Exploded Zoa polyp

[chadfish]

Hey all,

New to Zoas. I have a frag of Fire& Ice that is filling out nicely, but one side of the plug is being dominated by an “exploded” polyp. It used to be normal, but instead of shrinking or bleaching, it sort of melted only in the middle. It still has its arms and looks more like aptasia.

It is safe to cut it off with a razor blade? Does this forum have a newbie fragging guide?

Sorry no time for pix at the moment

 

[jtp7004ft]

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[chadfish]

Thanks,

Is what I’m describing “normal”?

Does this happen from time to time?

 

[jtp7004ft]

Thanks,

Is what I’m describing “normal”?

Does this happen from time to time?

There are a lot of Zoa experts on this site...... I am not one of them I have never had that issue. I'm sure someone will chime in soon with some help..

 

[Mike from TN]

Help should be on the way soon!
@footgal

 

[PicassoClown04]

“Exploded”? If you have time to grab a pic, that’d be helpful. You said like an aptasia, so is the center disk lower than the tentacles or is it completely gone?

 

[chadfish]

“Exploded”? If you have time to grab a pic, that’d be helpful. You said like an aptasia, so is the center disk lower than the tentacles or is it completely gone?

Yes, the center of the disk is gone but the arms are still there. I feel like it exhibits feeding behavior too. It’s gotta go, it’s taking up the whole side of the frag disk. Everything else is growing and filling out.

Just had lights out on the tank so will post pix tomorrow. Any help will be appreciated. Also I’ll read up on fragging

 

[chadfish]

“Exploded”? If you have time to grab a pic, that’d be helpful. You said like an aptasia, so is the center disk lower than the tentacles or is it completely gone?

I swear this used to be a Zoa polyp. If you look closely, you can still see the white sparkles in the center like the others. It’s still alive and eats when I feed zooplankton. He’s now way too big and I’m afraid I’m wrong and it’s actually aiptasia.

 

[SchrutesReefs]

Looks like aptasia to me. Get rid of that thing stat. Do you happen to dip your coral in anything prior to putting them in your tank?

 

[chadfish]

Looks like aptasia to me. Get rid of that thing stat. Do you happen to dip your coral in anything prior to putting them in your tank?

Yes I dipped in ReVive for 10-15 min.

Why would aiptsia have the same white markings as the fire&ice tho?

Either was it’s coming out tomorrow morning.

 

[MNFish]

I would also say that is not a zoanthid, but an aiptasia.

 

[PicassoClown04]

Definitely an aptasia, not a zoa

I would try to scrape it out with a razor blade then do an H2O2 dip to try to kill it. Good luck

 

[chadfish]

Definitely an aptasia, not a zoa

I would try to scrape it out with a razor blade then do an H2O2 dip to try to kill it. Good luck

Won’t a H202 dip kill the Zoas?

 

[chadfish]

Okay, I attempted to frag off the offending polyp. I cut it from the colony and broke the disk where it was living. I then used H2O2 on a cotton swab to disinfect all around the area and underneath the frag (between the frag and the plug) and all around. I then superglued the area to try to contain any stray biological material.
Then an iodine dip to disinfect
Then a ReVive dip
Then a tank water wash and observe
Then back in the tank

My QT is for fish and has copper, so I couldn’t observe it for long.

Here’s hoping I didn’t make it worse

Thanks for your help everyone

 

[tamanning]

Looks like aptasia to me. Get rid of that thing stat. Do you happen to dip your coral in anything prior to putting them in your tank?

I will second that. get it out before it spreads.

 

[Cell]

Next time just smother it with superglue and good to go.

 

[mwil79]

Super glue and invest in a peppermint shrimp. You will never see aiptasia again. They have homes in all of my tanks.

 

[chadfish]

Next time just smother it with superglue and good to go.

There’s going to be a next time?

 

[Softhammer]

Oh, yes..

 

[PicassoClown04]

Won’t a H202 dip kill the Zoas?

Nope, very common practice to do that dip on zoas