RPEs heading downhill! What's wrong?

[saltyballs8]

Hey all,

So the pics should do most of the talking, but here's the gist. I noticed some spots on my RPEs about a week ago or so. I figured zoa pox, ordered the Furan2, but since the polyps were staying open I let them try to recover on their own. Now the polyps are closing and they are developing a greenish-brown something around the base (see pics). It doesn't appear to be algae, at least not algae you can brush off. I imagine it's a reaction to whatever's getting to them (it's like a hardening/discoloration of their skin). The other symptom is these strange thin pieces hanging off their skin (it could actually be the skin shedding, but I'm not sure). So, I'm not really sure if it's pox anymore. Please let me know what you think. I would hate to lose these guys, but that's where it's headed. :sad1:

pic when I first noticed spots

recent pics

Thanks guys.

 

[Reef Bass]

Looks like pox to me. I'd treat for it.

 

[newbie916]

+1

I had two of my large colonies look similar and I lost about 20% of the polyps before treating them. They're all back and thriving after a week of the Furan dip and a month of healing. I heard that the temp change in the tanks could cause zoa pox. Mine hit right when it went from 74 to 66 degrees in my house. It caused my tank suddently go from 80 to 75. I have since added my other heater and put my glass back on for the winter to minimize temp flux. I would definitely dip and it seemed to have no effect at all on the polyps. Good luck

 

[saltyballs8]

Thanks for the replies. I'll treat them for pox and see how it goes. The onset of mine seemed to coincide with disturbing a bit of detritus in my sump. It seems varius types of stress can lead to an outbreak. Thanks again and I'll report back.

 

[romsoccer12]

hey sorry for TJ, but what is pox? i had zoas that just rapidly died in a couple days by slowly just closing up than melting, other zoas were fine and they didnt have pests, and i thought it was pH swings

 

[DDRR]

Ive had the same thing happen in my tank, two seperate colonys of Armor of gods and two seperate colonys of pink zoas closed up and melted away. I have several other colonys of different types of zoas and palys and they all seem to be fine. Lately I have been really keeping up on water parameters and water changes, kind of strange

 

[saltyballs8]

Zoas suffering from zoa pox will have the white spots as seen in the pics above. The shrinking and melting w/o seeing the tell-tale white dots is likely some other affliction. I've lost zoas that way, too. Unfortunately, the "melting" zoas are harder to diagnose. Good luck.

 

[saltyballs8]

They opened up right after the first dip. Just did the second dip today. I'll decide whether I want to do the recommended third treatment tonight. Looking good so far, though. :spin3:

 

[ScottBev]

Please let us know how it went. What concentration would someone recommend for the dips?

 

[saltyballs8]

I didn't do the third treatment. They won't even close up enough at night for me to tell if the pox are completely gone. So based on that, combined with the fact that I forgot, I'll wait a week to see if I need to do anymore. As of now they look great.

This is the article I referenced for treatment:
http://www.zoaid.com/articles004.php

The article really could have been more clear. So basically here is what I did:

Use 1 package (designed for 10 gal treatment) of Furan-2 per cup of tank water. Dip zoas for 20 minutes (I placed the cup partially submerged in my sump to maintain temp). Rinse in fresh tank water and place zoas back in tank. Repeat daily for 3 days total. Let rest for a week. Evaluate and retreat if necessary.