Zoas mysteriously withering

[mfollen]

Hey reefers,

Can you help me understand what is happening with my zoas shrinking, withering away, and why this happening. Not all are withering away, but maybe 33%, not good

Parameters:
Alk 8.5
Ca 465
Mag 1470
Salinity 1.025
PO4: 0.3
No3: 30
Ph: 8.1

nothing has changed with the system. Only changes was adding a new coarse filter pad in the sump. The salinity has been fluctuating up and downby .001 tops due to an ATO not working consistently and travel.

does anyone know why this can be happening or what I can do? I’m starting to make more water for larger water changes. Carbon is running in the meantime.

thank you so much!

 

[Bleigh]

Carbon is a good idea. I know mine do better if I blow them occasionally with a turkey bastor to get debris off. Imo my mention that because you say you’ve been traveling. Any chance there’s any pests that could be eating them? Its sometimes hard to spot them.

 

[sfin52]

Nudis are really hard to spot. They take the color of the coral and they have have appendages that look like the skirt.

 

[mfollen]

Pretty sure there are none. I’ve thoroughly dipped and QTd all coral in the system. This seems to be water related. I sent an ICP test in yesterday.

 

[Bleigh]

Fingers crossed you get to the bottom of it. The icp testing should help.

 

[mfollen]

Thank you. Yea it’s strange as all has been well, zoas have been growing. All other coral are doing great, just the zoas are reacting poorly. But not sure what to...

 

[Bleigh]

I had nudis a while back. And that caused mine to get really angry. And when I get lax about blowing them off a few times a week, they start melting. But I’m by no means an expert.

 

[JustDewwit]

Overall hope you don't have Nudis , but I'm going to also point towards the Salinity. A malfunctioning Auto top-off can lead to coral lost or worse a tank crash. No matter how religiously I would top off daily and eventually something happened. I found doing one daily top off would cause alkalinity to fluctuate with too wide of a margin. Zoas are forgiving to an extent, but each concurrent fluctuation weakens to the point of a possible meltdown. *if you are using a Refractometer <recalibrate daily.
Best wishes on Zoa recovery

 

[NormanB]

I recently had a fire worm wipe out 2 zoa frags. Maybe one or more of them is causing your problem.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Not gonna lie, your phosphates is a bit high. They typical margin is .1-.2... my zoas react poorly to phosphates over .15. My nitrates are at 20ppm. I don’t think the tiny fluctuations in salinity is doing it. Zoas experience TERRIBLE salinity fluctuations in the wild. Zoas live in intertidal zones where they frequently are left out of water and even get rained on at times. Running carbon is a good idea. Are you dosing any amino acids? We won’t know for sure till that icp is back. If it were nudi’s the zoas would be half eaten or missing skirts. I don’t see any of that.

 

[tnw50cal]

Mine do this now and then, I just leave them alone and a few weeks latter they're back to normal.

 

[ScottB]

That "other corals" are fine, and some zoas are affected and others are not would have me checking a few things:

a) Got any pygmy angels in there? My coral beauty is a selective nibbler.
b) Ever see any crabs at night taking a pinch here/there. Grab your flashlight.
c) Nudis are tough to spot. Got wrasses? I won't reef without them. Most of mine are murderous predators.
d) You are not overrun with asterina stars, right? When my population got large, they turned to munching on zoas.
e) stir up the sand for a good dust storm. Then look for some vermetid mucus strings around the affected colonies.

These have all been things I have had to deal with at some point.

Lastly, if it really is about your water, I will bet you 50 cents that the ICP comes back low on Iodine. I would not dose before you get the results, but if I am right they will quickly respond to some Iodine if depleted.

 

[mfollen]

Thanks everyone so much!!!

the ICP test should be back soon and the negative symptoms seemed to improve slightly, I did another water change but may need to do more this weekend to be safe.

agreed on the salinity fluctuations, zoas can exist in very volatile environments.

interesting on the phosphates. I’m trying to slowly reduce via carbon dosing. Will monitor this further.

I do have a potters and juvi blueline angel. The potters never touches any coral, and the blueline I have seen only sample SPS polyps. It is possible the blueline is picking at night but I have been monitoring closely.

I’ll look more tonight, but I haven’t seen any pests at all and am extremely thorough in QT.

I’ll update when the ICP test is received and I monitor further. Thank you everyone!

 

[mfollen]

ICP results returned with no issues in parameters, everything is inline.

Since this is likely not water related, could it be bacterial? I’ve seen other threads where zoas close, and start to decay.

If it is bacterial, would I best doing a dip? I have a GMK frag that has closed

thank you everyone!

 

[mfollen]

Picture of affected zoas, they first close then wither away. Most have a very light brown film, which can be seen below:

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Seems like something’s bothering them. Probably pests...

 

[IslandLifeReef]

ICP results returned with no issues in parameters, everything is inline.

Since this is likely not water related, could it be bacterial? I’ve seen other threads where zoas close, and start to decay.

If it is bacterial, would I best doing a dip? I have a GMK frag that has closed

thank you everyone!

Looking at your results, Mg and Ca are a lot lower than you reported in your first post. Also, that P reading equates to about 0.36 PO4, which is really high.

I would get your Mg up, and lower your PO4. IMO.

 

[Gernader]

It must be small pests that are hard to see, I recommend to dip them and if that does not work, it could be bacterial related.

 

[mfollen]

Ah you’re right on the phosphorous. I’m carbon dosing which is slowly lowering them. As for magnesium my test kits have been saying 1450. So not sure what to trust. Can low magnesium melt zoas?

 

[mfollen]

I’ve QT’d thoroughly and have inspected day and night. No pests