GHA under control but my Zoa island !

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

Hello R2R!
I recently had a Dino outbreak that I have reduced and from what I can tell, have beaten through the use of a UV sterilizer from innovative marine on my nuvo 20, and macrobacter 7 bacterial dosing !


Anyway, after beating the Dino’s , my nitrate and and phosphates began to rise due to the bacteria breaking down all the waste. As I realized my phosphates were at .17ppm and nitrates 20 ppm +, all my Dino spots were beginning to become covered in GHA . This happened about 2 weeks ago from today 10/12/21. I have since added a few torches snail, these spiky ninja start looking snails that for the life of me I can’t remember their names, and a fighting conch that helps maintain my sand. I have 2 nissarious snails in there too. I plan on adding a tuxedo urchin to help with the GHA outbreak as well. So far I’m scrubbing daily to allow the CUC to eat the shorter strand of GHA which they are doing great at.

the problem here is that my zoa island is full of GHA that I cannot scrub off due to the GHA being in between polyps. I want to try to hydrogen peroxide dip but I’m afraid I will bleach them. I don’t want to use vibrant either as I have heard negative stories of people losing their corals as well. What have you guys done that have helped in this scenario, especially on Zoas ? Thank you in advance !

 

[mdb_talon]

I have never had issues dipping zoas in peroxide and it does help. I would recommend a pair of tweezers to manually remove as much as you can and then a 50/50 mix of tank/peroxide 3%. Tweezers (especially if you get the pointy end style) do wonders for removing gha from between zoa polyps. Make sure to wear your goggles if you use the tweezers if you accidently get a polyp pinched they will squirt you.

 

[Spare time]

You could always try flux rx or similar fluconazole products. Takes about 2 weeks but usually works. Otherwise, try an emerald crab or urchin.

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

I have never had issues dipping zoas in peroxide and it does help. I would recommend a pair of tweezers to manually remove as much as you can and then a 50/50 mix of tank/peroxide 3%. Tweezers (especially if you get the pointy end style) do wonders for removing gha from between zoa polyps. Make sure to wear your goggles if you use the tweezers if you accidently get a polyp pinched they will squirt you.

Gotcha ! Will definitely order me some tweezers as the la island is packed. Got my goggles on stand by too! Will dip them in 50/50 hydrogen peroxide and some tank waters one time this week or next week. I’ll keep you update on the results ! As far as how long, what’s your take ?

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

You could always try flux rx or similar fluconazole products. Takes about 2 weeks but usually works. Otherwise, try an emerald crab or urchin.

Definitely will try an urchin, heard they’re miracle workers on GHA haha!

 

[Spare time]

Definitely will try an urchin, heard they’re miracle workers on GHA haha!

Urchins are by far the best algae eaters in a tank imo

 

[mdb_talon]

Gotcha ! Will definitely order me some tweezers as the la island is packed. Got my goggles on stand by too! Will dip them in 50/50 hydrogen peroxide and some tank waters one time this week or next week. I’ll keep you update on the results ! As far as how long, what’s your take ?

The last time i had to do it was when i bought a "quitting the hobby" sale from a guy who at one point i think had an awesome tank, but neglected and gha took over everything.

I did the approach i suggested and removed bulk of it with tweezers. Then the dip for 5-10 minutes. Then rinse in saltwater and back in tank. The zoas were unhappy a day or two but turned out just fine. within 1 to 2 days the gha i was unable to pull out starting bleaching and dying. About 10 days later i did the same process because there were still some healthy patches. After that my cuc was able to take care of any remaining algae that survived.

I would note that in my experience a 50/50 mix is extremely bad for lps(acans and favia specifically i tested). Luckily with those it is generally much easier to do a complete manual removal.

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

The last time i had to do it was when i bought a "quitting the hobby" sale from a guy who at one point i think had an awesome tank, but neglected and gha took over everything.

I did the approach i suggested and removed bulk of it with tweezers. Then the dip for 5-10 minutes. Then rinse in saltwater and back in tank. The zoas were unhappy a day or two but turned out just fine. within 1 to 2 days the gha i was unable to pull out starting bleaching and dying. About 10 days later i did the same process because there were still some healthy patches. After that my cuc was able to take care of any remaining algae that survived.

I would note that in my experience a 50/50 mix is extremely bad for lps(acans and favia specifically i tested). Luckily with those it is generally much easier to do a complete manual removal.

Yes I tried on two frags today and they’re pretty closed up. They did open up just now though but now all the way. So far, loads of algae is still present, colors look bright as well. Ordered a dragging kit that will help me pick out as much GHA before the dip. I’m going to try again this weekend on all the frags. Planning on dragging some Zoas and keeping them on a rack in case my dipped Zoas don’t do too well. I only kept my Zoas in the water for a minute , might go ahead and go longer this time

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

Urchins are by far the best algae eaters in a tank imo

Definitely , actually picking one up tomorrow at my lfs !

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

I dipped two of my zoa frag (utter chaos and bam bams) in a 50/50 of tank water and hydrogen peroxide for 1 minute. I was able to see a lot of fizz coming off the algae. After a day of waiting to see what would fall off, only a bit of GHA did, regardless there was still a good amount of my frags. Not sure if I left them in for too little of time, however my Zoas seemed fine afterwards, with the exception of my bad bams who seemed to lost some color but they usually do when stressed. I’ve found bam bams to be a tricky zoa to keep