Zoas and GSP dying/melting away.

[Knight_Solaire01]

Hello everyone.

Recently I added a Sea Hear to my tank to deal with the ton of hair algae I have in my tank. The explosion of the algae is due to me not having anyplace in my apartment that isn't near some indirect sunlight, and working from home I don't want the blinds shut all the time. Pros and cons of working from home. At any rate after getting the sea hair I noticed my GSP and all of my Zoas are shrinking away. It has been days since the GPS came out and it's purple body is starting to turn grey. The zoas are all but melted away into little stubs that wont last. My montepora, Kenyan tree, frogspawn, and orange lepto are all fine and dandy. My water quality is good too. Is my sea hear eating my zoas and gsp?

 

[FloridaMicroReef]

This is a total random guess on my part.

I had an unusual loss of my zoas. 2 of the 3 zoas clusters in my 3 gallon pico reefjar just up and started slowly shrinking. (During this time I also noticed my GSP declining in health with only half the polyps coming out).

After weeks of shrinkage down to stubs, I started dosing Kent's Iodide to provide the zoas with iodine in a form they can easily use. I manually add drops of iodide on a daily basis. I can give you the ratio later if you want it.

The shrinkage stopped, stabilized, and just today the zoa polyps have started reopening and growing! Saved from the brink. Plus my GSP looks healthier now too!

In my pico tank, there is a third large cluster of zoas, and a SUPER huge colony of Green Implosion Palys. I believe all these zoas and palys love iodide / iodine and were sucking it out of the tank water. The 2 smallest clusters could not compete.

What does this have to do with you? . . . ?

Good question. I vaguely remember reading that algae also can strip out iodide / iodine from the water. The explosion of algae growth could be stealing the iodine present in the water . . . causing your zoas suffer.

I have no knowledge or proof. This is just a guess.

 

[Knight_Solaire01]

This is a total random guess on my part.

I had an unusual loss of my zoas. 2 of the 3 zoas clusters in my 3 gallon pico reefjar just up and started slowly shrinking. (During this time I also noticed my GSP declining in health with only half the polyps coming out).

After weeks of shrinkage down to stubs, I started dosing Kent's Iodide to provide the zoas with iodine in a form they can easily use. I manually add drops of iodide on a daily basis. I can give you the ratio later if you want it.

The shrinkage stopped, stabilized, and just today the zoa polyps have started reopening and growing! Saved from the brink. Plus my GSP looks healthier now too!

In my pico tank, there is a third large cluster of zoas, and a SUPER huge colony of Green Implosion Palys. I believe all these zoas and palys love iodide / iodine and were sucking it out of the tank water. The 2 smallest clusters could not compete.

What does this have to do with you? . . . ?

Good question. I vaguely remember reading that algae also can strip out iodide / iodine from the water. The explosion of algae growth could be stealing the iodine present in the water . . . causing your zoas suffer.

I have no knowledge or proof. This is just a guess.

Then I need to start adding iodine. I never tested for it to be honest. Just Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites, Calcium, and Alk.

 

[FloridaMicroReef]

Personally, I never tested for Iodine either.

First off, I have a super small tank = 3 gallon bowl. Reefbowls and Reefjars like that just do large 100% - 66% water changes weekly. So never really bother testing for anything EVER, since every week since so much water is changed. Plus, I add a few drops of "Tropic Marin - All For Reef" - so I could not possibly think that there was an Iodine / Iodide deficiency.

Second, I tried dipping my zoas and that seemed to make things worse. Over some weeks they shrank more and even faster.

Then I stumbled across numerous people who said, that soft corals, and zoas (especially) use Iodine / Iodide supplements specifically for zoa health.

Somehow Zoas need the Iodide / Iodine to process the energy their zooxanthellae make in their polyps. WHEN THERE IS A LOT OF LIGHT. . . without enough Iodide it's almost like the zooxanthellae are over producing energy for the Zoa. . . therefore the zoa polyp squints or closes to limit the light getting to the zooxanthellae.

But with its metabolism all out of whack it withers and dies.

It's possible this could be happening in your tank. The additional light from the windows is fueling the algae growth. The algae is exploding in growth due to the extra light. The zooxanthellae in your Zoas also detect more sunlight and are amped up too, but the algae is stealing all the Iodide / Iodine. And the zoas are deficient.

Again this is a total guess.

Kent's Iodide is only like $7-$10 so worth taking a chance. Plus, even if it doesn't work. . . adding it as a trace element long term will probably help all the soft corals you might have in your tank, even if the zoas die.

But hopefully you can save them.

You want to dose Iodide. Iodide is Iodine in a safe form that the coral can easily use. Apparently, dumping in pure Iodine could be more dangerous.

The instructions say the "best method" is 8 drops of Kent's Iodide per 50 gallons each day. The bottle does not come with an eyedropper, so you'll need to buy one. I went straight to this MAX daily dose ratio. (but for a 3-gallon tank I use WAY less than 8 drops).

I should also tell you, that I'm also adding Brightwell Aquatics "Coral Amino" Acid because it was said to be a SUPER easy form of Food that corals can use to repair their bodies and regrow when ill.

I went straight to max daily dose on that also:

5ml per 50 gallons added daily. ( I drop that in the top of the tank water to broadcast feed, I don't bother target squirting the zoas with the Amino Acid.

Good Luck!

This just worked for me. I don't want a "I have a hammer = everything is a nail" type situation. But the great thing is that both the Iodide and Coral Amino are cheap and useful long term so your money wont be wasted. And I enjoy adding the drops daily. It's as fun as feeding the tank.

 

[danieyella]

I can second iodide. I utilize the reef moonshiner method which has a lot more to it which I won't get into -- BUT I started out with Seachem Iodide 3 drops a day in my 100g tank. Saw a little improvement. After another icp test decided to up it to 7 drops a day, saw more improvement. I'm waiting for another test to come back to see if I'm safe to increase it more or not. My zoas were starting to thin out prior to all of this. The thickly grown clusters were fine, but they weren't continuing to grow that way.