Zooanthid sick? possible fungus?

[Slickcg33]

About a week ago i noticed a mini set of zoas closed up. i figured they had been walked on by a crab or something like that at first but after about a week of being closed there is obviously a problem. i just noticed that the next set over has started to close, only one or 2 polyps out of the 6. Some seem to have a large black area around the head looking like an alge or fungus. I haven't done a dip, touched or moved them yet. i wanted your advice on here before i did anything. I dont see any bugs, slugs, or spiders but maybe they are there?
this is the colony that have been closed for over a week.

this is the colony starting to close that have the black heads

the white spots/dots you might see in the pic i dont believe are pox, i think its just sand. also there are about 4 other colonies of zoas in the tank that are about 10 times the size of these, which arent effected by whatever this is. tank is 34 gals, everything is very healthy with exception to these 2 small colonies. light is 250 wtt mh 20k suspended 18 above the water and they are about 18 inches down in the tank. all the other healthy zoas are on the same level.

 

[Jeremy0322]

Its just a random guess but use a turkey baster and blow them off to see if its just some algae, I had algae covering mine up when they were in the temporary tank, and once i blew it off they would open back up until it grew back Post some water parameters too please, actual values, not just good, average, poo, and so on...haha.

Lighting set up, filtration, other corals, anything new added? All of this would help the people who know more about this give you a better diagnosis.

 

[BigJay]

I've read that zoanthids can send chemical messages and neighboring zoo's can pick up on that. Wether thats true or not I dunno. But if it is , if one zoo colony is sick or stressed it could influence the condition of neighboring zoo's wether or not they were suffering from the same affliction.
What I do know is I have had infections effect all types of corals in my tank at one time or another. The infections bothering softies and LPS seem to be more of a problem then the ones effecting SPS. I recently switched to Seachem's dip and I have to say I absolutely love it. Every effected softie or LPS I've dipped has shown improvement within an hour.
I dip all corals coming into my tank but recently had some zoanthids come in dying due to shipping problems. That seem to cause problems with many of my healthy colonies. Some closed up for days. If they didn't show signs of improvement within about 3 days I dipped them and presto, like magic. Very impressed with the product.

 

[cbrownfish]

Have you considered that the nearby majano anemone may have stung the polyps? Otherwise, you may consider what corals are "upstream" from these polyps. Allelopathy in our closed systems is a huge issue, especially if you have any leather corals. Are all the zoanthids in the pics Kedds Reds? IME they like higher lighting, so if they are under low-to-medium light then that could be the issue.

 

[BigJay]

Have you considered that the nearby majano anemone may have stung the polyps? .

holy smokes I totally missed that.

 

[Jeremy0322]

holy smokes I totally missed that.

lol, me too, dont worry about it..haha. That is probably your best bet, and with the stuff that some of these things can release when mad you would be amazed at the chain reaction 1 event can have.

 

[Slickcg33]

Have you considered that the nearby majano anemone may have stung the polyps? Otherwise, you may consider what corals are "upstream" from these polyps. Allelopathy in our closed systems is a huge issue, especially if you have any leather corals. Are all the zoanthids in the pics Kedds Reds? IME they like higher lighting, so if they are under low-to-medium light then that could be the issue.

I dont think the majanos are stinging them because it cant reach the polyps in the 2nd pic and they are still starting to close. The kedd reds are the one in the 2nd pic, the first pic has some sort of peach polyp which closed first which is why i dont think that the light is the problem? maybe it is? last night i took them out to inspect to see if there was any alge on them, and i could scrape off a little. i gave them an iodine dip just in case there was some sort of parasite which there wasnt. they have been closed since i put them back in the tank.

lighting is 250 wtt 20k 18 inchs above water, these colonies are about 18 inches down in the water also.

tank parameters are tanken with api liquid test, mag taken with salifert
temp 80
Salinity 1.025
ph 8.0
nitrite 0
nitrate 15
ammonia 0
phosphates .25 or .5 cant distinguish
kh 8
mag 1290
calcium 420

everything in the tank is doing very well, even the majority of zoas on the other side of the tank, with exception to these 2 in the pic.

 

[Slickcg33]

Re: Zooanthid sick? possible fungus? AND NOW POX

(2 months after orignal post)
I figured i would just update this thread instead of making a new one. Those original zoa have died finally, and i have many more looking like that(they are in the first 2 pic's below). I also have a new problem. ZOA pox. the biggest colony in the tank is now infected with zoa pox, and probably others that i dont know about.
So i have a couple of questions now.
Does the fungs appear to be a different problem, or is everything the pox? I uploaded a photo with 2 mini frags that have the fungus(circled in red) and i dont see any pox on them, they have basically been shrinking for weeks and haven't been open.

the main pox colony is as follows. How do i treat them, is there any in tank treatments? i usually stray away from treating the main tank because of side effects. but these zoas are attached to heavy rock work in the tank.. if i have to take them out then i guess i have to do that, but i would prefer an in tank method if there is one. Any help or advice is welcome, please!

 

[untilthen]

wow hurry and buy furan 2... u should b able to get em at ur lfs but they can b hard to find... u need to dip the colony in the furan 2 for around 15-20 min

 

[brikeibur]

I lost a rather large colony of zoas to similar symptoms. I had the zoas for over a year, and they were doing great, then one day I noticed some were not opening, then more, etc..... Eventually none opened, and they shrank up and vanished.

My LFS suggested some type of treatment to me that I could just add to my tank, it wouldn't affect anything in there they said, but would help the zoas. Only problem was they were ordering it for me, and my colony died while I was waiting for it to come in...guess I should have ordered it myself, especially since I STILL don't have it.

I would go look around at your LFS immediately, because if they don't carry some type of zoa dip/treament then you will have to order it, and in the meantime your zoas will just keep deteriorating (well...if it is the same thing that happened to mine, which it sounds like it is).

Good luck, hope you can clear it up.

 

[fata1ity]

unless you want everything to die you need to move them all to a QT tank and dip them everyday for a few weeks.