Zooanthid problems

[nicoudib]

Over the course of the last 2 months all of my zoa's have closed, receeded, and are just about gone. I have pristine water conditions (according to Emerald Bay) and no evidence of parasites.

I have changed bulbs from a 65W 50/50 and 20W PowerGlo to a 65W 10,000K and 20W MarineGlo.

The tank contains Xenia, Frogspawn, Candy Cane, Toadstool, Mushrooms, Finger Leather, and Green Star Polyps, all of which are thriving. There are 2 clownfish, a diamond goby, 2 blue-legged hermit crabs, and assorted turbo and bumblebee snails.

I have been feeding cyclopeze and marine pellet food, and have just started adding Marine Snow. I don't dose the tank with any additives, and Calcium is around 400-450. I have lost almost 100 polyps in total over the last 3 months, and am afraid to add anything else to the tank, though I would like some new corals.

Anybody have any idea what I should do?

Thanks.

 

[DMBillies]

How long ago did you make the light change and was it before you started having problems?

If it was after, and all of the other params are in order, I'd suspect some type of predator. I know there are tons of zoa eating nudibranchs and from pics I've seen of them they are tiny and have great camo. I've heard that looking at night with a flashlight and a magnifying glass is the best way to find them, but I'll let someone with a bit more experience chime in.

 

[greystreet41]

dip 'em
I just dipped 80% of my zoas over the weekend. A few of min had been looking rough and are almost completely recovered....follow the instructions to a T. The first dip I did a few months a go killed a colony (my fault).

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=451720

 

[DMBillies]

Is this the same dip that was mentioned at the meeting at E-bay on Saturday?

 

[gflat65]

I'd do a dip, too, just to see if anything falls off the problem rock. Problem is that if it is a predator, you need to dip all of your zoas a few times over a few weeks. There are sea spiders, nudis, and snails that are known to munch on them. The nudis can be very hard to find because they change colors to match the zoa they are eating. Search the zoa forum for sundial snails, zoa nudis, and sea spiders for pics.

 

[Mikeyjer]

I HATE nudibranches!!! ugh...........It took me about a month or so to rid them ALL!!! I've killed over a 100 of those suckers....The best time to look for them is at night when the lights are out and search'em with a flash light. They tend to crawl towards the top of the polyp when the lights are off making them easier to spot.

 

[fishdoc11]

These might help:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=664258
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=691978
Chris

 

[ct_vol]

Ok, so I just saw my first zoo eating nudi... Pulled the sucker off and exterminated him... The problem is, that one of my favorite colonies of Fire and Ice zoos is on a branch of encrusting sps... I was thinking I ought to go ahead and dip all my zoos as a precaution of more nudis and/or for the possibility of eggs... I was wondering if that Mucho dip would have any negative affects on the sps??? If so, I'd just as soon move it to a QT and just keep a close eye for nudis or for further recession of the zoos... Let me know what you guys think... Thanks...

Randy

 

[nicoudib]

Thanks all.

Thanks all.

Thank you to everyone for all the suggestions, but I might be too late to save them now (of the 80 polyps I had, I am down to about 10), but I will know in the future what to try...

 

[gflat65]

Randy,

I'd be very leary of doing a fresh water dip on sps. If I were you, I'd try to remove what I could of the zoas and QT them...

 

[ct_vol]

Yeah, thats what I ended up doing... Those zoa's haven't receded and look great... But I'll be keeping a very close and watchfull eye on them...