? I just want a post mortem so I learn something instead of stewing about it all day and having my wife tell me to "ask for directions".

You all are awesome, educate me so I don't make more mistakes in the future. FYI, I did dip (Coral RX) the two rocks when they came in.

 

[T-J]

My first question would be "what did they look like in the other person's tank?"
You might want to reach out to the person they came from to see if they have had any recent issues or if they treated their tank with anything.

 

[Cell]

A new zoa colony addition should not wipe out a bunch of existing coral. There is something else going on here.

 

[Cell]

I don't love the idea of dipping entire rocks. Did you rinse thoroughly before adding to your tank?

 

[Stephen8169301]

I don't love the idea of dipping entire rocks. Did you rinse thoroughly before adding to your tank?

Could the dip leached it’s way and stayed in rock?

 

[dkelley]

All good suggestions. The Zoas looked the same in his tank. Kind of just grey but they were open. A couple were colorful like I said before but the rest were very greenish like zombie makeup or something.

I really wish I took a picture. I'm not being helpful.

After the dip I placed the rocks in another bowl with salt water for 10 minutes to rinse.

 

[nkyreef]

Did the dip maybe kill off something inside the rocks and there's something in the water now? Any difference in your phosphate levels?

 

[dkelley]

Phosphate was good, actually it went down a little. I did do an almost 100% water change yesterday but numbers were good before hand. Nit6rates might have been a little low at 3.5 (Hannah). It's only a 14.8 gallon little tank. Honestly this tank had never done so well this past month with growth and everything. I was adding a little all for reef every few days and things were impressive. I was a proud dude. Rocks in and overnight all hell breaks loose. Kind of sucks, I just want a real lesson here so I don't repeat it.

Again, thank you all for your time.