Zoa pox or spots from stress? Need problem addressed.

[Radioheadx14]

So i got this live rock about a month ago and it came with some smaller button polyp zoas on it. At first i was thinking of getting a FOWLR, but i started to like the zoas and now i want a mixed low light reef tank. The zoas pictured came on the rock a lot smaller, and have grown pretty nicely. (the first pic was from 2 weeks ago, the second was from 2 minutes ago.) Now the zoas have some whited spots on their stalks. they stay open almost all day and have been growing pretty fast.

The live rock came fully cured from a local guy that has a small lr/coral farm. my current set up is a 75g w/ 4x28w t-5 lighting (2 10k bulbs and 2 actinic.) I finished cycling a few weeks ago as well... so i think stress is possible as well as the change in lighting.

I have been having weird lighting schedules because of a mini diatom outbreak after cycling. I hear its common in all new tanks but i want to try to keep it in check....

I also recently moved their rock, they were facing straight up, but now they are kind of on a slope, i noticed some look like the are swaying back toward the light, like a plant would move to face direct sunlight.

So what should i do to save my LR hitchhiker that i have come to love?

Pics:
(2 weeks ago, polyps are a little smaller than they are now)

Pics from tonight... green arrows were added to show spots.

 

[InADream]

I dont know too much about the zoa pox disease, but read this link and it should help you out...

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

Dream

 

[Radioheadx14]

i read that, and while they do have the white spots, they are all small and scattered and dont seem to protrude at all, also they corals are not closing up or anything... as you can see from the pic, every polyp is open except a few small ones that are probably too young to open. but then again, i am a super noob when it comes to any kind of cnidarian... so i dont know.

 

[Auntbeez]

This may explain... You may have Palys


Zoanthus/Palythoa ID

The easiest way to seperate these two genera (with Protopalythoa being included in Palythoa) is simple. Palythoa are in the family Sphenopidae, which take up sand and other small particles to help build their structure. Polyp, colony, coenenchyme (the "mat" tissue) and oral disk shape, as well as color, all are very flexible even within not only genera but also within species. Note that Epizoanthus and Parazoanthus also are encrusting (take up sand).

Zoanthus are in Zoanthidae (along with Isaurus and Acrozoanthus) and don't take up sand.

If you are not sure which type of zoanthid you have, take a high-res digital photo, and then zoom in. If you can see sand particles in the tissue, you aren't looking at a Zoanthus!

 

[Radioheadx14]

so those could be sand particles?

 

[Radioheadx14]

Now that i looked into an ID, i think they are protopalythoa... possibly Protopalythoa vestitus

I got a pic as close as i could get... its kind of from the undersides, so you can see the stalks, and the bottom of the polyps.

 

[650-IS350]

don't look like pox to me... I got those as well as their fellow genre ND's and PDs.. they all do it.. take up fine sand into their structure... pox looks more like white pimples... or big lesions...

 

[Radioheadx14]

Can anyone ID this species or genus for me? it would be nice to know excatly what i have... i still cant tell the difference between zoas and palys and protopalys

 

[650-IS350]

Its a protopalythoa.. they range from tan, brown, biege, green, Nuclear Green, Purple Deaths.. etc....

they'll also feed readily...

 

[Radioheadx14]

yeah, i was just watching them 'catch' mysis shrimp. one of the polyps has a mysis head sticking out of its grip

 

[bubblevssqueek]

Looks more like micro bubbles attached to them to me.

 

[Radioheadx14]

Im possitive they are not bubbles, in person you can tell its under the the tissue