What's killing my zoas!?

[stlcards14]

I've been experiencing problems with my zoas closing us and not opening. I have discovered these things all over my rock and coral be only my zoas have been experiencing problems. I have dipped my zoas multiple times and so far no good. some bounce back for a day and then are closed for another few days while others close and never open again and just slowly dissipate. I have some photos and I hope that they will help us get to the source of the problem.

 

[stlcards14]

 

[A. Grandis]

What did you dip them in and for how long? How many times?
Please post your parameters (numbers).
Tell us about your setup. Lights, maintenance, etc...
What things in the pictures you're referring to?

You need to help your helpers.


Grandis.

 

[terrypercula]

What did you dip them in and for how long? How many times?
Please post your parameters (numbers).
Tell us about your setup. Lights, maintenance, etc...
What things in the pictures you're referring to?

You need to help your helpers.


Grandis.

Any time you have any problems as much info as you can provide to help us. Especially grandis he's a Z and P genius :thumbsup:

 

[Charlene]

For some reason the pics are not appearing but when I repost with quotes I can see them. Oh well now I see them. I'm having a similar experience with my zoas but do not see any pests. About 1/3 of my colony has died. My water parameters are in check. Very interested in seeing what you discover.

 

[stlcards14]

I dipped them in revive coral cleaner. Some were dipped multiple times and some were only dipped once. It depends on if they bounded back or not. Usually the dip would be about 10 minutes with a small circulation fan in it.

I have a 180 tank covered by 3 Kessil A350W that run 10 hours a day at Full blue half white. I feed phyto feast and oyster feast. I have one MP 40 and two koralias so I have good flow. A reef octopus skimmer rated for a 150 gallon tank (biggest I could fit in the sump) a phosphate reactor and about 200 pounds of live rock.

Ph 8.3

Kh is at 5 (it was above 13 last week so I turned off my dosing pump and I guess it dropped really fast. Currently turned it back on)

Calcium is at 420 (I've been struggling to get it down. I was dosing 50 ml a day trying to get it up and then changed brands on accident and it shot up to over 600 and since then I haven't been dosing any calcium for over a month and it's finally where I want it)

Magnesium is at 1350 (I went thought the same thing as the calcium and and now it's finally back down.)

Phosphates 0

I know the fluctuating calcium mag and kh did help but I don't think that is the problem because my LPS and SPS are all doing very well.

 

[stlcards14]

I do a 20 gallon water change every two weeks and I'm referring to the brown sports that are growing on the polyps and the live rock. possibly just algae?

 

[A. Grandis]

Any time you have any problems as much info as you can provide to help us. Especially grandis he's a Z and P genius :thumbsup:

No I'm not, really! :frog:
I learn everyday I come here.

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

I dipped them in revive coral cleaner. Some were dipped multiple times and some were only dipped once. It depends on if they bounded back or not. Usually the dip would be about 10 minutes with a small circulation fan in it.

I have a 180 tank covered by 3 Kessil A350W that run 10 hours a day at Full blue half white. I feed phyto feast and oyster feast. I have one MP 40 and two koralias so I have good flow. A reef octopus skimmer rated for a 150 gallon tank (biggest I could fit in the sump) a phosphate reactor and about 200 pounds of live rock.

Ph 8.3

Kh is at 5 (it was above 13 last week so I turned off my dosing pump and I guess it dropped really fast. Currently turned it back on)

Calcium is at 420 (I've been struggling to get it down. I was dosing 50 ml a day trying to get it up and then changed brands on accident and it shot up to over 600 and since then I haven't been dosing any calcium for over a month and it's finally where I want it)

Magnesium is at 1350 (I went thought the same thing as the calcium and and now it's finally back down.)

Phosphates 0

I know the fluctuating calcium mag and kh did help but I don't think that is the problem because my LPS and SPS are all doing very well.

I've never used Revive, so I don't know about that. People say that's fine, but I don't really know. Why did you dip the zoas?
I think the fluctuation of water parameters and the phosphate reactor are the problems. I would change the light, if possible, for HO Ts.

I'm not a LED fan, so I would't recommend them to anyone either. The success with LEDs in a long period of time isn't really the best for reef tanks.

I've used PhytoFeast and OysterFeast in the past and I can tell that it didn't impress me much. You ca't use them a lot because of possible algae problems. I prefer to invest and offer quality dry coral foods.

The fluctuations of the water params are really bad for the system!!
Try keep your alk at 9 - 10.
You can leave the calcium at 420. Try keep it between 380 - 420.
Mg at 1350 is fine, but try to keep it there too.

Your problems with water params isn't a good sign.

What to do now?
First things first...
I would remove the phosphate reactor immediately. Do a particle water change, like 5%.
Make sure your alkalinity is rising gradually to around 9 - 10.
Has to be gradually!! Otherwise you'll really screw up again with the other params and the organisms will suffer.
Stability is important, so"¦


Grandis

 

[A. Grandis]

I do a 20 gallon water change every two weeks and I'm referring to the brown sports that are growing on the polyps and the live rock. possibly just algae?

I see some white little tubes on picture #1. Those could be feather dusters and some could irritate the polyps, but most of the time they're fine and you see them also in nature. If you find the polyps to be closing because of them you should remove them carefully with tweezers and sucking them out at the same time.

I see golden-brown spots that look like flat worms in all the pictures. They are irritators and should be gone. Some times they stay for a while, but most of the time the just disappear after some time, so not a big deal! But they do irritate some of the zoas. You probably introduced them with the last rocks or organisms you bought. Try to suck them out of the tank while doing water changes. You can use air tubing to do that. Again, not a big deal.

I would be more worried about the phosphate reactor, water params and light.

I'll gone for a while, back to work, so...
Good luck!
Grandis.

 

[Pdxile]

Try a lugols dip. 40 drops per 1 gallon of RODI. It works, and as a side effect zoas seem to love it. If I have to give my zoas a dip within 2 days they are bright and happy.

 

[stlcards14]

I'm working hard to keep the parameters stable. What is wrong with the phosphate reactor? I'm not sure I follow you there since I've always been told to remove phosphates. I don't exactly have the budget for different light so I'm kind stuck with them for now.

 

[stlcards14]

So would you say once the tank stays stable the problem should go away? I know I had a huge spike in calcium and mag but there really wasn't much I could do other that let it all be used up in the system to bring it down to normal. Once everything stays stable to do think I'll be good to go again?

 

[terrypercula]

No I'm not, really! :frog:
I learn everyday I come here.

Grandis.

Haha I have a feeling with something like recreating a habitat such as a coral reef there is so much to learn.

 

[terrypercula]

I'd say keep your system steady and stable first. If at that point they're still doing poorly then you can look to things such as placement, pests, equipment so on and so forth.

 

[A. Grandis]

I'm working hard to keep the parameters stable. What is wrong with the phosphate reactor? I'm not sure I follow you there since I've always been told to remove phosphates. I don't exactly have the budget for different light so I'm kind stuck with them for now.

What do you use in the reactor?
Yep, phosphates in excess is a bad thing, but the media in reactor is also bad, so"¦
You need to balance that out and be more careful about introducing phosphates in the system. Stop with the OysterFeast and PhytoFeast also!!!

Trust me...

->>>Remove the reactor (or just stop the pump) and so a partial water change. From there you'll be helping the params at the same time. Leave it alone for a day or 2 and check parameters again.

You don't need to change bulbs right now!

***Please read posts 9 and 10 again.***

You don't have to "follow me there" if you don't want to. That's ok.
If you don't trust me, then I'm sorry, but I just can't help you out. :sad2:

We'll see if other people would like to try.
Good luck! :thumbsup:

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

So would you say once the tank stays stable the problem should go away? I know I had a huge spike in calcium and mag but there really wasn't much I could do other that let it all be used up in the system to bring it down to normal. Once everything stays stable to do think I'll be good to go again?

Nope, I didn't say that!
I've said "first things first", remember?

The most important thing is to solve the chemistry problem, than, IF zoas are still suffering, we would look into the dips and so on…
No sense to dip and bring them to a up and down crazy water chemistry.
No dips now!
Tell me: dip for what?
Solve your water chemistry problem first.

You can pick those feather dusters with the tweezers after the chemistry gets in a better shape, if you want…
Like I've said before, those dusters are present among the zoas in nature and not all of them are irritators.

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

Haha I have a feeling with something like recreating a habitat such as a coral reef there is so much to learn.

Yep, I learn much in the water as well… LOL!!

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

I'd say keep your system steady and stable first. If at that point they're still doing poorly then you can look to things such as placement, pests, equipment so on and so forth.

You've got it!!
:thumbsup:

Grandis.

 

[Surfside74]

Sorry to jump on here while your having trouble with your tank. Mr. Grandis, what do you feed your tank? I am trying to move away from liquids such as rotifeast and phycopure reef blend and move towards dry stuff. Was looking at reef chili or oceans blend coral vibrance. I also feed my fish pe mysis, cyclopeeze, and rods coral blend. Any help would be great. Again, I am sorry to jump on your thread.
Rob