my zoas are disappearing

m0nkie

Well-known member
:sad2:

need some help identifying the issue. I have about 25+ different zoas in the tank. They are all fairly small. Most of them have 2-5 polyps.

I've been seeing them disappear lately. all small zoas. At first I thought something ate it, because one of the polyp had only 1/4 left. (i didn't do a good job dipping). I observed the polyps at night for bugs but nothing.. a week goes by and everything was fine. I did a 3 day black out for cyano. 4th day (2 days ago), saw one of the 6pp zoa missing 3pp. today, only 1pp. the missing polyps all turned to little bumps. weird thing was it had 3 in the morning. so whatever killed 2 did it during bright day time.

my fish list are in my signature. i have never seen the foxface pick on any coral.

any ideas???

if i lose another frag or two, i'll start picking them all out of the DT. everything is glued down so it's going to be a pain..

question about temp zoa tank. (20long)

1. I have 2 Coralife Aqualight T5 Fixture 30" and bulbs. is that enough? Distance between coral and light? I have LED and never messed with T5s.

2. Would some flow from a HOB filter be enough? or should I put a MP10 in there?

3. how often should WC be? no fish, just zoas until i find what it is. or at least 2 month to starve out whatever is in DT.

nitrate: 0
phosphate: 0
cal: 430
alk: 9.4
Mag: 1350
temp: 79-81
sg: 1.026

thanks if anyone can help!!
 
You could have a rock crab in your live rock. A rock crab did in a couple small fish and some frags in my tank a few years ago.
 
I have 1 crab only. all my rocks came from base rocks, so I highly doubt I have other unwanted crabs.

I originally thought it was nudibranch too. I check every single morning now 2hrs before lights on. nothing... I caught an asterina star, but it was just sitting on the frag. seen a few stars, but always on glass. I wonder if zoa pox was the issue because one zoa had white spots all over. but it's very healthy, so might just be the pattern.

the issue i'm seeing is: healthy, but small juvi polyps during the day. then suddenly it close up completely. remain closed for 2 days. melt.

what i also see is that these polyps are connected other polyps on their base, but sometimes their connector part melts first. then they slowly disappear.

question: sometimes when i get a frag of 1 or 2 polyps, it would grow another 1-2 polyps within a month, then melt away. could it also be that the coral was not healthy from fragging? I always thought growth meant healthy corals. maybe not always?

I'm wondering that question because I'm seeing some improvements. No more zoa deaths at least.. maybe they just don't die right away?
 
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Are they wild harvested zoas? Or are you seeing any pox? Looks like white head zits on stalks.

I don't know if they are wild harvested. they all came from local members frags, so probably not.

I only see 1 frag with these white heads. but don't think it's zoa pox. it has an even pattern and appears on every polyp after closing. it's not on any other zoa and this one opens up nicely every day.
 
I don't know if they are wild harvested. they all came from local members frags, so probably not.

I only see 1 frag with these white heads. but don't think it's zoa pox. it has an even pattern and appears on every polyp after closing. it's not on any other zoa and this one opens up nicely every day.

Dude I literally have an identical problem. Almost all of my zoas have little white spots all over the stalks not raised. They are halfway open and not looking good. Has been going on for well over a week now.
 
It sounds like it could be . Can you post pic? They can still open for awhile when they get it. And you see them best when closed. If it is you'll want to get furan 2 .
 
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