my watermelons are shrinking...

cloak

cloak

New member
What would make a small colony of watermelons start to shrink up a disappear? The 5 other types of zoanthids I have are fine. Various sps corals are fine, my one ricordia is fine, derasa clam is fine, hammer coral is fine etc. The only other inhabitants I have in this 20 gallon tank is a scarlet hermit crab, an emerald crab, a small ocellaris clonfish, and a small three stripe damsel. I've had this colony for almost five months now and all this just started happening within the last three weeks. I haven't adding anything new to the tank for over a month and my regimen is still the same. I'm not seeing anything that looks like the pox, and sundials are ruled out. Any thoughts?

Thanks.
 
Did or have you FW dipped them for pest's? Was there a temp or salinity swing? You have been around for a while so I doubt it is that, but a dip might not hurt. JMHO and good luck
 
No, I didn't FW dip the frag when I got it. There was only four or five polyps at first, but over the last five months or so they spread like wildfire. Now, there almost all but gone. No temperature or alkalinity swings. Do you know of anything else other than the sundials that might feast on these things? Anything I should keep an eye out for?

Thank You.
 
cloak said:
Do you know of anything else other than the sundials that might feast on these things? Anything I should keep an eye out for?

Thank You.
Click to expand...

Nudies, spiders, large amphipods...

Look at them at night when the lights are off with a red bulb flashlight, you should be able to see any predators.
 
Will do. Thanks.

If I do have one of those pest though, what keeps them from going two inches to the left to one of my other colonies? If one has it, shouldn't they all have it? Wouldn't there be signs on all of them, or are they just stationary until the food supply runs out, so to speak?
 
my melons did the same thing, at first they were a lose frag and they kept falling off the rock i had them sitting on. I tried different spots and snails would always knock them off. I finally got some frag plugs and mounted them on a frag plug and put them on a rack. Then my lawnmower blenny kept resting on them. Now I'm down from 12 polyps to 4 and they are closed up like a drum. They were the only frag effected, I had other frags that fell and they all still open.
 
there could be a million different reasons why they did this. but the first place i would look is pests like mentioned above. but unlike the others i would prefer to dip mine in revive or lugols. also if you do see anything when the lights are off i would dip all the zoas if possible. all zoas/palys are different and what might affect one may not affect another in the same way. with that being said i had a colony of nuc greens and a colony of eagle eyes right next too each other on the sand bed. the eagle eyes started to die off so i checked them when the lights went out with a flash light and saw some bugs crawling around on both colonies. i dipped them both and the nucs were never affected...... but the eagle eyes died off in the next couple of days even after they were dipped.

so dipping would be a great place to start if you havent already. sorry for the long drawn out answer... :)
 
If the Watermelons are getting eaten, it's possible that the pests simply like those zoas more then the others right next to them.
As un-scientific as this may sound, maybe the pest likes eating the Watermelons a little more than what's sitting right next to them. But once the Watermelons get completely eaten, maybe the pest in question will THEN move right next and start on the others.

\ I'm no expert
 
you are having the same problem i am having. i had a large 40+ colony big and brilliant. now they are half of that and they are are maller. i did recently some other zoas in the tank, but they are nice and big. do you have any large snails? i got a fighting or a queen conch in my nano and it slimes everything when it comes out of the sand and i think he might be the culprit.

some of my other zoos have died and look like they were rotting on other frags.
 
Very interesting. My colony of watermellon Zoas have recently melted away as well. Interesting enough, my zoas adjacent to the watermellons ARE NOT melting away, and all other zoas in my tank are very healthy...
 
I haven't checked the polyps at night with the red light. I've been a little busy with Halloween and all. I'll still have to do that. As far as the dipping goes, I'd like to but all my zoas have either came on a plug or a small piece of rock. If I tried to dip them I would have to take the whole reef struture apart. No can do. My LFS is pretty good at inspecting the corals he sells though. The only snails I have are five or six turbos, a few trochus, one nerite. I will keep an eye on that emerald crab. I'd have no problem getting rid of that. Thanks for the responses all. Let me see if I can get a picture today for reference.
 
Here's a picture. Not the best but you get the the idea. When you see the outline of the zoa's, you wouldn't be able to see the rock in between when they were still there in full glory.

sickzoas.jpg
 
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