New zoas have fungus?

M

MellowReefer

New member
I got two large zoa colonies on rocks on Saturday (shipped from Divers Den) and only about half of them have opened. I also noticed there is a white film on them, which I have never seen, and from what I have read it sounds like a white film is probably a fungus, is that correct? I am planning to get some hydrogen peroxide tonight and do a dip with 50% tank water, is this a good idea? Any other recommended treatment if that doesn't work? I also ordered some Revive that will arrive tomorrow.
 
So... That is white cheese. A zoanthid specific disease that is really contagious for any other colonies that share the same tank. It's very likely that the seller's tanks are infected since they bring in wild colonies all the time. It will consume the zoanthid's matting and melt them completely.

Peroxide will do more damage than good. Depending on how infected they are, you'll need to start with a freshwater bath and try to rinse it off as much as you can. Then an Iodine rinse to finish off. Be careful that you don't let them sit in the iodine too long or you'll outright kill them. White cheese is difficult to recover from. Your best bet is to contact the supplier and let them know. Hopefully you can get credit. Avoid repurchasing from them for awhile since most of their zoo livestock may have it too.
 
Well I'm glad I use a QT. I also picked up two small paly frags last weekend, but that's all that's in this 20 gal QT. So far the palys look fine - do you know if they are at risk of getting it too?

I talked to LiveAquaria and I'm going to send them a picture when I get home and I'll post it on here too.

When you say freshwater bath, you mean just RODI water and nothing else? For how long? Then iodine also in freshwater, or use tank water for that?
 
Yup, fresh RODI for both. Try to clean as much of the cheese off as you can with the freshwater, then swish it in the iodine bath for a few moments. You want to try and get all the cheese off to expose the damaged matting. The iodine rinse will sterilize the matting. Too much iodine rinse and you'll slough off the mucous membrane and it won't recover.

But still, you can't get your hopes up. They may continue to melt. They may get better. Don't put them in your display until they actually start forming a mat again around the base and don't show any signs of cheese still.
 
Almost all are still closed, I think they are going to die. Not sure what else to do. Going to call LiveAquaria again and see if they have any advice.

20140814_192751_zps85be89df.jpg
 
For what it is worth, I have had two frags of zoa's come in with the same symptoms.

They were both dipped in seachem reef dip (Iodine) on arrival at regular concentration.

For the frag I recieved in May I used a double concetration of the iodine dip, the max dosage per the labeling, and that killed them. Or at least accellerated their death.

Last month I used a 50/50 tank water/peroxide dip and it cleared up immediately on the second frag.

They both had the same look as your picture.
 
for fungus I usually use dips with peroxide. its envasive so if the polyp might be on its last leg, it may not work and just accelerate the melting.

But if its still good, the peroxide should help with exterminating the fugus, give the polyps good indirect flow so that fresh water and oxygen pass through them to help it regenerate.

Depending on the look of the polyps I adjust levels of Peroxide to saltwater in my dips.
 
I always frag off the bad sections and take care of the good sections when I have felt with this stuff. Like mentioned before it's nasty and spreads. Since you only have a small patch it might be worth a shot cutting out the bad areas and still treating with dips. Tht way you know it's gone. Some people don't like cutting new colonies, but but my case I think it was more risk not cutting the bad sections off. Good luck, it's not too bad they so should recover
 
It looks the same. LiveAquaria said they would extend my guarantee by a week so we can see what happens with it and I'll get credit for it if it doesn't open up. They said for now don't dip it anymore, just let it recover. There's another smaller colony I purchased that didn't look quite as bad and starting to open up a little.
 
If they die will it pollute my tank too much? This is just a 20 gal QT. I noticed a bristleworm eating one of they polyps. How else to know they are dead? will they just fall off?

Will they release toxin when they are dying and that may hurt my other corals?
 
650-IS350 said:
for fungus I usually use dips with peroxide. its envasive so if the polyp might be on its last leg, it may not work and just accelerate the melting.

But if its still good, the peroxide should help with exterminating the fugus, give the polyps good indirect flow so that fresh water and oxygen pass through them to help it regenerate.

Depending on the look of the polyps I adjust levels of Peroxide to saltwater in my dips.
Click to expand...

Which Dips have Peroxide in them?

I do not recall ever seeing any that do.

Does Revive have Peroxide in it?
 
No, you actually just use 3% hydrogen peroxide that you get at the drugstore. Use half that and half tank water. I've done this before with healthy zoas on a rock that was covered in algae starting to overwhelm the zoas. It kills the algae but doesn't hurt zoas. Not sure if it helped with my current problem but one of the colonies looks like its going to make it. Unfortunately the one in the picture is not opening up yet. But I read a post where someone said they had zoas closed up for a month and they opened one day and were fine after that.

EDIT for anyone reading this: Hydrogen Peroxide dips are ONLY for zoas, not other types of coral, I think it may kill them. And I think you should only do it for 5 minutes. Check your rocks for snails, crabs, starfish, etc. before you dip.
 
I've dipped Zoas, Plays, Protopalys, Palythoa grandis, and other variations of polyps most can take it, some depending if already past no return may and usual don't.
 
MellowReefer said:
No, you actually just use 3% hydrogen peroxide that you get at the drugstore. Use half that and half tank water. I've done this before with healthy zoas on a rock that was covered in algae starting to overwhelm the zoas. It kills the algae but doesn't hurt zoas. Not sure if it helped with my current problem but one of the colonies looks like its going to make it. Unfortunately the one in the picture is not opening up yet. But I read a post where someone said they had zoas closed up for a month and they opened one day and were fine after that.

EDIT for anyone reading this: Hydrogen Peroxide dips are ONLY for zoas, not other types of coral, I think it may kill them. And I think you should only do it for 5 minutes. Check your rocks for snails, crabs, starfish, etc. before you dip.
Click to expand...

I see.

I thought that you meant it was an ingredient on a commercial coral dip.

How long do you dip them for in Peroxide?
 
Bad news, this disease has now spread to the other zoas and palys in the tank. Luckily this was in a QT but unfortunately I bought $110 worth of other zoas and palys at the same time. For a few weeks they were doing fine and I thought it hadn't spread but now they are all mostly closed up or dead. I think I made a mistake by removing the zoa rock that was the worst so I could brush off the dead zoas and when I picked up the rock some of the tissue came off and got into the water column and some landed on the other corals.
 
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