Charley!!! Help!!!

[bshumake]

Dude, before this gets bad I need help. Remember at our first meeting I told you how my zoa's got wiped put by some white cheesey looking stuff. Well I thin its back on a plug I got at Kermits. What is this again and didn't you say some peroxide on it would cure it?

[cateyes]

hey Barrett --
i'm not Charley, but i have had the same junk on some of my zoas before, although mine looked more cottony, and treated it with the peroxide dip.
i had mixed results useing it. i had the best luck when i fragged off the cheesy (cottony) white part from the rest of the frag. then dipped it in 10% peroxide / 90% tank water mixture for 10 minutes. then rinsed them in a little tank water before returning them to the display. i also put them where they would get some flow on them...
good luck,,,HTH,,,,,,,,lisa

[bshumake]

Thanks Lisa. Thats waht ai was thinking but i wanted to get a second opinion before I did it. Well, I guess this could be an excuse for me to go get another plug or two :D

[cateyes]

absolutely!!!! :)

[cschumaker]

Hey Barrett,

I've never used peroxide and personnaly wouldn't consider it since it is toxic to just about everything. When I've had colonies begin to die, I will cut out all of the damaged polyps and dip them in a solution of lugol's iodine that is 1.5 to 2 times higher than the dosage on the bottle. I use iodine because it is used as an antiseptic but is also an element that many of the soft corals utilize normally. I then put the zoos in a high flow area to keep any other tissue or bacteria cleared off.

If things get too bad, I have fragged out everything more than one row of polyps away from the dead/dying area and move them to another area of the tank. Often, the row immediately surrounding the section can already be infected so I leave them.

So far, I haven't lost any colonies but I have gotten down to one polyp from a colony of 75+. Luckily it was some that turned out to be some of my favorites. LOL

Sorry it took me awhile to respond, but my phone battery is down and I've been playing nursemaid to by bubble tip clone that first climbed into a powerhead (week or two ago) and then was ripped in half because it was attached to two rocks at the same time and the rocks went opposite directions. =/

[just dave]

Some of the zoanthids I have have different kinds of sponges that are growing among them ( I happen to like sponges and have been prop/fraging some.) Maybe that's what you are seeing.
I have some that as the spong grows the zoanthids get longer to keep up. Though if you get air trapped in the sponge it will cause it to decompose.

[willember]

When I had melting zoanthids I too cut away the infected part plus 1 row. Then put them in high flow, but be sure it is not in direct flow of a powerhead or pump, or they won't ever open.

(Dave, what are you feeding your sponges? Just DT's?)

[bshumake]

Thanks everyone. I'm beginning to believe its trauma related. I had that plug sitting up on a rock and it fell off. My spagetti worms were touching all over it so its probably nothing to worry about. I geve them a little rub last night with my thumb and left them alone. I'll recheck them today and give em a Lugol's bath. Thanks again.
B