The mysterious melting zoas

Guygettnby

Guygettnby

Well-known member
Well, my time has come once again for my zoas to start melting away for no reason or get eaten by something from the unknown depths of my tank :lol:

sad thing is i can see it happening and once again i have found no cause for it. i have tested everything, replaced the bulbs, checked for stray voltage, cleaned and checked all powerheads/pumps to make sure they are working properly... i did infact dip every zoa/paly i could and the only thing that came off of them was some slime and copepods. i have up too this point lost about 50% of my zoas/palys and more going every day. crazy thing is i am loosing colonies that i have had for years!! but yet i have a small colony of nuc greens, purple deaths and a few small colonies of deepwater zoas that are un affected and still growing like mad.

the only thing in my tank that seems to be affected by this is strictly my zoas/palys and it is not limited to just 1 area of the tank.

im done ranting :mad2:
 
Well, I have frag rack that has 12 frags hornets, AOG's, and other nice polyps. I had a 13 polyp frag of Pink Elephants that were recieved direct from Fraggle reef. Started off with 2-3 polyps. then all the sudden melted. No rhyme or reason while all the other polyps around them (all 11 other frags ) were not affected. I've re-dipped this frag a couple times before placing in my QT/frag tank. no only left with maybe 2 polyps closed and holding on to life. Beats me, that's reefing for you. and to this day a week or 2 later the other frags are doing well and the hornets actually have 3 new buds popping out.
 
i hear ya, the zoa/paly game defilently has its ups and downs. i just have to look at this as a chance to start over and get some new things i didnt have before. i am currently giving some of these too my friends too see if they do any better in there tanks. i told them all if they grow back all i want is a frag in return and the can keep the rest.

this is not the first time it has happened to me and i am sure it will not be the last. just really sucks that it is happening to so many colonies right now. i have had frags here and there die off or melt but never to this extreme. i have also been lucky enough to never have a serious tank crash. so i hope this is not leading up to that.
 
Happened to me twice and not the best. Moved the 100gal and scooped some 3yr old sand out and released all the old crud that caused a massived cycle. Lost 98% of my corals and collections. The other was messing with VitaminC caused my Alk to raise to high 20's and pH to drop, lost a bunch of Tyree SPS, a bunch of my collector polyps to melt and just die. Almost made me quit.
 
I have read that if zoo's start sliming then it is crucial for the water flow to be good on top of them to remove the slime. The slime will suffocate them and spread to each and everyone on the colony. Mine started too after I was out of town for a week and after 2 water changes and redirecting the Koralia over (not blasting directly on them) they have all opened back up and are looking as good as they used to. Some require different levels of light, as well, as I am sure you know since you have the deepwater ones. IMHO
 
i am feeling almost the same exact way right now. this is making me want to quite for awhile. i have lost so much money beacuse of this it makes me sick too think about it.

i did infact have to tear my tank apart about a month ago to remove a clownfish pair that i had to get rid of and about a week or so after that is when i noticed the problems starting. i figures i would start a mini cycle so i did a nice sized water change right after it happened and hoped for the best. but maybe it did start a big cycle like yours did... i didnt think i was going to have this many problems from that but it is very possible that is the cause. so maybe i need to give everthing time to come back together before i throw in the towel and call it quits for awhile.
 
I have seen the same issues over the years. Currently my Nuclear greens bleached and now closed, When the Purple Death close by and doing just fine.
 
Dalee26, this tank has plenty of flow in every single area of the tank and sometimes too much. i do agrea with your statement and i thank you for trying to help.

sad thing is i kinda already know why this is happening but i still have the blinders on so to speak and there is nothing i can really do to fix the problem.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15636915#post15636915 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 650-IS350
Guy,

Best thing to do is do a bunch of water changes and hope for the best.
Click to expand...

:lol: man i am doing what i can. hard to hope for the best sometimes when ya are on the verge of giving up on the tank :confused:
 
Which is why instead of giving up I down graded a lot in size, after getting my collection back up to speed, I won't be buying anymore, selling but just growing things out and maybe trade from time to time. It doesn't occupy a lot of my time like it did before.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15637111#post15637111 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 650-IS350
Which is why instead of giving up I down graded a lot in size, after getting my collection back up to speed, I won't be buying anymore, selling but just growing things out and maybe trade from time to time. It doesn't occupy a lot of my time like it did before.
Click to expand...

I did the exact same thing! I backed down to a more manageable sized tank and now mostly things goes exactly as planned!.
 
Fall is a really bad time for me, i usually have two or three different zoas close up on me. some melt and some open back up. This happens to the same zoas, even if they are in different tanks.

Iv heard different theories... the moon causes it, season does it....


What i think is that it is part of natures check and balance.

......That being said, dipping seems to help once they are closed up.
 
I'm going through the same exact thing right now. I've never had a problem with zoas, in fact I've had pretty good success with them. Then about two weeks ago I had a colony of Kryptonites that I've had for a year and a half start melting and now they're gone.

Now most of my other zoas are starting to look wilted I guess you could say. All my parameters are good. It's driving me crazy
 
same thing here..about a month ago I lost 2 colonies that I had for 1.5yr in less then 48hrs.. Now some of my frags are starting to melt away, lost all my dope PE's I got from Kevin at AC.. I'm bummed... dose running a ULNS have any effect on zoa's and palys? It seemed once my system reached that level they became more sensitive.. JMT..
 
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