Mystery Zoa melt, my search for a cure (follow my journey).

[Tavero]

Yeah I agree generally with that you are saying but at this point I am looking to try something else. My Zoa's are doing much better than there were when this whole process started but I am not getting the results i truly want and still have random issues with polyps closing and shirking. I have been doing Kalkwasser dosing for a few months now per the ACI method and have been able to lock down my PH to have swings less than .1 throughout the day. I continue to do my daily dosing per the Moonshiner's program but yet I still have problems. I noticed my ORP usually settles out around 250mV but have random drops at 110-116mV, figured what can it hurt to try Ozone on the tank to see if there is any improvement. Another super annoying thing about this tank is there seems to be a razors edge regarding algae. Even slightest bumps in P04 and algae explodes in the tank.

Fascinating. At this point I'm wondering if it wouldn't be easier just doing a continuous 50% water change per month like some lfs are doing instead of all that dosing, buying gadgets and overall messing around. Because I don't think they have the same problems with melting zoas like we do. Maybe they do? Idk. But they wouldn't be able to afford to sell them if they did. If I had more space available I would make a small test setup for that automatic water change experiment and ignore all dosing except phosphate and nitrate there.

I suppose you don't know what could be responsible for these random orp drops? I see you have a pH of 8.5 is it deliberate to to run the tank that high?

 

[Edgecrusher28]

Fascinating. At this point I'm wondering if it wouldn't be easier just doing a continuous 50% water change per month like some lfs are doing instead of all that dosing, buying gadgets and overall messing around. Because I don't think they have the same problems with melting zoas like we do. Maybe they do? Idk. But they wouldn't be able to afford to sell them if they did. If I had more space available I would make a small test setup for that automatic water change experiment and ignore all dosing except phosphate and nitrate there.

I suppose you don't know what could be responsible for these random orp drops? I see you have a pH of 8.5 is it deliberate to to run the tank that high?

I have heard that a lot of commercial systems us Ozone, but for what reason I am not sure. Local store that import and sell zoa's perhaps do not hold the coral long enough for the long term issues to set in; the buyers ultimately deal with the mystery melt, but that is just speculation.

The high PH is done on purpose, I do KALK dossing at night and run a 24/7 recirculating scrubber with an o2 valve that opens and closes as needed to pin the PH around 8.5. I made a Facebook post on one of the Hydro's community pages and asked to see other peoples ORP graphs and most people who do not use Ozone have ORP's around 315-350 naturally and I can not seem to go above 250 and have drops to 160/180. Who knows, probably a dead end but I will never know until i try and at a minimum I will have a clean smelling tank with clear water.