Help my zoas

[Tracey2]

I have 7 colonies, 1 that I have had for 2 years, they were all spreading nicely then a few weeks ago I noticed my largest colony wasn't opening and started melting, this now has happened to all of the colonies but 1. I do have a little red slime in my tank, and it looks like there is a brown algae on some of the closed zoas but not all of them, some look very clean and still won't open, it could also be my lemonpeel angel although I don't see her bothering them at all.

Today I started a 10g with tank water and moved 2 of the colonies there after a quick dip in Seachem coral disinfectant, this removed 1 bristle star and a few pods which also could be the problem. I have a marineland led fixture (crap) over my 10g qt, I'm not sure my zoas will like this light but wanted to see if they would open more without the presence of the angel. I also have Furan 2 on hand after reading a few have used this as a dip.

what should my next step be? thanks for the help

 

[heckeng]

Change the water in your QT in my opinion. It sounds like you have a water quality issue causing a problem right now. With the 10 gallon tank being so much more shallow, the zoas may not mind the poor light as much as you think. Did you have a fish die or something that you can't see causing a nutrient spike in the water?

 

[furfeet26]

that happened to me too. But eventually they grew back luckily.
Would also like to know what it is.

 

[Tracey2]

I think my water quality has been improving over the last month, I have been battling ha and have increased my water changes and have been cleaning up weekly. All other corals are very happy. I will do a wc tomorrow, how much do you think for a 10g tank?

Tonight I did a furan dip with the 2 colonies in QT and I moved 2 colonies in the DT higher and where there is more flow, I guess I will see how things look tomorrow.

Thanks for your help.

 

[heckeng]

I would mix up a 5 gallon bucket, and do 2.5 gallon change one night, then another the next. I just say do the change because of the red slime--sounds like you have a little too many nutrients in the water. The dips will probably help too.

 

[Tracey2]

Thanks heckeng, I have added bio pellets to my tank in the last month and even though I started very slowly it increased the red slime in the tank. The zoas started to close before adding the pellets so I don't blame them. So in the last month my nitrates have gone from 10 to 0, I also started running carbon when I noticed the zoas closing.

I did a small wc in the 10g, I will do a larger one later. Both the zoas in the DT and the ones in QT look the same, still melting.

Have you heard of dosing Vitamin C, do you know how to do this, I would imagine I can't just use our chewables?? Where do you get vit c without added flavouring etc.

 

[heckeng]

I am no expert on bio-pellets at all, I just posted a general information request for them on this site too. I wonder if you might have had your growth of bacteria, but as the bacteria is dying off (natural cycle) your skimmer isn't getting rid of them fast enough so the nutrients they used to grow are now leaching back into the water column? What kind of skimmer do you have on the tank? Is it working well? Did you see a difference as the Bio Pellets started working and started growing the bacteria?

I have never dosed Vitamin C either. I figure that my zoas have always done well with nothing more than water changes so why complicate things. That being said though, I did order a BP reactor and will be trying that soon to slow down some minor algae growth while keeping feeding regimen's the same.

 

[Tracey2]

Could be the bacteria, I am using an ATB840, its a bit small of this system but does work well, I did notice an increase initially when I started the pellets but that seems to have leveled out. If you are ordering a reactor, I find the pellets work best with a 3/4" inlet as opposed to the 1/2".

I read up on Vitamin C and am now trying to find NutriBiotic locally, probably a long shot but I don't know what else to do, the zoas still look the same. I did a larger wc on the 10g but I have to be carefull with this because my nsw has a higher alk.

 

[heckeng]

How long has it been since you cleaned the skimmer?

 

[Tracey2]

Good point, its been awhile, its difficult to get in and out of my sump. I would love to upgrade to the atb elegance.

 

[Tracey2]

Just thought I would update. All zoas are recovering but the ones that are doing the best are the ones I removed from the DT for a peroxide dip and returned to the DT. I think it was a water quality issue causing some algae growth on the stems, the peroxide really cleans that up.