Mr. Wiggles
Member
Hi Reef Central!
I am having an issue with my first coral, a zoanthid, that I introduced Jan 17th. First a little history of me and this tank before I get into the problem.
I have been in the hobby since 2008, and this is my third system that I have set up due to several moves. Much of the equipment is the same that I have had so I know about where in the tank certain corals tend to respond well.
This tank is a 40b, about 30 lbs of live rock kept alive from my previous system, and about 30lbs of new sand (dry, and rinsed). I started this tank in early September of 2015. RODI 0 tds, 0 ppm total chlorine in the top off. Eshopps 75h skimmer, 150w MH 14k Phoenix. Flow Mp10, and Mp40. HOB fuge with Chaeto which grew well, but has recently stalled out. Temp at 78F controlled via apex. Dosing of Alk and calcium also with Apex. Inhabitants are Bangaii cardinal, yellow watchman goby, peppermint shrimp, emerald crab, various snails and hermits.
Water chemistry:
Alk = 8.3 (Red Sea kit)
Ca = 400-420 ppm (API kit)
Mg = 1400ppm (Red Sea Kit)
Alright, so here is my problem. I introduced this coral on January 17th. All seemed well, and it opened up and seemed happy.
Now I started to notice that the zoas were closing up on one side of the frag and slowly progressing to the other side.
I decided to look under my dissecting microscope to see if I could identify a pest of some kind. Here is a picture of some of the closed polyps, it looks like some cyano but I couldn't find any pest. Some of the polyps seemed to be sloughing off and starting to rot. I cut those polyps off and dipped the frag in Furan-2 twice for 15 min each time. It didn't seem to get any better.
Today i had another look under the scope, and I see one polyp which looks like it has begun to burst open and there is this dark stuff along the side. I assume that this is the zooxanthelle.
I took some of the dark junk and looked at it under a higher power compound scope. It looks like a mix of zooxanthelle and some microscopic bug (paramecium?) I don't know if this bug is just an opportunist or is the problem. So I dipped it in some lugols solution this afternoon.
Anyone have any more suggestions? I am a bit at a loss since i haven't had a problem like this before, and I would like to stock up on some coral but not if i have some pest/problem.
Thanks for any and all help!
I am having an issue with my first coral, a zoanthid, that I introduced Jan 17th. First a little history of me and this tank before I get into the problem.
I have been in the hobby since 2008, and this is my third system that I have set up due to several moves. Much of the equipment is the same that I have had so I know about where in the tank certain corals tend to respond well.
This tank is a 40b, about 30 lbs of live rock kept alive from my previous system, and about 30lbs of new sand (dry, and rinsed). I started this tank in early September of 2015. RODI 0 tds, 0 ppm total chlorine in the top off. Eshopps 75h skimmer, 150w MH 14k Phoenix. Flow Mp10, and Mp40. HOB fuge with Chaeto which grew well, but has recently stalled out. Temp at 78F controlled via apex. Dosing of Alk and calcium also with Apex. Inhabitants are Bangaii cardinal, yellow watchman goby, peppermint shrimp, emerald crab, various snails and hermits.
Water chemistry:
Alk = 8.3 (Red Sea kit)
Ca = 400-420 ppm (API kit)
Mg = 1400ppm (Red Sea Kit)
Alright, so here is my problem. I introduced this coral on January 17th. All seemed well, and it opened up and seemed happy.
Now I started to notice that the zoas were closing up on one side of the frag and slowly progressing to the other side.
I decided to look under my dissecting microscope to see if I could identify a pest of some kind. Here is a picture of some of the closed polyps, it looks like some cyano but I couldn't find any pest. Some of the polyps seemed to be sloughing off and starting to rot. I cut those polyps off and dipped the frag in Furan-2 twice for 15 min each time. It didn't seem to get any better.
Today i had another look under the scope, and I see one polyp which looks like it has begun to burst open and there is this dark stuff along the side. I assume that this is the zooxanthelle.
I took some of the dark junk and looked at it under a higher power compound scope. It looks like a mix of zooxanthelle and some microscopic bug (paramecium?) I don't know if this bug is just an opportunist or is the problem. So I dipped it in some lugols solution this afternoon.
Anyone have any more suggestions? I am a bit at a loss since i haven't had a problem like this before, and I would like to stock up on some coral but not if i have some pest/problem.
Thanks for any and all help!
