zoas looking bad

[nystang]

I have those two colonies on one rock for a long time, over 2 years. I fragged them a few times and most recently about 6 weeks ago and since then, the eagle eyes look like this. I fragged radioactive dragon eyes also but they recovered pretty well as you can see. Is it possible that I disturbed the colony and they can't recover? My parameters are very good and all other LPS and SPS look great, very healthy with very good polyp extension. Phosphate is 0.00 (Hanna), Calcium 480, no detectible nitrate. All I can think is the fragging that didn't went very well this time and I lost a few polyps.

 

[A. Grandis]

I would say that looks like there is something irritating it, but…
...because the green polyps on the side aren't irritated as well I guess it could be indeed because of the fragging. Perhaps you touched the colony and you did hurt some of the polyps by accident. I would just leave them alone and keep watching for a while. It will need time to recover. I don't think I see any signs of infections.

If it persists after 3 days, or gets worse, you can try to gently squirt some Lugol's solution directly on the colony. 1ml of Lugol's for 5 ml of tank water. Turn off the pumps before you use the Lugol's solution and use a small dropper to apply the Lugol's. Leave it for like a minute. One time should be enough. Turn pumps on again.

I normally frag colonies only if they need to be fragged, when they are growing weird, or because of infections, not just because.

Grandis.

 

[nystang]

Thanks. I will try to do it. Can I use just a regular 2% iodine from a drug store diluted in the tank water?
Also the zoas look like this for over a month, sometimes just a little better, sometimes a little worse but never look healthy as they used to.

 

[A. Grandis]

Humm, over a month. I missed that part. I'm sorry.

They probably had a shock when fragged.
No, I wouldn't think iodine 2% would substitute the Lugol's.
I would still do the Lugol's, but "yesterday"!

If they are like that for over a month they probably aren't going to die, but they are having a hard time to recover.

You could try to dose iodine in the regular basis too.
Very, very small amounts!!

The Lugol's is to prevent infection or the acting of anything that is probably bothering the zoas now.
The iodine dosing is to help all the colonies present in the system, generally speaking, in the long run.

Grandis.

 

[nystang]

I'm reluctant to dose something I do not have a test kit for. What would be a safe, small amount / gallon of water, or 10 gallons?

 

[A. Grandis]

You can start the dose like 2ml per 100gallon 3 times a week.
Not a big deal!
When you see algae growing that would be the limit, then cut down the dose.

The actual dosing will depend on how many softs are present in the system, I guess.

Grandis.