Zoa problems

leshnign · Jan 17, 2007

Has anyone ever had thier zoas fade away in color til almost becoming transparent? Not like light fading which occurs gradually. The zoa colony lost almost all its color in approx. 2-3 days. Now i'm noticing some of my other frags in the tank are starting to do the same thing. I'm really getting worried. I dipped the first colony with saltwater/lugals, and placed in my qt. Most of the polyps are open, and there doesn't appear to be fungus growing. The only change that has been made to the tank is i've switch to Randy Holmes Farley's recipe for alk/cal. Interestingly this has happened to me about 1-2 yrs agoin a mantis spieces tank. I had 10 or so zoa frags all appeared healthy, water perameters were good. One day i noticed one frag was a little faded. A day or two later it was all withered up, and the others started to fade as well. Needless to say i lost all but 1 frag. I hoping to prevent any losses this time, so any help would be appreciated.

leshnign · Jan 17, 2007

I forgot to mention, the colony was in the tank for 8-9 mos. That's why i ruled out the zoas fading from the light. Water perameters are excellent.
Thanks,
Jack

jonbar1 · Jan 17, 2007

I just added some shading to my metal halide because I thought that was what is causing the same thing with some of mine. I don't recall how quickly it happened though. I've not noticed any health concerns, in fact quite the opposite. The ones I have doing this are growing much faster than any of the others. All my parameters are ideal, the only difference between when they looked "normal" and now is the 70w MH over the 12g tank.

These are Safecrackers with lineage in the background, needless to say not looking like they did when I got them:

Safecrackers and Tub's Blues on middle left, both showing it:

d.grcich · Jan 18, 2007

That is strange for other zoa's you have look fantastic! You say you lost them all but one last time but then you say the fadded ones grow faster than normal. I am confused are they dieing or growing fast? Do you have a bio load in your frag tank? Have you tried not messing with additives and just doing a regular salt and water mix on a frequent bassis? What kind of filtration are you useing? I agree lighting looks good no stretching or closed polyps.

Any chance of moving one of the frags to another tank and seeing if there is a change for the better or worse?

Sorry for all the questions but without as much info as possible everything is a complete guess.

rottface4 · Jan 18, 2007

You say that it might not be lighting, but how long has the bulb been running for over your tank? Maybe the bulb is starting to shift spectrum and it is upsetting the zoas causing this to happen. I'm not total sure just putting out possibilities.

minibowmatt · Jan 18, 2007

I did this via light. Changed my bulbs and it happened within 8 hours...

leshnign · Jan 18, 2007

The lighting has not changed. 2x250w 14k pheonix that are about 7-8 mos old. The first time it happened it was in a different tank under p/c lighting. Both times it happened all at once. I havn't noticed new growth yet since it's only been a couple of days. It happened very quickly. Only zoas are affected. I have acros,montis,millaporas, and all are thriving. No livestock seem to be affected either. Just to be safe i did 1 of every test i have, and all were good. I'm just at a loss here.

d.grcich- I think you are mixing up part of my 1st post with jonbar's post. the second set of pics is from him. I've had no obvious growth, it happens to fast to tell. I don't have a frag tank just a QT, and there is no biolode in it. I don't use the 2-part alk/cal in the QT so i'll see what happens to the frags that i've moved in there already. Also the QT lighting isn't as intense(pc's).

These were bright pink 2 days ago,now they are whiting up.

realschool · Jan 18, 2007

bizzare.... i have about 14 different strains of zoas, last week my frag of tootie fruitties closed up and within 4 days turned transparent then to mush. everything else is great. blues just don't do well in my tank.

pookstreet · Jan 18, 2007

Is it possible that the new 2-part additives have changed the pH and alk levels too much at once?

d.grcich · Jan 18, 2007

That is bananas! I am really hopeing your QT tank causes a change so you have something to go on here. I have had green skirts bleach white because of lighting but did not cause them to die. At least they are still open "thats a good sign".

leshnign · Jan 18, 2007

pookstreet- No, the 2-part has basically just maintained my ph/alk levels where they were. I'm home from work now, so i'm going to try to get all frags effected dipped in lugols/sw solution, and moved into the QT. I'm hoping that i've acted fast enough to minimize any losses.

d.grcich- The polyps being open is definitely a good sign. Let's hope they recover!

realschool- I think i have 25-30 different strains at least half of which are being affected in one way or another. some a little worse than others. I think i'll hold a vigil tonight!

On a better note here's a few that are healthy.

msman825 · Jan 18, 2007

pookstreet said:
Is it possible that the new 2-part additives have changed the pH and alk levels too much at once?

this would be my first guess, and is one of the bulbs cracked

jonbar1 · Jan 26, 2007

After some more changes I'm starting to think I've found the culprit in my tank... light spectrum!

I run the 70w Ushio 14K on my AquaPod, and the bulb in all truth is a 10K or lower. I recently added some actinic PC lighting to my tank because the lack of blue light and lack of color "popping" was getting old, and sure enough, the ones that were losing their color and becoming transparent started coloring back up. If only they made a decent 70w bulb...

I also had nearly every zoa loose all their color in my 20L prop tank that was lit by 2 65w PCs. They were supposedly 10K, but comparing with other 10K fluorescents, they were 6500Ks. I switched the bulbs to the 10K/460nm Smart Bulbs and sure enough, they are gaining back color and losing the transparency as well.

I'm guessing the low kelvin of the bulbs probably isn't what's wrong with yours though if you're running Phoenixes. I've used the same 2-part additives in my tank since I started it with the stock PC bulbs, and the only thing that's not been constant was my lighting.

leshnign · Feb 10, 2007

Well it's been about a month, and evertything is finally starting to recover. I hopefully figured it out. I'm pretty sure it was something chemical in the water. I don't know what, but water changes are what save thier lives. I only lost one frag, fortunately i have a few polyps on a disc to grow out again.
Here's a few of the survivors.

Azurel · Feb 10, 2007

Glad to see the stuff survive.....Kinda crazy as "easy" as what zoa are supposed to be how they can have problems and no signs of what it is, unlike other corals.