sick zoa question

[Angela Short]

A fellow reefer gave me all his rock/zoas out of a tank he tore down to try and save. The problem is they were not thriving and slowley mealting away over the past few months. I set up a seperate 20 gallon tall for them as to not possiably infect my big tanks colonies till they were better. I dipped them all in seachems reef dip and misread the directions and left them all in 15 mins instead of 5-10. They have never opened up since.and it has been 3 weeks! I have them under 130 watts PC 50/50's. My water params are excellent also. The rocks they were on were extreamly covered with small bubble alage which I plucked, scraped and brushed off with a soft toothbrush before I dipped them. Is there anything I can do to try and impulse them to open? They are closed tight but stretch to the light real far, just will not open . I have read putting them under straight antics will help but this will require new bulbs.... Any advise? I can get a pic if it will help.

 

[zeppelin]

Try upping the flow. Zoanthids are tough. As long as the closed polypsand mat look healthy I'd look for them to open back up.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

It might be possible that the prolonged dip had some affect on them, but I doubt it. Many of these companies like to error on the side of caution and say 5 to 10, knowing that 15 minutes is ok. They were already melting away and possibly the prolonged dip had a minor affect. So instead of dealing with one issue, you are now seeing the possible affects of two. The one thing that is working in your favor is the fact that they are still alive and responding to light, this is very encouraging. Did you ever find out why they were melting away in the first place?

Dipping, brushing and cleaning was a good idea. Try the actinics all day and see what happens. But first, it is always good to start with a water change, with well circulated and aerated RO water, and some vitamins and amino acids. If you can, add one drop of Lugols to your tank, if you can get half of a single drop that would be better, unless you have a reliable Iodine test kit. Too much iodine and you can kill everything. Be sure that all of your corals can tolerate the addition of iodine which can become toxic at elevared levels above 0.06 NSW.

Did you check to see if the polyp has collapsed at all. As long as it is still firm, not shedding or flaking and there's no rock odor, you're ok. Just leave them alone and as Zep said above, current is a must. It alone will do wonders for an ailing colony. I would just continue to watch it and note any changes.

Mucho

 

[Angela Short]

Thanks for the replies guys! Some are firm, some kinda softer than they should be and others have slouphed off slowley. Yes, some seem to flake there skin off when you touch them. This is kinda the way they came to me. They were all open in my freinds tank just slowley dissaperaing due to mealting, not a predator. I have 12-15x turnover so flow shouldn't be an issue. I will order some actinics only today and see if that helps stimulate them to open. I kinda figured it would be a waiting game. And I will try a few water changes in a row to dilute anything irritating them.

 

[zeppelin]

Flow sounds good. Are they right in the return flow? If not, you may want to get them more in the direct return flow. It helps blow off the nastys and keeps the healthy polyps healthy.

 

[Angela Short]

They all get moved around good enouph I think with flow for that. I will just do some added water changes and add all actinc bulbs for now, and wait.

 

[Reef Junkie]

I was going to say water changes.

Sometimes fragging the colony up will sometimes help stimulate them to open. It will also help provide a barrier if the whole colony decides to melt.