Zoas melting? HELP!

[Mandragen]

Anyone seen this before, I had some zoanthids that were doing great up until today, then they just started melting away.

Before

After

 

[Mandragen]

I haven't changed anything significant.

 

[thewire]

i know...i have some zoas did the same darn thing...not sure why. I have it dip on revive or iodine...not helping either. sps and lps are doing great..

 

[Mandragen]

I actually think the problem is flat worms. the tank has been without fish to break the ich life cycle and in that time my microfauna have really flouished. I've seen them all over my frogspawn and some on the glass occasionally. they are clear and harmless in small numbers I think? correct me if I'm wrong. I think they have just gotten so abundant they are now on irritating the polyps so bad they are dieing off. the only thing is that when I dipped with coralRX I didn't see any fall off. if anyone knows what's going on help us out please. I've been on vacation for 10 days so we shall see how much worse it has gotten.

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

Do you have any asterina stars? The little light colored ones?

 

[Mandragen]

not too many but some. they eat coral?

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

They destroy zoas. They eat a hole in their outter skin and then the zoa guts leak out a little bit and then they melt. They don't have to eat the hole all of the way through for the zoas to melt. Ignore anybody who says some are good and some are bad, they're all evil and should be destroyed entirely. Not that I've ever lost really expensive zoas to stars or am a little bitter about it.

 

[Mandragen]

well darn ... gonna have to find a fish to keep down on microfauna. any ideas?

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

Star fish you just pick out or siphon out. Algae is up to you.

 

[thewire]

hmm...weird..it could be there..i took the bad looking frag and dip them in revive and iodine...and move them to another tank...looks like they might make it ..now the other zoas in the main tank starts getting bad...i need to move all of them out...

does those starfish come out after night?

 

[Mandragen]

i justm oved the frags that were doing bad from the rocks (because they were on plugs still) to the sand, before I went on vacation. I don't see any further deterioration, so gonna just keep an eye on things.

 

[bee505]

Have you tested your water? I've has the same thing on mine. My calcium was way too high. I'm not 100% sure that was the reason.

 

[ndh78]

same thing is happening to me, my only parameter that is off is high calcium also

 

[Mandragen]

my calcium was actually lower than normal

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

How are you testing your Ca? That said, I doubt it's the Ca level. I'll bet $1 it's a pest, and almost certainly the starfish. Yes, they mostly hide when the lights are on and come out at night. If you don't clean your glass for a few days and let the stuff grow on the glass that attracts them and they're easier to siphon out.

Ron

 

[Mandragen]

Well my tank is done being fallow, I will be able to put fish back in which should control the micro fauna a bit. I never had the problem before, just think that it was a bloom.

 

[Rudolph]

I also see some agae growing on something in the farest right hand side....I had a zoa frag come in and it looked the exact same way and the stuff will get on your other rock before you know it.....I tried to "wish it away" as I did not want to mess with my new frag, but I found myself picking it out with tweezers from the rock....I would tackle that right away and don't put it off....I have seen some posts that have some type of way to dip it to rid it of algae and not hurt the frag...I just removed the frag to my small frag tank and tweezered it to death and am keeping an eye on it...may have to find the dip method if it comes back (and it probably will)...

 

[Rudolph]

also see that bubble algae on the close ups....I hear emerald crabs are good for that....

 

[Mandragen]

So far I have yet to have the algea cause a major issue, sometimes it restricts growth but never kills off. I tend to it, but also don't try to do anything major because it's a good indicator on whether or not it's getting worse or wasting away. I have things simingly under control, but every now and then I will get something like this strange melt down which I don't understand.