Zoanthids melting away

[Nate_Krohn]

Over two days my zoanthid frags just started acting like they were melting away. No idea what’s going on. Tank parameters seem near perfect. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I did a 20 minute iodine dip and it did nothing.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Check with magnifier for bugs. Iodine good, try peroxide dip which they generally respond to.

 

[Nate_Krohn]

Check with magnifier for bugs. Iodine good, try peroxide dip which they generally respond to.

Okay, what bugs would do that?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Okay, what bugs would do that?

Look under the plug for little black or red bugs. Also any asterina starfish in the system?

 

[Nate_Krohn]

Look under the plug for little black or red bugs. Also any asterina starfish in the system?

I’ve seen one asterina starfish and I have seen those red bugs before.. but didn’t think anything of it. All the other corals in the tank are doing just fine.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’ve seen one asterina starfish and I have seen those red bugs before.. but didn’t think anything of it. All the other corals in the tank are doing just fine.

Bugs will munch on certain coral only and asterina do their destruction mainly at night.
After lights out, pull a flashlight and see if you see unusual activity (bugs etc)

 

[Saltyreef]

Try a 15 min dip in furan 2. I put a whole pack into about a quart of water. This always helps my zoas when they look like this. Iodine dip and h202 dip has only progressed my colonies further into degredation.

 

[NanoDJS]

I am also a big proponant of Furan 2 and Coral RX , I do 1 cup of water to one package of furan 2 , and mix it up good then 20 mins dip , upto 5 days in a row sometimes with wild colonies I am trying to save , I just had to do it last week actually, so far the tips are getting color again and starting to try and open, whats your lighting, spectrum , schedule ,intensity ?

 

[Nate_Krohn]

I am also a big proponant of Furan 2 and Coral RX , I do 1 cup of water to one package of furan 2 , and mix it up good then 20 mins dip , upto 5 days in a row sometimes with wild colonies I am trying to save , I just had to do it last week actually, so far the tips are getting color again and starting to try and open, whats your lighting, spectrum , schedule ,intensity ?

I don’t have a par meter but I’m using the current led pro dual light bars and it’s at about 60-75% intensity for 8 hours

 

[NanoDJS]

how far away from the fixture are these frags

 

[Nate_Krohn]

how far away from the fixture are these frags

I’d say about 18 or 20 inches

 

[NanoDJS]

yeah like was mentioned , I think you might have a zoa predator if your water is correct , and your lights are like that , only thing that makes sense , they dont have the fungus from that pic . and zoapox we would see also . can you put them lower for now ?like on the sand .... ***edit*** just saw this and maybe you dont have enough PAR , and def not enough PUR ... so its more than likely just the lighting after seeing these numbers

 

[Nate_Krohn]

yeah like was mentioned , I think you might have a zoa predator if your water is correct , and your lights are like that , only thing that makes sense , they dont have the fungus from that pic . and zoapox we would see also . can you put them lower for now ?like on the sand .... ***edit*** just saw this and maybe you dont have enough PAR , and def not enough PUR ... so its more than likely just the lighting after seeing these numbers

I’ve had them in the same spots for 3 or 4 months though and they’ve been just fine. Now the ones that have grown on my rocks are disappearing in a matter of an hour

 

[NanoDJS]

they could be surviving off of the energy they have stored , also like "colored up" zoas change over time in peoples tanks and become muted . Those lights are great for FOWLR or the like , but most corals you buy in the hobby now are all acclimated and growing in much diff light than that i have all my z & p 's in around 100-200 PAR with 90% of it PUR which the corals actually use, 3-4 months makes sense to me based on that , just like certain people insisting on running certain channels certain ways on their lights and 1-2 years in have massive colony collapse. So everything else is perfect , what is your iodine @ do you dose iodide ?

 

[Nate_Krohn]

they could be surviving off of the energy they have stored , also like "colored up" zoas change over time in peoples tanks and become muted . Those lights are great for FOWLR or the like , but most corals you buy in the hobby now are all acclimated and growing in much diff light than that i have all my z & p 's in around 100-200 PAR with 90% of it PUR which the corals actually use, 3-4 months makes sense to me based on that , just like certain people insisting on running certain channels certain ways on their lights and 1-2 years in have massive colony collapse. So everything else is perfect , what is your iodine @ do you dose iodide ?

I don’t dose iodine. I only dose alk and calcium is small amounts

 

[tankstudy]

Over two days my zoanthid frags just started acting like they were melting away. No idea what’s going on. Tank parameters seem near perfect. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I did a 20 minute iodine dip and it did nothing.

I would recommend having someone test all your water parameters again. This way you can see if your testing was off. Everything declining in 2 days is pretty fast. A little faster than I feel what a pest infestation could do unless they went unnoticed and hit such numbers.

 

[NanoDJS]

Well that could be the problem then, corals like this use and need Iodide , never dose Iodine to your tank . I dose every 2 days 10 ml of Seachem Iodide.

 

[Nate_Krohn]

I would recommend having someone test all your water parameters again. This way you can see if your testing was off. Everything declining in 2 days is pretty fast.

I’m going to take some water to the lfs here in about an hour

 

[drivingmecrazy]

You stated, "Your water parameters are near perfect" could you please list them for all to see?

Dont be too quick and dip them without knowing all your parameters. You could potentially make it worse.

Could you possibly post a picture of the "bugs" you are seeing. Maybe lay a frag down on its side to get a decent picture.

How new is your system, could you show us your setup?

Wishing you the best of luck resolving this issue.

 

[Nate_Krohn]

You stated, "your water parameters are near perfect" could you please list them for all to see

Dont be too quick and dip them without knowing all your parameters. You could potentially make it worse.

Could you possibly post a picture of the "bugs" you are seeing. Maybe lay a frag down on its side to get a decent picture.

Wishing you the best of luck resolving this issue.

Alk: 7.8
pH: 8.1
Nitrate: 10-15
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Calcium: 420