Problems with Zoanthids

[L8 2 RISE]

I set up my 5.5 gallon ecopico over the summer with the goal of keeping softies and zoa's. Softies are doing fine in the tank, but zoa's are not at all and a lot are dying. At first I attributed this to flatworms (I had a ton), but after several rounds of flatworm exit, there are none left. Some zoa's I put in the tank do fine, while others just close up and never open again but slowly whither away. I am VERY careful about corals when I add, and zoa's get a triple dose of CoralRX and then are rinsed under the tap before going into the tank. The cycle is the same for all the zoa's that don't do well, after about a week, they start to close. I'll add pics in a few minutes. ANY help and suggestions would be very much appreciated.

 

All zoa's are fine except for the ones on the left of this pic:

 

The two in the background here:

 

These gobstoppers are in the "middle" of the cycle, and the happy people eaters are closed in the background

 

 

Edited January 14, 2013 by L8 2 RISE

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

I think most zoas need good amounts of flow and good light. Also stable alk helps too. I imagine all of thoes would be hard to do in a little tank? (Just guessing I have never done a small tank like that.)

[L8 2 RISE]

Added pics!

 

I think most zoas need good amounts of flow and good light. Also stable alk helps too. I imagine all of thoes would be hard to do in a little tank? (Just guessing I have never done a small tank like that.)

 

I think the light is pretty decent, I haven't checked PAR but it's the "reef" light on the ecopico. The flow is ok at least- two small powerheads. I'd expect the zoas to kind of whither away or something if either of these were the case, not just close. Does that make sense or am I wrong there? Alk is a good point and I don't test anything in the tank, just WC weekly. I'll start testing alk and dose if need be!

[Coral Hind]

I see white spots on some of them, that could be zoa pox. I treated it with furan 2

 

Not all zoas like bright light and staying closed might indicate too much light.

[smallreef]

DO you have one or more light strips?

if its only the one you probably do not have enough light, though a few of my zoas in my 50g prefer bright, some prefer shade... so I think its a hit or miss putting them in a pico (im moving mine into my ecopico tomorrow though)

[flooddc]

I had 3 large colony of Zoa when I first setup my tank. They were doing very well, growing like crazy. After I add SPS and upgraded to a larger sump and maintain a cleaner water quality, all the zoa slowly melted away. I moved the remaining to the sump and they seem to do better. (there are a few dozen of polyps that attached to the large rock in the DT, they seem to do fine (very slow growth though)). I guessed that they need to have some dirty water to thrive!

[L8 2 RISE]

I see white spots on some of them, that could be zoa pox. I treated it with furan 2

 

Not all zoas like bright light and staying closed might indicate too much light.

 

I think you may be on to something with the zoa pox. From what I've read it sounds like that may be it. I'll try to pick up furan 2 asap. The zoas that are affected are everywhere from the top to the bottom of the tank.

 

DO you have one or more light strips?

if its only the one you probably do not have enough light, though a few of my zoas in my 50g prefer bright, some prefer shade... so I think its a hit or miss putting them in a pico (im moving mine into my ecopico tomorrow though)

 

I have three light strips. I'm pretty confident that there's plenty of light. I have a plate coral on the sand that is thriving. Good luck on your ecopico! I've been following your thread!

[L8 2 RISE]

I had 3 large colony of Zoa when I first setup my tank. They were doing very well, growing like crazy. After I add SPS and upgraded to a larger sump and maintain a cleaner water quality, all the zoa slowly melted away. I moved the remaining to the sump and they seem to do better. (there are a few dozen of polyps that attached to the large rock in the DT, they seem to do fine (very slow growth though)). I guessed that they need to have some dirty water to thrive!

 

I agree from what I've seen in the past. I'm thinking about taking the bag of chemipure out of the back of my tank to see if that helps.

[Mike]

Have you tried vitamin c? Only one of mine were doing well before I added vitamin c. Now even the ones I thought were gonners are open and doing well. Once you get them opened up make sure you feed them if you want them to spread.

 

 

 

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[jimlin]

Have you tried vitamin c? Only one of mine were doing well before I added vitamin c. Now even the ones I thought were gonners are open and doing well. Once you get them opened up make sure you feed them if you want them to spread.

 

 

 

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what brand of vitamin c do you use?

[El Camaron]

when was the last time you added any frags? could be a pest like a nudibranch.

[Mike]

Just a 1000mg tablet from Rite Aide store brand every few weeks. Jan puts it in her food so I may stop adding the tablet.

 

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[L8 2 RISE]

when was the last time you added any frags? could be a pest like a nudibranch.

 

Last time was last weekend. Almost definitely not nudibranchs, spiders, or sundial snails though. Any other pests I should be looking for?

 

 

Just a 1000mg tablet from Rite Aide store brand every few weeks. Jan puts it in her food so I may stop adding the tablet.

 

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I've never heard about dosing vitamin C, how do you dose? Just crush it up and put it in? How much for what sized tank? I've got the chewable flavored vitamin C tablets that I take every day, could I just add those?

[Coral Hind]

Here is a good thread on vit C dosing; http://www.reef2reef...-vitamin-c.html

 

When looking for vitamin C make sure it doesn't have "ascorbic acid" in it. That is a source of organic carbon so it could lead to bacteria or algae blooms.

 

This method is not guaranteed to work and sometimes can cause severe algae blooms, use with caution.

Taken from: http://www.zoaid.com/articles004.php

[BMW1600]

Lurking because I just lost four zoa colonies :( Some of my very first frags, too. I guess I waited too long to treat them with Furan/CoralRX and they are just gone.

[zygote2k]

maybe the 'cure' is what is killing them. too much coral dip followed by a fw dip might be the culprit.

[Minh B.]

I have the same problem of being unable to keep zoas. The sps, lps and softies are thriving. The last zoa I had was positioned with high light and flow near an acro and it just disintegrated/not open anymore by the end of the second week. I recently acquired a mini-zoa colony and placed it much lower in the tank and it seems to be ok...for now.

 

I had 3 large colony of Zoa when I first setup my tank. They were doing very well, growing like crazy. After I add SPS and upgraded to a larger sump and maintain a cleaner water quality, all the zoa slowly melted away. I moved the remaining to the sump and they seem to do better. (there are a few dozen of polyps that attached to the large rock in the DT, they seem to do fine (very slow growth though)). I guessed that they need to have some dirty water to thrive!

 

Nice. I will give this a try as my skimmer is rated for more than 2X my setup and with the biopellets and MarinePure ceramic balls, I think I may be overkilling it.