Zoanthid diseased???

[Marcellina]

I have a couple new zoanthids that I have had in the tank a few days.
They have opened up and look great.
Tonight I decided to turn the lights on to see what kind of critters come out at night and boy was I surprised to see a ton of them running all over the rocka nd sand gave me the creepy crawlies!

Anyway that is neither here nor there. I noticed a couple of things i think are bad both on my zoas.

On my giant sun polyps I notices a big glop of white on the stalk of one of them.

Another a yellow eyed zoa there is a little sandlike ball next to the zoas.

and on my crazy green eyed zoas I see what looks like a reddish fuzzy mass that has a couple of grains of sand stuck to it but also what seems like white mass on another side of the zoas. Am I imagining things?

Is this zoa fungus? I dipped all of these corals for maybe one or 2 minutes before putting them in my tank.

Sun Polyp stalk with large glop.

Yellow eyed zoas with a ball of whitish sand looking stuff next to it

crazy neon green eyed zoas: green arrow point to red fuzzy spot - looks like the fuzzy phytes you can buy at LFS and pink arrow is pointing to white fuzzy spot

another zoa with something whitish floating above it not sure what it is or if its bad either.

Should I dip them again at a higher concentration? and for longer time? How long can they stay dipped? I use SeaChem Reef Dip its a coral disinfectant.

 

[Dre]

Pic 1 and 2 look like sponges harmless, the others not sure.Do not dip until you know exactly what's on them.

 

[Marcellina]

Hi Dre, could sponges attach to softies like this? Becaus thats what I thought the first 3 photos looked like at first. You can see where the little volcano tunicate like openings are where they would feed/filter. Never saw them so whitish or opaque like before which is what made me question it.

The last picture Im wondering now if it could be the gel glue that I used to try and attach the frag to my LR - which of course didnt, I always have the problem of it skinning over and never attaching.

I was surprised to see those things in the wee hours of the night, they all act and look extremely healthy and happy when they are open. They would show signs of distress if they were sick wouldnt they?

 

[anthony27]

I bought one pice a long time ago and it had a sponge on them. the ball is a spong on it. I would remove the spong from the zoa. Also very ncie screen shotts of the issue. The third picture looks like they are actually getting chocked out. I would def dip them and see what happens rember sponges hate air.

 

[Marcellina]

You are right about the 3rd picture anthony. I didnt notice itwith my bare eye but now with the blown up picture I see what looks like baby zoas trapped under the sponge. Can sponges kill zoas? They seem so non agressive.

Should I remove the ball of sponge and just put it on live rock? Should I get rid of it all together? I dipped them all before putting them in the tank for like 1 or 2 minutes should I dip longer or maybe put more solution (I use Reef Dip - its basically iodine)

Then should I just let them stay out of the tank for a minute or so to kill off the sponge? That wont harm the zoas will it?

 

[qy7400]

The 'choking' appearance could just be from the polyp being closed, the photos were taken at night; if they are open fully during the day odds are you're fine, any stress or irritant will keep the polyp closed to some extent.

Every zoa frag I've ever gotten was dipped in fresh water only for 5 minutes, will kill off just about everything you don't want on the frag.

 

[anthony27]

I agree a million precent. I do idion, fresh water and flat worm exit. :starfish:

The 'choking' appearance could just be from the polyp being closed, the photos were taken at night; if they are open fully during the day odds are you're fine, any stress or irritant will keep the polyp closed to some extent.

Every zoa frag I've ever gotten was dipped in fresh water only for 5 minutes, will kill off just about everything you don't want on the frag.

 

[Marcellina]

@ Joe - yes the polyps are open and great during the day, thats why I didnt notice the spongey stuff. I only saw them last night after lights out for a few hours and then I couldnt help but turn the lights to admire my red brittle starfish:starfish: (she only comes out after its been dark a bit)

@ Anthony - the guy I got them from fresh water dips all his corals before selling them. He does recommend that they should be coral dipped before putting in your tank though. I did the Reef Dip (iodine) I didnt do a separate Flat Worm exit I thought Iodine dip takes care of that?? I always exam the corals and pick anything I dont like carefully off with a tweezer. They have now been in there a week do you think I can or should do another Dip with Iodine? I have never done a fresh water dip how do you do that? With RODI water?

so many questions but I cant learn if I dont ask

 

[KathyC]

A 'fresh water dip' is in fact Rodi water.

Did all of the zoas pictured come from the same source? The things you point out all look like sponges to me. I don't believe a FW dip will kill them, nor would I advocate leaving the zoas exposed to air long enough to kill off the sponges, even though zoas are tough little corals.

You can pick them off with your tweezers BUT if you do that be SURE to wear eye protection, gloves ..and keep your mouth closed in the event they squirt out any fluids while you are working on them.
Sometimes more aggressive sponges will grow back, but usually you can remove it this way and it will stay gone.

 

[Marcellina]

Kathy, yes they are all from the same source. Like I said they are all open and beautiful right now but Im so paranoid that when I saw the spondey stuff when the polyps were closed I thought of zoa pox or sea spider or something crazy like that. I've never experienced this so I wanted to make sure it wasnt anything too serious. I might go ahead and try to take some of the white stuff off of the 3rd picture zoas bc it looks like its covering the baby polyps. There are no such things as zoa eating sponges are there? I have to go fish out my old high school lab goggles before doing the surgery on it. LOL

Oh and to all that are reading this threa - the last picture IS crazy glue :lol2: oops my bad !!!

My tank has grown quite a few different sponges over its live rock since I have started this obession - er I mean hobby! I have purple, blue, red, black and pale green. The black scared me it looks like the 'Blob'. IS it ok to have these in the tank? They seem harmless.

 

[anthony27]

sponges are harmless to a degree but when they start chocking out coral then you need to worrie, like kathy said in such great advice, :^ just pick them off fresh water dip means rodi water and it usually kills alot off of them. just try to cut off the sponges.

 

[Marcellina]

Ok so I will try to get the spongey stuff off the crazy green zoas. Let me work up a little nerve lol why did the kids have to wake up from their naps already??? LOL

Im just going to out a small clear liter bucket filled with tank water and wear latex gloves and some cheap sunglasses and a bandana around my nose and mouth ... if my husband comes home he is going to think Im getting to rob a bank!

I have a little razor ready but I think Im going to try and just pluck it off with the tweezers.

 

[anthony27]

I have scaples if needed and if you are scared I can help you out and cut it off for you.

 

[LongIslandAndy]

Many zoo's come in attached to sponges(I hate these). If the sponge has been exposed to air for any lenght of time it dies over a few day period. Usually the zoo colony will get a real funky smell( rotten eggs) IMO if those zoo's have been in the tank awhile, the sponges are alive and doing no damage. I would probably leave the zoo's alone unless they seem to be rotting. Most of all keep Anthony away with his scapel lol

 

[Marcellina]

This is one of the more colorful sponges in my tank, they like to grow on my ricordea rock.

 

[Marcellina]

Hey Andy, the zoos seem to be doing fine right now. I would just hate for something to happen to them if I could have prevented by removing the sponges.

I guess you reputation precedes you Anthony LOL Are you scalpel happy??? Are you Dr House for Reefs?

 

[anthony27]

ooo thanks andy alotttttt, lol he is joking lmao