Semi-urgent zoa pox help!

[dzhuo]

tank is 10g nano, bb, 75w mh, remora skimmer, hob fuge with chaeto, 10lb LR, 50x flow... now the question...

i have a colony of zoa that was given to me for free a couple of months ago. it was doing excellent and it has now spread to over 90% of the rock that it's on. everyday it opens up and looks great. last night (i inspect all the corals every night) just right before lights off, the colony is still opening as big as it can and looks totally healthy. this morning, however, before i take off to work, i take a look at the tank again and to my total shock, this colony (well, 40% of it) is totally cover in white dots to what i believe is zoa pox! this *must* have happen over night to a complete healthy zoa colony and i couldn't believe how fast this thing spread. in fact, one of the polyp is already dead. this white dots can't be sand because i run a bb.

i have not change anything in my tank and i have no idea what trigger this pox explosion. i inspected all the rest of the colony and only one other polyp in another colony seems to be affected. the rest appears to be fine. given how fast this turns over night, i am very concern of what my colony will look like tonight.

i am looking for help from fellow reefers... i am aware that i can drip the infected colony but i don't have the tool (pill, extra tank, etc) to do this. where can i get those pill for the drip? i only have a small container that i can drip my zoa, is that alright? can i bring my zoa to your place so you can drip them for me?

thx!

 

[Mr. Ugly]

You don't need an extra tank to for dipping your zoas. A small glass or plastic container is fine.

Use Furan 2 for treating zoapox. You should be able to get that at the LFS.... even Petco.

Do some big water chages on your nano too.

 

[Mr. Ugly]

If you get a cheap 10 gallon tank, you can use that for a quarantine.

Just throw a heater, a small powerhead, and perhaps some chaeto in there.

You can move the light back and forth between your nano and your quarantine if you don't have extra lighting.

 

[dzhuo]

how much dosage should i go for in a small plastic box? because i heard it's only 1 drop per 10g of water kind of thing... and a small plastic box is too small for dosage.

 

[650-IS350]

I use a 5 gallon bucket, 1 gallon or 2 or RO with a capsul of furan2, mix/swirl water till furan is dilluted then place zoos in there for a couple of mintues...

make sure the water in bucket is same ph/temp as the water in your tank prior to starting... you can check for more info on clubzoa. or zoaid.

 

[dzhuo]

you put the capsul in saltwater or fresh water?

 

[rleechb]

http://www.zoaid.com/articles004.php

 

[dzhuo]

thx! so just use RO water... if i use 1g of RO water, can i still mix it up with 1 capsul? or would it be too much? because according to the instruction, it's 1 capsul per 10g of water. will i overdos and kill the zoa? thx!

 

[650-IS350]

I just don't leave them in as long as the instructions say...

 

[tuberider]

Don't forget to adjust your Ph as well.

Good Luck!

 

[dzhuo]

does anyone know why i can't use my tank's water for the treatment? does it really matter or it has to be RO water? thx!

 

[Mr. Ugly]

I'm kinda thinking that sw would be ok.

People got in the habit of using freshwater because of dipping for nudibranchs. The freshwater is a bit more stressful than sw.

The furan 2 is antibacterial. Probably mainly the med is doing the work, unless it's also the osmotic shock helping to do in the pathogen.

How about try it with saltwater and see if it keeps the zoapox from progressing?

You could always do fw later if necessary.

 

[ianiwane]

I did it with saltwater w/ furan 2 and it did not do much. RODI water with furan 2 has worked pretty well for me so far. I've actually forgot about them for over half an hour and they do fine. hahaha. I am a bit forgetful sometimes.

 

[dzhuo]

ok i will use distill water for this. problem is i need to raise the pH, would would be best for this?

btw, i came home today and notice the zoa colony is still opening but the heavily infested section is only semi-opening so the pox is definitely affecting the zoa.

 

[Mr. Ugly]

A pinch of baking soda or Kent Superbuffer will take care of the pH.

 

[dzhuo]

will the A&M baking soda that you can find in safeway work? i am going to get everything together tomorrow and treat the zoa. i have already isolated it to a small plastic container. thx!

 

[Mr. Ugly]

Arm & Hammer is fine. Just make sure it is the plain one, and not one that has scent or other stuff added for laundry.

Kent Super Buffer is mostly baking soda Some sodium borate in there too.

 

[dzhuo]

for a whole day, it doesn't seem to spreading and although the area is clearly affected by it, i am now wonder if i should drip it or not. i am worry that i will do something wrong and kill the whole colony

 

[650-IS350]

if anything dies after the first 3 dips.. the zoa was probly far off already and was going to die... I lost 4 colonies to the zoapox recently....

 

[dzhuo]

ok so i have dripped them in a small plastic container for 20 minutes. i have wash them after the drip using my tank's water. now, should i just put them back to my tank? i don't have a separate tank where i can host them