What's wrong with these guys?

[aquarookie]

Hi all,
The last several days various zoas in my tank have been having issues... They stretch out and look like "pee pees" (to put it gently) and the heads are covered in this brown stuff. Any ideas on what it is and how to get rid of it? I tried to siphon it off, but it is stuck on pretty good. It is usually a single polyp here and there, but I did see the brown stuff on most of my pink zoa colony. I did a FW dip and it seemed to go away but also stressed out the zoas (I did match the PH of course). Please help

Some polyps seem to recover on their own, but I don't want it to spread further. Also, one of my colonies has shriveled up to 1/10th its original size (each polyp, that is) for no apparent reason. It is next to a perfectly healthy and happy eagle eye colony and until a few days ago it has been healthy as well...

P.S. It is in my 54 corner bow front with a 20 gallon sump, 250 watt MH. I am wondering if the presence of halimeda or star polyps has caused the one colony to shrivel up... but then again, I have a lot more halimeda and star polyps in my other tank, and the same type of zoos is growing fantastically next to them...

 

[spongebob lover]

They stretch out and look like "pee pees" (to put it gently)

i better don't say anything .

it looks like they got a little bit of cyano on them.
have you tried blowing them off?.....if you see them getting worse i'd do a lugol's dip just in case .

 

[aquarookie]

i better don't say anything .

it looks like they got a little bit of cyano on them.
have you tried blowing them off?.....if you see them getting worse i'd do a lugol's dip just in case .

Yeah, it does look kinda like cyano but I believe it is not. It won't blow off or siphon off, I could not even rub it off. It attacks palys/zoas, and starts at their heads. The sucky thing is I don't have any lugol's (and I ran out of regular iodine). AND I can't go to the store until probably this evening. Who sells lugol's locally, anyway?

 

[Skimmy]

im sorry, i can offer you no solution other than giving you this related small pic:
someones av on RC, cant remember who...

 

[spongebob lover]

Yeah, it does look kinda like cyano but I believe it is not. It won't blow off or siphon off, I could not even rub it off. It attacks palys/zoas, and starts at their heads. The sucky thing is I don't have any lugol's (and I ran out of regular iodine). AND I can't go to the store until probably this evening. Who sells lugol's locally, anyway?

when you say several days ... how long is that ? a week? i don't think they do that when they're cleaning themselve hehe.
i'd wait to see if anyone has any other ideas.

i got my lugols from Blue Sierra, but i believe SWC carries it too.
If you can't find any and if you got a little bottle with a tear drop thingy... i can share some of mine, if you feel like driving up here .

 

[Herefishyfishy]

symptom of red planaria, flatworms...

 

[spongebob lover]

symptom of red planaria, flatworms...

that's the first symptom?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

One of many. Something is making them close up. They are closed up and when closed, they are starving. Hard to differentiate cyano from red planaria (acro eating flatworms). If it blows of, is cyano. If they stick like little suckers could very well be flatworms. Since Julia said she already knew she had them, pretty safe conclusion...

 

[spongebob lover]

One of many. Something is making them close up. They are closed up and when closed, they are starving. Hard to differentiate cyano from red planaria (acro eating flatworms). If it blows of, is cyano. If they stick like little suckers could very well be flatworms. Since Julia said she already knew she had them, pretty safe conclusion...

ohh i see, thanks dood .

 

[aquarookie]

One of many. Something is making them close up. They are closed up and when closed, they are starving. Hard to differentiate cyano from red planaria (acro eating flatworms). If it blows of, is cyano. If they stick like little suckers could very well be flatworms. Since Julia said she already knew she had them, pretty safe conclusion...

Well, I don't know what to say. My flatworms are smooth and have a distinct shape. This brown crap (pardon my language) is almost fuzzy... And it comes overnight. When I say several days I mean 3-4, and during this time more than one polyp got affected... but it's not necessarily polyps that are next to each other, they are scattered throughout the tank. I just took some fresh pics, I will post them here.

 

[spongebob lover]

it seems like it covers them quick.
i really hope you don't loose them.

 

[aquarookie]

You know what this looks like? It looks like the polyp got dipped in some glue, then in that lousy fine sand I have, then into cyano. But first it got stretched out. What the heck is this crap?!

 

[aquarookie]

Aw, goshdarnit! I am sick as a dog, stuck at home, could not get out to get more iodine. Will do it tomorrow after I go to the doctor's. Anyone have ideas on what the heck else it might be? If not, I will be writing wetwebmedia about it...

 

[sandlot13]

I was reading somewhere about bacterial infections of zoanthid colonies... I do not remember ever reading about a solution to the problem though, as I had to jet off to class. Ill try to dig it up and see what I can find, but I would definitly ask wetwebmedia for sure... It cant hurt anything!

This happened to me just before my tank crashed due to powerouttages. Some of my zoos would encrust over and just sit there, and I was unable to clean it off unless i ripped flesh away from the actual zoo. hmm.... Ill keep searching

 

[RocketScientist]

So here's something... though from the looks of it it doesn't look like Zoa Pox but this might help.

http://www.zoaid.com/articles004.php

Also, I'm not fond of this thought but I gotta throw it out there. If the affliction continues to progress should the polyps be removed? Sacrifice the few to save the majority?

 

[aquarookie]

So here's something... though from the looks of it it doesn't look like Zoa Pox but this might help.

http://www.zoaid.com/articles004.php

Also, I'm not fond of this thought but I gotta throw it out there. If the affliction continues to progress should the polyps be removed? Sacrifice the few to save the majority?

Thanks for the link Brian. This stuff is different, but maybe I will try the same remedies (water changes, etc). The problem with sacrificing a few to save the rest is that I don't know which few... I mean, obviously it would be the ones with the brown crap on them, but the thing is they pop up overnight in random places. It's not like I can cut out the bad polyp and all the ones adjacent to it... The stuff does not necessarily spread to adjacent polyps, it just affects them here and there...

The thing is, I want to make sure it is not a water quality issue. And the ultra sucky thing is, I am sick as a dog and can't lift buckets worth a darn. Out of iodine, can't go to the LFS. This really, really sucks. My husband would be happy to get chemicals/supplies or change water, but this week he's been working like mad at some major event at work, and I don't want to bug him with this as he is already WAY stressed out.

Goshdarnit, it is all about timing. When it rains it pours. And I feel like someone is kicking me in the head all day long (viruses really do come from the devil!).

Sorry to complain (to put it mildly). This has been a somewhat unpleasant experience... But hey, it could be worse, so I am glad that it's not!

 

[spongebob lover]

well i wish i had a driver's license, i'd take the iodine to you .
I think that may be a big water change (you're not alone... i seriously have to go 2 gals by 2 everytime i change my water :lol: ) would help... may be sucking the sand or putting them away from the sand, could help too.
Sorry girl....i really wish i could help you

 

[aquarookie]

Well thanks Gaby! It's the thought that counts . I am afraid my thread is starting to sound like a sob story or a cry out for attention :lol:. After my hubby comes home, I might just have enough OOMPH to make it to the LFS for some chemicals. Heck, I just remembered my brand spanking new 75 gallon tank is still sitting there waiting for me to pick it up (hubby bought it for me last sunday, but it wouldn't fit in his car). So I have to get there eventually :lol:

 

[RocketScientist]

Holy COW Julia, how many tanks do you have right now? It's like you have a never ending flow of fish tanks into your house.

 

[aquarookie]

Well Brian,

I had EVERYTHING I needed to set up a 75 gallon system (stand, lights, pumps, skimmer, LR, LS if I go that route, frags etc). EXCEPT for the tank. I tried to sell things off, but did not get as much interest than I anticipated, so I figured I would set it up instead of having all the loose equipment laying around the house (especially the tubs with base rock and live rock). Don't worry, I will sell either the 75 or the 90 (freshwater) as complete setups. Eventually maybe both. Want one?