PDA

View Full Version : Vanishing Zoanthids?


siskiou
06-02-2006, 10:50 AM
I've had this happen to a few colonies over the years, and it's happening again right now.

Zoas are doing great, colony is expanding, and then one day they are all closed up and just melt away over the next few days.
Water parameters are fine, nothing is pestering them, no flatworms, bugs or anything else I can see, nothing new added to the tank. Other zoas and corals are doing fine.

Has anyone else experienced this, and is there something that can be done?
I've tried putting them into my other tank, doing lots of water changes, but no luck there, either...
impur
06-02-2006, 01:39 PM
That happened to me in my nano a year or so ago. I think it was lack of flow over the colonies. After upping the flow, they stopped receeding. What kind of flow do you have over them?
siskiou
06-02-2006, 04:03 PM
Hard to tell.

The return has two outlets, and the CL 4 (running an Eheim 1262) and the return pump is 600and something GpH (3 ft head).
Lookswise, I wouldn't call it exactly strong flow. but everything else seems happy enough.
The skirts of the zoas were moving back and forth a bit.
impur
06-02-2006, 04:11 PM
Hmm when they start to wither away, so they sort of shrink and then just "melt away"? Does the flesh of the polyp have any yellowish color to it?
siskiou
06-03-2006, 12:02 PM
No yellowish color.
They just close up and get smaller and smaller until they are completely gone.
Chewelz
06-04-2006, 11:16 AM
mine do that after about 2 weeks, everytime I buy them. I've given up on them. They look great, then like you say, just close up and slowly dissapear. I can't figure it out either...
rmhuntley
06-04-2006, 12:35 PM
you mean its actually possible to kill them?
Reefin'
06-04-2006, 01:14 PM
something else could be blocking the flow to it . i think impur was on it
i would move it somewhere else in the tank..it needs more current. IME ive had them grow like weeds wear flow was good.then if i move to a location lacking flow the decline in health and start disappearing.move it before its to late...goodluck
siskiou
06-04-2006, 02:50 PM
I'll try it, though I don't understand why they would do well and be expanding for a while (months!) and then decline without any changes made in flow or otherwise.
reefboy
06-04-2006, 04:04 PM
ive had this happen also in wild colonys i think its a type of bacteral infection that slowly wastes them away and i have moved them to higher flow and the ones that survived in my opinion the stronger flow keep the infection down and they were able to recoop and have never had same prob with the colony again as new growth are now tank raised and hardier then wild counter parts i think this malidy is mainly in wild caught specimens as far as my experance goes.So move to higher flow then move back after colony recoops u may want to do a techra-d dip as i have done this as a extra safe gaurd.
Reefin'
06-04-2006, 04:21 PM
cant hurt to do the zoa dip...HTH

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=451720
impur
06-05-2006, 08:18 AM
ive had this happen also in wild colonys i think its a type of bacteral infection that slowly wastes them away and i have moved them to higher flow and the ones that survived in my opinion the stronger flow keep the infection down and they were able to recoop and have never had same prob with the colony again as new growth are now tank raised and hardier then wild counter parts i think this malidy is mainly in wild caught specimens as far as my experance goes.So move to higher flow then move back after colony recoops u may want to do a techra-d dip as i have done this as a extra safe gaurd.

This was my thought as well.