Melting Zoas? Something eating them?

Gonzo74

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Does anyone know anything that would make some Zoas just melt overnight? It’s like I can see just a small amount of the zoa left on the plug and by tomorrow it will all be gone.

I can't figure it out at all. Some (very few) Zoas survive in my tank and all others just melt away. Some melt away and then like 2 months later start to come back (very few do this).

I already have some that melted away overnight last and all that is left is a frag plug.

Maybe something could be eating them at night? What do you think?

my SPS and LPs are growing great and fully extended so I just don’t get it.
The only fish I think could be eating them is a copperband. Could this fish be eating them at night?

Alk - 8.5
Mag- 1350
Cal- 430
PH- 8.1 +/- .1
phos- .12
Nitrate- 5-10

100 Gallon Disolay
40 gallon filtration with fuge
2x Hydra-26 LEDs
 

fishguy242

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hi,fresh water dip a few ,see if you have zoa eating nudi's
 

fishguy242

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yes dip in fw a little bit warmer than tank water let sit 2-3 min swish ,the nudi is the same color as the zoa it is eating,use caution ,glasses and wash hands well ,careful of palytoxin do not touch eyes or mouth,if there will see in dip:)
 

fishguy242

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first see if this is the problem,keep us posted,we can go from there,pics will help also :)
 
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Gonzo74

Gonzo74

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This was a colony of Bam Bams last night. About 10 polyps.

I just caught my file fish nipping at the other zoas I got last night. Maybe this is the culprit?

I will try the fresh water dip today and see if that is also an issue.

21368FC5-AD73-4EC4-8FEF-F0DE1540A19F.jpeg
 

fishguy242

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nudi's are not going to do that much damage overnight!! bye bye filefish,cannot hurt to trial dip a set to see,but always dip your new ones ,pain to get rid of nudi's once you get em ;)
 

fishguy242

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wait until night time,much easier to catch,normally sleep up high ,hit w flashlight and net
 

littlebigreef

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The fish is likely picking at it because it's melting. What's causing that is likely a bacterial or fungal issue which can sweep in and melt a colony over the course of a few days. The translucent tissue and lack of pigmentation in the zoa is the key indicator. This often happens in zoa collections once they get past a certain size. The solution here is early intervention. If its just a single colony a round of furan-2 dips (optionally paired with a lugol's dip) is the answer. If you have several colonies that are looking like this then hitting the aquarium with Chemiclean is the way to go. Often cases I see something like this pop up I'll triage the colony removing any affected polyps and then score (cut) the mat between the next closest remaining zoas and any part of the colony that is obviously still healthy.

Once the tissue has gone translucent, the mouth is blown out, or the pigmentation is gone the zoa is past the point of being saved.
 

Luis1992

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I’m experiencing something very similar. All corals in the frag tank are happy except zoas. Literally they are melting over night. I just added chemiclean and will update with results. I have moved affected corals to a qt tank and will update on progress. Any other advice would help.
parameters are
Alk 7.26
Cal 498
Mag 1352
Nitrate 15
Phosphate .14
 

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