Help with problem

[richie reef]

I am having a problem with some kind of algae or something take over some of my Zoa's.

Can someone please help or give some ideas what this looks like?

They have been closed and like this for about 3 weeks. Most recently you can see the growth over the polyps.

Thanks in advance.

 

[650-IS350]

try brushing it off with a very soft bristle tooth brush.

Also look into Lugols or peroxide dips. Search RC for those threads.

 

[richie reef]

I have some lugols but I cannot Rio this because the rock it too big to remove from the tank.

 

[650-IS350]

just run a soft bristle brush on em but don't scrub or put TOO much pressure

 

[richie reef]

It seems to not come off...

I gently scrubbed away some of this from my green star polyps but the algae stuff will not come off. Any other ideas?

 

[chrispc66]

Try increasing the flow over the zoas. I'm afraid these will fade out though in the current condition. Once the algae takes hold they struggle to recover.

Increasing the flow will reduce the issue spreading to adjacent individuals, and may also assist the affected ones recovery.

Good luck.

 

[Rudolph]

Try a turkey baster as well, you can put a pretty strong stream right on the needed spots. The nicer ones (a little bit higher in cost) have a much stronger stream. It is good to use it around you rocks right before you change your water to get in those places where you have build up.

 

[Lskurys]

I have been having the same problem with some of my zoa's. I picked up a frag a few weeks ago. The stuff just showed up on them over night. I have added more flow and brushed them nothing has seemed to help them so far. I am down to about 6 heads that are opening up now.

View attachment 189811

View attachment 189812:sad1:

 

[650-IS350]

fungus... you can try a Furan 2 dip on it to. or the Hydrogen Peroxodie treatment if it can be dipped.

Worst case, chop off the infected polyps away to save the good ones.

 

[A. Grandis]

Have you tried Turbo spp. or any herbivore snails?
It looks like algae to me, not fungus.
Lugol's shouldn't do the job, and actually will turn it worse as it will feed the algae.
I would try snails first. Avoid brushes at all costs.
Good luck!

Grandis.

 

[Lskurys]

Hydrogen Peroxodie treatment? Just remembering the Hydrogen peroxoide is at a 10 to 1 correct?

 

[650-IS350]

I've used hydrogen peroxide dips to also kill algae.

 

[richie reef]

I am thinking about cutting the zoa's off that are contaminated and trying to dip them with peroxide.


The algae has overtaken them and will not brush off. I am curious if there is some other method to dose the tank to deplete the algae.


Is this a macro algae?


Several of my rocks are not removalable from my tank due to coral growth between rocks. It would also cause damage to several corals from even try to move the rocks.

I also read it can be sprayed with straight peroxide. Is this correct or is dilution needed?

 

[A. Grandis]

I would try snails first.
Yes, peroxide dip is fine and you could cut them off the rocks and make new frags after the peroxide dip.
But if snails work why do that?
They are probably micro algae.

Another thing to try before peroxide would be to siphon them out with an air line tube.
The air line tube has better chances to prevent damage to the polyps.

You'll need to figure out what is causing the algae problem.

Grandis.

 

[richie reef]

Then maybe I will try some snails. I do wish to understand why the algae problem appeared. The only thing I can think was I had stirred up my sand bed. Shortly after I did notice some cyno on top of my sand bed.
Could this have caused the algae on the zoa's?

 

[A. Grandis]

Yep, snails first. Try the small ones.

I had a similar problem in the past and the Turbos did the job (Turbos are what we can get here), along with water chemistry correction. My trouble was because I moved the tank. Only one colony had the algae. Brush didn't work.

Avoid Turbos because you won't have enough algae after those are gone, they will starve and die fast.

Yes could be the sand, depending on how long you had the sand and what's going on in it.

What type of sand do you have?
How deep?
How long was the sand undisturbed before you stirred up the substrate?
Why did you want to stir the sand?
Do you have a plenum?

Those are some of the questions that will give some light for the answers.
Perhaps others had the same problem and will help you here...
Normally the sand wouldn't be the reason.

Try to remember other possibilities and do some testing (phosphate, nitrate, alkalinity, magnesium, calcium, SG,...), if possible.

Grandis.

 

[richie reef]

Here is a quick update from my algae zoa's issue. The tooth brush showed no imorovedment. The hydrogen peroxide also showed no improvement. I poure it over some zoas and mixed it with some tank water to soak for about 2 min. Not visual improvements. I do have a couple of snails and they only seem to graze over the sand/rock bed. I even tried placing one up on top of trouble area and and took off to the bottom of the tank. The tank water sample I tested didn't show any problems. I did see my magnesium high; test showed 2000. Not sure if my test kit is any good... and my hardness test kit is not good anymore either. One last thing I dosed the tank for cynobacteria. It is appearing on the sand bed on the opposite end of the tank. That is all for know. Will need water change to follow. I am still struggling with these zoa's... hoping to find a recovery soon!

 

[A. Grandis]

2000 would be too high for Mg. I would get a new test to make sure.
How could that be? Do you add Mg every day without testing?
I'm not sure what "... dose the tank for cyanobacteria ..." means, but I would avoid at all costs to try to kill cyano with medicines/products. Many times it does worse than good.
What and how many snails did you get? Give them some more time...
Your snails could die soon, depending on the medicine/dosage you've used for cyanos.
Please do not brush the zoas again! They will stay closed for long time and the algae won't be eliminated that way. Hope you didn't hurt them doing so.

What now?
Make sure about the Mg, buy a new test.
Do water changes to follow up with the mistake of using the cyano medicine/product. Try not to change too much at once.
Remember: stability is very important.
Try some good carbon and make sure your skimmer is a good one.
Give some time to the snails...

My US$.02 to you. :spin3:

Grandis.

 

[victor escobar]

What about a nudi infection? By the way do you know how to get rid off zoa's nudis?

 

[richie reef]

Just wanted to give an update. I did an almost 20% water change today. The chemical was called chemiclean for red slime. This is what i dosed the other day. It (redslime or cyno) went away nicely. I haven't seen any improvements to the zoa's yet. I was reading some other threads about peroxide dip and it can be dangerous from I read and can kill them. I only did like 10% maybe for 2 min. Didn't see any bubbling like some others saw at 50/50 at 5 min mix. Haven't seen any nudi zoa eaters either. The Mg I will try to sample again tomorrow. The snails haven't really seen them cleaning up the algae. I did see some of my hermit crabs close to the area but no real confirmation they are helping. Maybe I need to visit lfs for some more algae eaters of some kind of miracle in a bottle. I still haven't given up. I was also thinking I might get some more iodine to dose. Have read it helps open the zoas. I only have lugols for now. Please any other advice is much appreciated. Thanks everyone who has been following.