closed zoa help

[bassist6108]

I have a colony of bright green zoas that has been happily growing for several months. IN the last week, several of the polyps have closed over and appear to have white heads, like pimples. I recently had a cuke die in the tank and have done some large water changes, and most of the other corals are looking fine. Any ideas of what causes this behavior and what to do to correct it? Are there any dips that I should be doing to the colony? All the other zoas in the tank are unaffected. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[msn711]

Check the zoanthid forum here on RC...much more knowledgeable folks and you've got a better chance of finding an answer. My first thought would be zoa eating nudibranchs. Inspect for bugs, and little white swirls (their eggs). An iodine dip will kill the bugs. Personally, I use Tropic Marin Pro Coral Cure. Are polyps starting to disappear or are they just not opening?

 

[Æonic]

> IN the last week, several of the polyps have closed over and appear to have white heads, like pimples

Sounds like Zoa Pox. I had this on mine. I lost a few colonies before I found this thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=10970795#post10970795

Basically, a dip in a medication called Furan-2 (that most good LFS should stock) will take care of it.

But yeah could also be nudi's, but from how you described it, I'd check this out first.

 

[bassist6108]

Thank you both for the input. The problem with my zoas doesn't look like the pictures at the beginning of the post. It is more like the entire head has formed a white mass, not tiny nodules on the sides. msn711 - the polyps aren't disappearing, just not opening.