Zoa Pox.. Its that time again!

[Reef Pets]

I believe you are right, Zoa pox can happen with or without carbon. I feel that it has something to do with the change in water temp or is just runs a yearly cycle. In all, your guess is as good as mine. But, I try to be cautious and try hard to prevent them.

For the past month or two we have made sure not to bring in hardly any zoas at all. This way when it comes to putting them in quarantine we have little to worry about. We will be using a large rubbermaid, its about 75 gallons or so. This way its really easy to do a 50 percent water change every other day.

If you or anyone decides to quarantine it is recommended to use new saltwater in the quarantine tank, not water from your display tank.

 

[Titan$]

So if you are using new saltwater do you just mix up a fresh new batch and add a heater. What do you do about pH or do you also test that as well before adding the 50%. I just don't want to shock the zoas.

 

[CoralBandit]

I believe you need to get zoas or water etc from an infected source in order to get them. In other words just because its october doesn't mean your going to get them if you dont already have them. I have been fighting it for the last 3 months over the summer. I havnt used furan though b/c its such a pain but you better believe that's what I will be doing starting tomorrow.

The only reason it would be a good idea to remove the carbon while treating is so any dislodged particles of the pox, what ever bug it is, doesnt have a home to sit in until your treatment is over.

 

[Reef Pets]

I gotta say that you are the first person that has ever stated having Zoa Pox over the summer months. Are you positive that your zoas have zoa pox. Typically it spreads really fast and to be battling it for 3 months I would assume that you would not have any zoas left long ago.
Many people get Zoa Pox on zoas that have not added zoas in MANY months. When I got them a couple years ago I did not add any zoas to my system all summer and got them in October. I was not adding hardly any coral and no zoas at all because a the summer months are slow. I also know of a true coral farmer that has not added any zoas in a couple or years and he got an insane out break of them last Fall, I believe around mid November. For these reason I know that Pox does not come from other zoas only.

I just mix up a new batch of saltwater, add a pump to circulate and a heater. As for PH, I have never worried about it myself. With doing so many water changes everything should be fine.

 

[CoralBandit]

yea, my problem is that some of my zoas are on my base rocks the rest are free to dip, I manually remove the pustule with tweezers and dip in h202 which does nothing IMO and then I dip in coral Rx after that. So far it keeps it at bay but i would love to have a permanent solution. The pox have gotten to the colony on my base rocks so I can try and use bone cutters to remove and try furan on everyone every day.

Although ZP is aggressive I have been able to at least keep it from destroying my colonies, it may get a polyp here or there before I manually remove any traces of them with tweezers in separate container and dip.

Also, it would make sense for an importer to get them mistakenly, even without getting zoas. I just bought four maricultered bali SPS and found a cluster of zoas growing on the bottom.

 

[Reef Pets]

That makes since why you are able to keep them at bay, you are the first I have heard say that you had them in the summer months. A the time I got them I was not importing, no zoas at all had been added to my system. The farmer that i know had not added any coral. He has a huge system and is the only person that i know that truly believes in growing coral and fragging. I have never seen someone so dedicated to his ways when it comes to coral.

Dont take it that I am arguing with you because that is not the case, just never heard of anyone having them over the summer months. Not only that, I have gotten in thousands and I do mean thousands of zoa colonies over the years and not once have I ever gotten in a colony that was infected with zoa pox.

 

[Troylee]

Crazy thread.... I saw the title a few days ago and thought it was zoa season or something, like the goodies are coming in.... Never heard of this before lol... Never collected zoos either lol... I got a few right now but haven't noticed any problems....

 

[Reef Pets]

We are hoping for some goodies to come in next week... Of course there is no guarantee that your zoas will get them. I think of Zoa Pox like Flu season, typically the same time of year each year and some get it while others do not. Think of treating your zoas the same way that you would the Flu. Getting a Flu shot can prevent it just as taking the proper steps can prevent Zoa Pox. At least thats how I look at it.