Hephaestus Zoanthid Issue / Suggestions / Help Please.

[Juka087]

Trying to figure out what everyone would do about this single frag I have. It is a 3 polyp heph frag. Up until very recently the frag has looked great. I got it as 1 polyp, and it grew to 3 polyps. Then overnight it just got really angry for no reason. I since then have dipped it in a iodine bath. I did it 3 times every 3 days with no real decline or progress. Everything else in the tank is fat, and happy. Even the hallucinations are doing fine. The first picture is how they looked, and then the next day bam. Please do not ask about my parameters. The parameters are perfection, and I am growing hallucinations just fine. Most people I know can not even grow them. I can. There is something wrong with this frag, and I have no idea as to what. Last picture is some gb eclipse. they sit right beside the hephs. I just dont get it.

 

[saltybees]

Move it to a shadier spot/ lower flow and see what happens over a couple days. They’re generally ticked off after an iodine dip for a few days to weeks, especially if you’re doing multiples for whatever reason. or throw it out if there’s something wrong with it since your tank is “perfect”.

 

[Juka087]

Move it to a shadier spot/ lower flow and see what happens over a couple days. They’re generally ticked off after an iodine dip for a few days to weeks, especially if you’re doing multiples for whatever reason. or throw it out if there’s something wrong with it since your tank is “perfect”.

If everything in the tank is fat, and happy including hallucinations, and the only frag angry is that... yea know what. Ok...

 

[littlebigreef]

It's totally normal as collections get larger that certain zoas present issues. I have a larger collection where there's always a few that are looking crappy, a few that are recovering, and then the vast majority are fine.

You mentioned dipping in lugol's which is a good start and the fact that you did it in a series which is doubly better. Question, did you do a dip a day or 3 dips in a day? -The next step up would be a series of furan-2 dips (which is my big hammer). Furan-2 targets gram negative and positive bacterial (for simplicity assume that most bacterial have only two types of cell walls- this targets both). Furan-2 dips are not harsh and work best when done in a series. I get noticeably better results when I follow them with a lugol's bath.

I've found Hephaestus to be pretty resilient-fast growers. Mine are in about 150 par so its unlikely lighting is the issue especially since they were growing beforehand.

It looks the there's still plenty of tissue and something of a skirt there so I think you can turn them around.

 

[Juka087]

It's totally normal as collections get larger that certain zoas present issues. I have a larger collection where there's always a few that are looking crappy, a few that are recovering, and then the vast majority are fine.

You mentioned dipping in lugol's which is a good start and the fact that you did it in a series which is doubly better. Question, did you do a dip a day or 3 dips in a day? -The next step up would be a series of furan-2 dips (which is my big hammer). Furan-2 targets gram negative and positive bacterial (for simplicity assume that most bacterial have only two types of cell walls- this targets both). Furan-2 dips are not harsh and work best when done in a series. I get noticeably better results when I follow them with a lugol's bath.

I've found Hephaestus to be pretty resilient-fast growers. Mine are in about 150 par so its unlikely lighting is the issue especially since they were growing beforehand.

It looks the there's still plenty of tissue and something of a skirt there so I think you can turn them around.

I did 3 drops of lugols in 1 cup of water for 6 minutes. I then waited 3 days, and another was done. This was done 3 times. I have never done a furan dip before. How would I do that?

 

[littlebigreef]

I’d google around, there’s plenty of info on it. Quick and dirty is 3-4 cups of aquarium water to one packet of furan-2. Mix well. Let the frags sit 15-20 mins and then a quick rinse or (like I suggest) put them in a lugols bath for another 5-6mins and return to the aquarium. To get the best results you need to go 4-5 days in a row and then take a 2 day break and re-assess how they’re doing. One or two scatter shot treatments won’t yield the same results as a consistent series of dips.