Zoa problem

[d3rryc]

I religiously dip all of my new corals before putting them in the tank, but I've got some zoas that are acting weird, and I don't know what to do about them. It started with some cats' eye zoas. After a few polyps had melted away, I dipped them in a strong Lugol's bath for about 10 minutes, but it didn't help - the rest of the colony (about a dozen or so) just wasted away. Now my Green Bay Packers are having the same problem. I've attached a couple of photos that show what's going on, and they look just like what Borneman describes as zoa condition 1 in Aquarium Corals. Anybody have any idea 1) what's going on, and 2) how to fix it?

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[ReefOne]

What are your parameters? Have any other softie corals? If so, how are they doing?

[d3rryc]

Temp 77-79. Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are 0. pH is 8.2. Alk is a little low at 6.5 while I'm tweaking a calc reactor. Calc is 400. All the other softies are fine, including my other zoas and the GSPs that typically act as my barometer for water quality issues.

[ShAgMaN]

Zoas are weird. Right now I have some magicians and RPE's (which are close to each other) that are totally closed up - it's been at least a week. Everything else is fine. I believe something really ****ed them off, but what...who knows? It's usually attributed to light, paramiters, or pests. If you cant verify any of these, best bet is to wait it out.

[neogenix]

Pull them out and dip them in a coral dip, see what falls off... I had that sort of problem with my zoo's, and turned out it was nudi's. Even if you dip corals, eggs can survive, and depending on your dip, in some instances they'll work better with some critters, and not with others.

[FireWater]

I agree with Patrick ^

Were any of the frags near them new or recently added? Nudis on zoas can be very hard to see as they blend in very well too.

[neogenix]

Also, what do you dip with, for reference?

[Pennies2Cents]

Have you tried to blow that purple stuff off of them with a turkey baster? We constantly do this with our zoa's and they liked to be cleaned of all the "ditrus" that gathers between them.. Kinda like dust. It can be irritating..

Hope this makes sense.

[Gseclipse02]

i have had this happen to my zoa's my best result was to move them to the slowest flowing area .. in my case my sump 2 months later they made a come back

[ShAgMaN]

i have had this happen to my zoa's my best result was to move them to the slowest flowing area .. in my case my sump 2 months later they made a come back

Good point, flow can be an issue as well.

[ShAgMaN]

Ok. well I'm up way to late for a Sunday, but decided to check out my tank under flashlight (it's been years) ...and I'm concerned.

The only two zoas I'm having issues with (out of 30+ frags/colonys) are being swarmed by amphipods. No other zoas are being messed with. I've lost some zoas in the same area before, so my concern is they are irritating them enough to closing up permanently. I'm moving both tomorrow.