Red algae?fungus? on zoa polyps

[shootist]

Im really sorry to trouble you folks,I can almost always find the answers to my questions with diligent searching. No such luck this time. My problem is that some of my zoas are starting to get some red stuff on the polyps. They have all been doing wonderful for 8-9 months and in the last week ive started to notice the problem. Usually every single polyp will be wide open but lately I will notice one or two closed and there is red algae growing on the outside of the polyp,though it may be a fungus or bacteria. ive tried rubbing them but it doesnt come off. once the polyp gets the red stuff on it,it never opens again. When I pick the red polyps off with tweezers they are barely attached and will most of the time burst spewing green and brown stuff. My tank parameters are all in order though my alk is a bit high around 12-13 and my calcium is low around 370-380 and I have been slowly trying to bring it up. My ph holds fairly steady from 8.2 down to 8.1 at night. I have no red(cyano) growing in my tank but there is a pretty good bit of it back in my frag tank that is part of the same water colum as my display,ive included some pics,you will notice the red polyps totally closed up and it seems to be progressing. It may have came in on a rock of zoos though I am really not certain. Im running 3 powerheads in a 55 with 4-54watt t5s and a euroreef rs5-3. It isnt affecting all of my zoas but Im afraid that it may start too and Im trying to head it off at the pass. Does cyano grow on zoas? If so what would be a good way to combat it? The patches I have of it are around the grating in my frag tank that the snails cant get too. Thanks for lending an ear and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/153269sick_zoa3.jpg
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/153269sick_zoa4.jpg
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/153269sick_zoa.jpg

 

[addicted4life]

How widespread is this infestation ? It sure looks like a fungus of some type.

 

[shootist]

Well I havent gotten any response to this post at all. Since Ive posted the stuff has spread to almost all of my zoas,its really wiping them out,ive thrown out 5 or 6 frags and broken apart several colonies and dipped almost every zoa in my tank all to no avail,here are some pics. The first one was just dipped so all of it is closed up but you can see the red stuff. The second one is a colony that is just starting to get it,Ive removed a lot of polyps from it allready,the final 2 shots are utter devastation,I just tonight broke one of the rocks in half and pitched half of it and scraped half the polys off the other,though Im pretty sure they are going to be a total loss,may wind up throwing out every zoa I own before its all over bout ready to just drain the whole thing and get out,really breaking my heart.

 

[shootist]

I just wanted to add that I have tried using a tootbrush on some of the polyps but the red stuff doesnt come off at all so im pretty sure it isnt any sort of cyano. Also they turn red very quickly a polyp will go from open to closed and red within a couple of days. Ive spent hours in front of the tank at night and ive found very few nudi,a lot of snails that I think are sundials but rarely on the zoas and only a few things come off during dips mainly a few pods witha nudi here and there,also ive tried moving them to different amounts of flow,light have also done several water changes,Im at a loss...

 

[kratie]

Im sorry I dont know what it is but I just got the same thing on my blue zoos and I was happy to see your post to get answers hopefully someone will know!

Good Luck!!

JD

 

[shootist]

If I were you I would isolate in quarantine or throw out any zoas you see with the red stuff on them. 3 weeks ago I had around 20 frags of different zoas along with 5 or 6 big nice conlonies all were doing wonderful,then the red stuff came. Today I have one frag and one colony. I do still have a lot of nice palys,they seem totally unaffected by the red stuff. A buddy of mine saw a new zoa rock come into our LFS last tuesday he said about 60 polyps were showing the red stuff and the rest of the rock was closed up. He told them to get the rock out of their tank but I dont think they did,they have a lot of nice zoas and Im afraid they are going to lose them all,time will tell.

 

[addicted4life]

Maybe this can help. It's got some good pics, only one looks like the fungus, the rest look like pox.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=351896&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[Ephraim]

I have this same thing happening. Only a few of my colonies are affected so far but i am worried about it spreading.

 

[addicted4life]

I would definitely quarantine before it spreads, I've seen shootist's tank many times, and witnessed the destruction first hand. We think furan-2 treatment is what is needed. I now have a Q-tank setup and the furan-2 capsules, Just need to get what is left of shootist zoa's into my Q-tank.

 

[shootist]

Good link,I saw a few pics that look exactly like mine. It didnt seem like they finally settled the issue though. One post described a rock with several morphs and only some were affected,I have the same thing,another rock of pink with greens looked exactly like my rock that had over a hundred polys easy and is now down to about ten. Hopefully the qt,furan-2 and high flow will save a few polyps of any of them :/