Whats going on with these zoos?

I have looked every night for two weeks and the only other thing that I have seen near the zoos (besides those starfish which I remove when found) is a small creature that I can only describe as looking like an ancient trilobite but it doesn't have any legs but rather moves around like a snail. Its definitely not a copeopod. The weird thing is that whatever is causing this is very picky. I have one rock that was covered with orange and green zoos. All the green ones are fine but the orange ones have shriveled up and dissappeared (why do they always go for the nice ones???)
 
My zoo collection has recently been wiped out by what looks like the ones in the top pictures. I read the forums on white bumps/leisons, but mine look more like the ones on this thread. The centers of the zoos protrude out with the fringe lying down. The stem going to the base or mat eventually falls off. Now my zoo collection is almost entirely wiped out !! I first noticed a white fungus on my polythoa. I eventually removed the colony and scraped off any other spreading polyps from my live rock. I was wondering if this created mucus affected my zoos. I have also noticed as mention previously a couple of my blue-legged crabs are eating or lying around some of my zoo colonies. At first I only noticed this attacking the colonies at the lower levels, but now all my zoos are being affected. HELP !! All my expensive prized collection is almost completely wiped out. Everything except the zoos still looks OK (mushrooms, leathers, star polys, montipora, fish) Any suggestions?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7051445#post7051445 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bobafett
I picked off a small starfish that was next to a colony. I'm not sure what they're called but they are white-ish, about the size of a dime and their legs are weird (some have four legs while some may have six). I remeber reading an article about them at GARF and they said they prey on SPS. Maybe they may be responsible?
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I have a zoo colony that was healthy for the past 6 months then suddenly it started to deteriorate. I lifted it up and noticed a small starfish(looks like a brittle star), about the size of a dime also. Not sure if this is the same thing you have? Im not sure if that is whats causing them to die but I pulled it off anyway. This is the second time I've seen that kind of starfish under a dying zoo colony.
 
Last night I trashed (6) of my zoanthid colonies. For the most part, they were all deteriorated. I kept only my favorite colonies which still looked somewhat healthy. I did a second water change and replaced the carbon. I checked my water at the LFS this morning and everything was fine. I did not check alkalinity however. I was told this could be a problem with zoanthids. I will check this ASAP. For my first tanks, I never really checked my parameters except for salinity and never really lost any corals. I now have hundreds of dollars in corals in my 24 Nano and this is the first problem I have had. My water has checked out for the basic parameters. I have never really checked for say alkalinity, phosphate, or calcium levels. I do add iodine ocassionally to help out my mushrooms and cleaner shrimp. I was also told to try to increase flow around the zoos. I only have a 24 gal Nano in which I have an adapter with several heads. My first tank was a 5 and 12 gal Nano and my zoos were fine with the standard fixtures. I try to blow off my zoos daily with a turkey baster. As far as the starfish, I have noticed what looks like a type of serpent star. This thing has long thin hairlike legs. It has always stayed in one location and the zoos around it are the only ones that look somewhat healthy. I have had baby serpent stars in the past which never affected my zoos. I recently purchased a scooter blenny and he has for the most part eaten all of the baby serpent stars in the live rock. The only one remaining is the one with the long hairlike legs which usually stays hidden in the live rocks crevices. As far as nudis, I have never seen any and from what I have been told, these will eat the polyp entirely. Mine seem to still be attached, but rotten. Some eventually fall off as they deteriorate. I have new zoos arriving today. I plan on having a friend keep them until I figure out my problem....HELP !!
 
I'm not sure if the starfish is the cause but I'm not taking any chances. If I find one, I remove it. I know I have high Alkalinity but my calcium level is also at 500 and PH is 8.35. I'm not sure if thats doing it because all my other corals and zoos that are not affected are bright and fully open. I still believe it is an elusive predator that I have not been able to detect or a bacteria/virus I'm not familiar with.
 
I dont ever run my calicum over 420..an i keep getting these wild snails from lfs..ive been lucky with the other predators..i just set up a 20 long with no snails no fish , just my zoas..an thier rocking
i hope you all figure it out.. ill be looking for more info...

big scott
 
Last night I spotted another one of these serpent type starfish under one of my ricordia. This thing again looks like a type of serpent starfish. I couldn't see the entire starfish, only the hairlike legs which creep out from the crevices. When I try to catch the little bugger, it slithers back into the small cracks. At one point I was able to break off one of its legs. The legs are very tiny, slightly larger than a hair. Larger serpent stars I have had in the past, pull food in with it's tenticles. I have never seen them eating on top of anything. The ones I'm describing, must have been hiding in the live rock hidden for months. Describe the starfish you may have found on yours. Out of 10 colonies, I only have three left. One small colony of 6 polyps is unaffected. The other two are hanging on. I cut off all the dying polyps last night and changed out some more water in case the alkalinity may be the problem. Still have not had time to check it out at the LFS, but have never had a problem with it before. In a 24 gal Nano, I only ocassionally add a squit or so of the A and B and a little iodine. Never really measured it, just add a small dose once a week or so. I still have one original colony which is mostly closed up, but I am keeping it since the polyps still look somewhat healthy. The ones on the other colonies I threw out, looked like they were deteriorating and were falling off. Any more suggestions?
 
Go to www.garf.org and look at the section on the left that says "Aquarium Pests" to see the pics of the starfish they claim eat corals. I have had brittle starfish for many years and they have never harmed any of my corals. This has started happening in my tank over the last three months. What ever is causing this most likely came from a different type of coral that I have added to the tank because every zoo that goes in my tank gets dipped and carefully inspected.
 
Wow, I have these starfish all over my tank & it's all my fault! I put them in there. I was told they were harmless & I thought they were cool to have in there. Just picked out 21 of them & what I think might be a sundial snail. I also found what look like tiny boweevils. Are they harmful too, cause I think I have a lot of them also?
 
Hey Bobafett, Just looked at GARP.com, these are "not" the starfish that I have. These on GARP actually look like starfish. Mine again look like serpent stars. One of my LFS said if they have the black rings on the legs, they are the BAD kind. I moved some more rocks last night and saw another one. Their legs are like hairs (very long) and they DO have the black rings. I still have not seen the entire body. They are hidden within the live rock. Still not sure if this is the problem or not. After a few water changes, my few colonies are hanging on. One colony still looks unaffected. Some of the dragon eyes were looking bad, but are holding on. Some of my larger colonies, I trashed because they looked rotten. If it was something eating the polyps, you would think the polyp would be totally gone. Mine looked like they were wilting, not opening up, and eventually falling apart.
 
Bobafett it looks like something is trampling on them. If I brush my hands over a zoas colony and make good contact my zoas do the same thing but after a day or so they are back to normal. See right here, I brushed against these by accident

3ade34cc.jpg


Once at night I saw a small clam looking thing trampling my zoas and thats what they looked like. It had such a good hold that I had to remove the whoel roch and pull it off, I think it may have been an oyster but it moved slowly across my zoas and left a path liek the one in your pic. It defenitley doens't look like a water quality issue but something is laive in your tank causing this.
 
Thanks Zoalander, This may be it. Again last night I tried to catch this critter. I saw 2-3 tenticles flowing with the current, some touching one of my last colonies of zoos. I have only seen two of these, but always in the same location, thus making me think they may be the spaghetti worms. I pinched off a few tenticles before it retracted back in the live rock, but the next day they are back again. Not sure of what my LFS was decribing as black banded starfish. But mine with the hairlike tenticles does sound like this worm. I actually saw some polythoa at one of my LFS's that looked similiar to what mine did prior to me removing my colony. Mine were wilting similiar to your picture as well as having a whitish looking substance in the middle of thepolyp. I thought it was fungus. I didn't want it to spread so I removed the colony and scrapped off any polyps which looked affected off my live rock. I thought at one time releasing toxins in the water may have caused this. Still cannot fiqure out why most of my zoos were closing up and looked to be rotting. One of my fire and ice colonies looked thick the rock itself was degrading or falling apart. Ian at coral farms still thinks it is my alkalinity too low. I brought a sample of water today to have it checked and will update later. Two of my small colonies look healthy, two are coming back, two are still not opening back up and still look like they are rottening. The 6-8 colonies I trashed, looked like they were past the point of no return. They were not very colorful, but were my largest colonies and not attached to any live rock. Interesting why some are completely destroyed while others look healthy. Still uncertain if it is water quality or pest. All my parameters so far look ok. Checking calcium and alkalinity today.
 
Thanks for the thread bobafett, I have never seen any starfish like these although my zoos do look affected like the ones in the pictures. Other than the critter I talked about, this is the only pest I've seen. I'm starting to suspect water quality again. I checked my alkalinity last week. The LFS said the ALK was OK. "in the middle of the scale". I do not know what that means, but he did say my calcium was LOW. I'm going to another LFS today and try to get a better measurement with a different test kit. I was told I need an ALK of 8-12 DKH and calcium levels of around 400 PPM. I was also told to do more dramatic water changes, up to 5 gallons at a time for a 24 gal nano. I have normally only siphoned off around 1-2 gallons a week to remove extra waste and change the water. Although I do still have a couple of colonies left, the polyps are still closing up and some are turning brown. Only one colony is looking better since my last water change and carbon replacement. I will keep you posted on my parameters...
 
I dn't think it's your water parameters. I honestly think that there some kind of zoa disease that has spread in your tank. Fungus can spread from zoa colony to zoa colony very easily. Low alk or low calcium IMO will have little impact on zoas. If I were you I would run a UV sterilizer for a month and see what happens.
 
After changing out most of my water over the past 2 weeks, my remaining zoos look healthy again !! Yeah. Even my prized dime sized dragon eyes have grown several new polyps this week. My calcium was at 250 which I was told needs to be around 400. The ALK levels was OK I was told. Still not sure what was the cause of my meltdown. Although I have NEVER checked calcium or ALK, I have never lost anything in almost 3 years. Just lucky I guess. I am trying to bring up my calcium slowly. I am now keeping an eye on other parameters and trying to do more water changes more often. I trashed many of my less colorful colonies, and held one which looked pretty bad. This one is starting to bounce back. I actually added one new frag and it looks healthy. Still can't believe water quality caused this. I am sure my water has been much worse when I first started my saltwater tank. I still see the hairlike tenticles around my zoos, but I feel like this must be the spaghetti worm and not a type of starfish. Thanks for all the advice zoo lovers. I will keep you posted on any new developments..
 
chekc for a very small snail that hangs out among the zoas...it will have a cone shaped protector for the top of its mouth, those zoos look kinda likw what happened to mine, when I had one of those hitchiker snails
 
I have noticed these trends as well with my RPE's and PPE's. I have noticed the pods actually eating on them??? Maybe or maybe not. I'll check futher now.
 
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