Zoa trouble

[Nht8134]

Hey guys, a colony of my prized Fire and Ice zoas are having some issues. It is a colony that has encrusted on a tonga branch and today as I examined them, a lot of the polyps are gone. It used to be beautifully and completely encrusted on the tonga branch.

Also, at the stem of body of the polyps that are closed, I see small white "salt-like" specs on them. What is going on? Please help.

 

[ficklefins]

It's called zoa pox. A very obnoxious zoa destroyer. I'm not sure if you have a quarantine tank but I would put them in there. Altezza has made some good strides in getting rid of this stuff with Furan. Check out his posts on the 13th page of this thread.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=691978&perpage=25&pagenumber=13

 

[acrylic_300]

Iv'e had them before right after adding new stock. I thought they were nudibranch bites at first because I also had a nudi problem at the time. The white bumps persisted after the nudibranch were gone...but eventually went away.


I tried to pop most of the "pox" with my turkey baster when I was blowing them off. They are filled with white ooze. The ones that got it came back stronger than ever once they got over it.

 

[Nht8134]

So are you saying that I shouldnt treat it and it will go away on its on? I hope that its not serious because these are some of my favorite zoas.

 

[acrylic_300]

I think it is pretty serious...but not much you can do about it. All my zoas ended up with it and now it is mostly gone.

I've followed posts on it before and it causes a few months of panic before it mysteriously dissapears.

I can't find the post, but after a big frag swap a dozen or so people realized that they had recieved the pox. In the end it cleared up.

 

[Nht8134]

WEll, it has almost completely destroyed my whole colony and I am so depressed. Is it contagious and will infect my other colonies of zoas?