Zoanthid problem... anybody seen this?

[addict]

Well, after battling nudibranchs this morning, I got to looking over some of the other stuff and found something else that's somewhat disturbing... one of my zoa colonies appears to have some sick zoas...
This is the first time I've seen anything like this, and searching really didn't help... the closest I got was that it possibly is due to increased lighting, but even that could be a stretch... basically it looks like the zoanthids are trying to turn themselves inside out.
I guess a picture is worth a thousand words... so I'll stop rambling.
Has anybody seen this before, or possibly know what the cause may be?
Thanks.

 

[ReefLady]

Yuk, that's a sick zo colony.

See the one zo right on the edge closest to the healthy colony, the one that's closed up but with some tentacles sticking out? That's exactly what a zo nudi looks like... not saying that is one but you should check it out. Suction works best, with a turkey baster over the suspected zo. If something comes out when you suck, see if it's a nudi. If something comes out, it probably is.

In any case, I would dip that zoanthid colony. Logical helped me get rid of nudis with a dip in freshwater for 5 min, followed by a 15 minute dip in lugol's and flatworm exit (kills nudis dead...)

If there are no nudis, you should just dip it in lugol's or another coral dip such as Kent tech-D.


T

 

[brian_e]

i see what u see travis and thats hat it looks like to me to i had them a wile back on one zoo rock

 

[addict]

Thanks guys... I'll check out your suggestions... hopefully they come back healthy... the other half of the colony appears totally unaffected... go figure.

 

[BigReepher]

I've had that problem with some of my zo's. I thought for sure that some of them were dead but after a month they are coming back around. I moved them into a dimmer and higher flow spot and gave them some time. I'm still trying to figure out why one particular type of zo keeps getting a ring of black looking cyano around it and seems to squeeze it shut. I've stopped using the MH all together on my 20g and things are getting better day by day. Zo's don't need much light, IME.

 

[addict]

Thanks for sharing your experience Nate... I'm thinking that the light may have something to do with it, but I'm not sure if it's that factor alone or a combination of factors contributing to this.

I did an iodine dip in hyposaline water, blew as much of the crud off the zoas as I could, then gently brushed off some of the other gunk with a soft-bristled toothbrush. Hopefully if there was some sort of infection occurring that will help.

If they don't show any improvement I'll try moving them to a lower light area... but there aren't many of those left in my tank.

Thanks again, everybody.

Oh... and I didn't find any nudibranchs... I guess they were all on my coral having a party.

 

[Montanareefer]

Yeah Dave I lost alot of zoanthids with that same condition and never did know what caused it. I did have high temps from time to time and maybe the MH lights as well.

 

[caja]

keep an eye on the base of the sick colony. I'm struggling with a fungal infection in two of my zoo colonies. funky white sponge-like growth that slowly is killing them. it seems to have slowed down it's progression so the corals will get a dip today.

 

[ReefLady]

Interesting to see halide lighting as a common factor. Not sure if it has merit, but the zos in my prop tank did much better after I switched from 175halide and 32WPC actinic to a 2x65W unit as well.

Increasing flow to the affected colony/colonies is a very important step I forgot to mention.

Caja, I wonder if the white fungus is the source of the problem or a symptom. It seems to grab hold on sick or wounded zos that got in that condition for other reasons, but then it does seem to spread to healthy colonies.

T

 

[TDEVIL]

lugol's is great stuff
i had the same problem, and after seeing what happened to Travis's zoanthids with the emerald crab, i even looked for any crabs that might have caused this, i have very few crabs, but, worth a shot

here is a before, what they looked like soon after i got them

and here is what they look like now, after the tank change, the dip in lugol's and more flow, and i have MH and there in the upper part of the tank, im so happy they are coming around

Jay

 

[addict]

Thanks for the input, everyone.
Well, things still look the same this morning, but I guess I can count my blessings that they don't look worse.
Of course it had to be the prettiest zoas on the rock that are affected... the more drab ones are still healthy.
If this keeps up I may just frag the half of the colony that isn't doing well and attach them to another rock in my growout area to see if they recover better down there under less-intense lighting... I do notice however, that the end of each zoa appears to be covered in dinoflagellates... almost like their zoox exploded out of them... maybe it 'is' a lighting issue...
I'll report back as things progress.

 

[EdgeKrusher]

Reefer Addict I've been having the exact same problem with one zoo colony for about 3 months now. The colony was closed up with those little black balls. It started to look better about a month later, but then two weeks after that they are closed up again. I'm not sure what it is... it's frustrating. Oh, and i'm not using MH lighting either. I'm running 2X 27 watt pc 50/50 and a 13 watt 50/50.

 

[addict]

Thanks for the input EK.
I went ahead and fragged the zoas (it appeared to be spreading to others), and I noticed that about half of them were almost disintegrated. I salvaged the other half and stuck them down in the growout area.
I'll monitor them to see if they're gonna make it, but things don't look very good... at least the other half of the colony is doing well.

Thanks again.

 

[mane3215]

That I believe is a direct effect of nudi's. I have hundreds of zoos and have lost probably 100's of frags/coloines to the suckers. I am in the process right now of dipping all my zoos for 10 minutes in a fw/lugols/fwe dip. I have pulled 200+ nudis out the past week, and I have witnessed the whole process on zoos I dont like. I just let the nudis be to see what happened. The colony turned out just like yours you have posted.

 

[ScottT1980]

I have had similar occurances with my zoos and have yet to find a nudi although I feel like they are somewhere in my system. I have seen countless pictures of these guys but what about their behaviour? Do they do most of their work when the lights are off? Do they remain relatively stationary or are they pretty mobile?

Best of luck with it RA, probably a good thing that you fragged the rock, whatever the culprit may be...

Take er easy
Scott T.