Let's Talk About ZoaPox (Part 2)

So my first article about Zoapox broke down the affliction and talked about different ways to possibly heal your colonies.

Well, I got another colony completely afflicted with zoapox from my LFS store (for free) and decided to do an HP dip on it for SCIENCE!- and to make sure the results were consistent with my past positive results using this method.

This time, I'm including pictures for your visual entertainment. Please excuse the crappy "paint" editing of red circles and arrows. Some of us aren't cool enough to have photoshop

You will need: Latex gloves (always, always, ALWAYS wear gloves. These zoas and palys pack a powerful toxin that can cause severe damage to you should you not take the necessary precautions), Hydrogen Peroxide, and some sort of container for the zoas to sit in as they are cleansed.



Here's a look at the colony pre-dipping and out of water. I've circled in red some examples of what the disease looks like.



For the 10% HP to 90% RODI (1 part to 9 parts) measurement, I did 1/2 cup HP to 4 1/2 cups new RODI water. And I want to note that when you do this, there *will* be bubbling and fizzing (shown by the red arrows in the pic). It's just like putting HP on a bad cut. Take a deep breath, and understand this is totally fine




Let's have a moment of silence for the pods on the rock who gave their life for the good of the zoas.



After letting it sit for 20 minutes in the dip, I rinsed it with fresh RODI saltwater, held it up to a powerhead to make sure everything was off, and put in in my tank.

Here's a pic of the colony sitting in one of my tanks. Notice the pox is still visible. It will start to go away over time as the zoas heal. Most of the time, when I've done it, the pox seems to "scab" off.



Chromis Homie, get out of the way, you camera hog!



Thank you ^_^

This tank is my FOWLR tank, so the levels aren't exactly ideal for a reef environment. However, in everything I'd read about zoapox, there have been instances that have proved that less-than-ideal water parameters may help heal the zoas of the pox. It worked for me last time, so I'm sticking with it.

Two hours after the dip, a zoa had already opened. This is a good sign!



On day five of the HP dip on the rock, and there were a few changes. First, remember that "blistering" effect I mentioned may be a result of the HP dip? A few small portions of the colony have started doing this and "inflating" like a balloon. This is normal. Some of them may "deflate", but most of them will either "pop" or wither and die. It is all part of the healing process. This is what it looks like:





Second, remember the scab-falling-off bit I also mentioned? That happened too! Here's another pic of an area where the colony has started to heal (circled in red). I have also drawn arrows pointing to areas of the pox where it is starting to detach:



Finally, after two weeks had passed, most of the colony had withered or died off. The rock was so afflicted that there was little to no hope for it to begin with.

However, there were several polyps - probaby around 30 - that had no pox and were showing signs that they were still alive, just recessed a bit. I fragged the remaining survivors onto three things - a plug, a piece of rubble rock, and a piece of dead coral (because it just looks cool). I threw what was left of the original colony away, because at this point, they weren't going to be coming back.

So far, there have been at least three on each frag piece that has opened up. Once you have them fragged, give them time again to open. They've gone through a lot and need some healing. You may also have to play the game of "How much light and how much flow?" with them, as well.

I will keep you posted on their progress, and hopefully give you updated pictures soon of them fragged.

Thanks for reading!

I've been doing a LOT of research into this. It's sounding like the new heal all for a ton of different problems. I'm really happy to see the before and after pics. Thank you for sharing.

I've never seen that problem with zoas either. Have you came across this before?

Originally Posted by rgrking

I've been doing a LOT of research into this. It's sounding like the new heal all for a ton of different problems. I'm really happy to see the before and after pics. Thank you for sharing.

I've never seen that problem with zoas either. Have you came across this before?

Yes, unfortunately, I have come across it quite a bit. The gentleman that runs the fish department at my LFS gets his Zoas from a shady dealer, apparently, because almost every colony he gets in is either afflicted with zoapox, or has a nasty nudibranch hitchhiker or sundial snails. So he ends up giving me his too-far-gone to sell colonies, and IF I can heal them, I bring him back a frag.

Another great article with pics Im sure this is going to help a lot of people out.

Originally Posted by chris&barb

Another great article with pics Im sure this is going to help a lot of people out.

I hope so!

Originally Posted by LadyOfIreland

Yes, unfortunately, I have come across it quite a bit. The gentleman that runs the fish department at my LFS gets his Zoas from a shady dealer, apparently, because almost every colony he gets in is either afflicted with zoapox, or has a nasty nudibranch hitchhiker or sundial snails. So he ends up giving me his too-far-gone to sell colonies, and IF I can heal them, I bring him back a frag.

gotta love shady frag dealers ..........

What would you say is the cause of missing zoa's?

I had a colony once and it seemed that every day there would just be fewer and fewer. Eventually, they all disappeared.

Originally Posted by RCA

What would you say is the cause of missing zoa's?

I had a colony once and it seemed that every day there would just be fewer and fewer. Eventually, they all disappeared.

I've had that happen before with a colony of radioactive dragon eye zoas. From my experience, when a colony is dying, the zoas will recede and eventually "melt" as the tissue dies inside. If you have any sort of cleaner crew in your tank like hermit crabs or snails, they are most likely the reason the dying zoa "disappears." They like to clean up the dead tissue overnight. And if you have no hermits or snails, then pods also like the dead treat.

I'm no expert, but that is the conclusion I came to after monitoring a dying and melting colony of mine a while ago, and taking note of the activity in the tank overnight.

Hope this helps! Sorry to hear about your zoas

Originally Posted by estanoche

gotta love shady frag dealers ..........

Well that, and the stupidity of my LFS for continuing to purchase zoas from that dealer even after all the negative experience. I would have stopped shopping there after the first two incidents. I don't like to financially support people who don't take proper care of their livestock, and who only see them as a form of currency, not a living thing. Drives me crazy!

Originally Posted by chris&barb

Another great article with pics Im sure this is going to help a lot of people out.

I absolutely agree! thank you thank you thank you! ......do you have any pics of the saved frags we can see? and thank you too for the detailed pics Dr.!

Originally Posted by LadyOfIreland

I've had that happen before with a colony of radioactive dragon eye zoas. From my experience, when a colony is dying, the zoas will recede and eventually "melt" as the tissue dies inside. If you have any sort of cleaner crew in your tank like hermit crabs or snails, they are most likely the reason the dying zoa "disappears." They like to clean up the dead tissue overnight. And if you have no hermits or snails, then pods also like the dead treat.

I'm no expert, but that is the conclusion I came to after monitoring a dying and melting colony of mine a while ago, and taking note of the activity in the tank overnight.

Hope this helps! Sorry to hear about your zoas

wow.........so THAT'S what happened! .........makes sense to me.....hopefully I can stop the melting next time before any critters get to them!

Originally Posted by LadyOfIreland

Well that, and the stupidity of my LFS for continuing to purchase zoas from that dealer even after all the negative experience. I would have stopped shopping there after the first two incidents. I don't like to financially support people who don't take proper care of their livestock, and who only see them as a form of currency, not a living thing. Drives me crazy!

drives me crazy too! darn profiteers!

When I get home (currently in AZ visiting family) I will be sure to take some pics of the survivors So far the ones I glued to a plug aren't fairing well, but the ones one the rubble rock and the ones on the piece of coral seem to be recovering nicely!

bump

Very cool 2 part series there Lady! I had never even heard of of the dreaded Pox before. I'll be paying attention in future though for sure! Guess I've only been lucky so far up to now. Thank you for taking the time to write it all out for everybody.

May I ask, and forgive my ignorance please, why can't this Pox be taken care of via Coral Dip like Lugols', Brightwell's or Seachem Coral Dip etc? I thought that was what those preparations were for. Do they not affect the Pox?

I just had a huge colony effected by pox, I used the Seachem dip 2 weeks in a row and now in my 3rd week since theyve had pox and they have really started to open again!

Originally Posted by Lowtechgal

Very cool 2 part series there Lady! I had never even heard of of the dreaded Pox before. I'll be paying attention in future though for sure! Guess I've only been lucky so far up to now. Thank you for taking the time to write it all out for everybody.

May I ask, and forgive my ignorance please, why can't this Pox be taken care of via Coral Dip like Lugols', Brightwell's or Seachem Coral Dip etc? I thought that was what those preparations were for. Do they not affect the Pox?

Oh no, the coral dips CAN work on Zoapox, but it's a hit or miss. Zoapox is pretty potent and moves fast, and in a lot of cases, but the time you spot it on your colony, it's too late to use something simple, and it's better to use more potent means, like HP. Though I do know a lot of people that use HP as a coral disinfectant when they get new corals, etc, because it's cheaper than buying coral dip (but runs the risk of being too harsh).

Originally Posted by reanea03

I just had a huge colony effected by pox, I used the Seachem dip 2 weeks in a row and now in my 3rd week since theyve had pox and they have really started to open again!

Yay!!! So glad to see a regular dip has worked for you!!! Got any pics of this nice, healing-up colony??

Ok, NOW I feel better! I am new to Zoas, believe it or don't. I have 3 of the cutest little frags and in real purty colors. I got some dip and whenever I get a frag from anywhere of anything I dip the whosis out of it. That is a whole lotta insurance in a bottle. Sure is cheaper than replacing all of the OTHER corals!!

But, if ya don't have dip in the house, it sure is a good thing to know about the HP! So thank you! I still feel like I got some valuable info here.

Originally Posted by Lowtechgal

...
But, if ya don't have dip in the house, it sure is a good thing to know about the HP! So thank you! I still feel like I got some valuable info here.

Well you're very welcome! You should try to snag a pic of those zoas of yours Would love to see them!

They are just weenie frags. Each only had like 1-3 polyps each. They are spreading, each has 6-10 now--but it seems to take forever, even though it has been only a coupla months. There's a pic of one of 'em ( Orange Hornets ) in one of my Profile pics in the 75 g Album. I've had Paly's for a fair few minutes, but Zoas are new critters for me. Lovely things! The other two are Evil Greens and Blue Sunset. I've put the 3 of them on one rock and hope that they get on well together. For now, they are on their little frag plugs- cute as can be.

They will beat up a Ricordia won't they? I keep seeing photos of them mixed w/ Paly's & Rics. I'd love to keep the 3 together, but I guess Rics are pretty much not gonna survive are they? I love my Rics and don't wish to see that happen. I keep the Paly's on the other side of the tank- don't want those buggers to take over the Zoas either. People that see them really like my buttercream centered Teal Palys- but they are a lot like weeds. I frag 'em out to everybody so I can cut back w/o killin' 'em. You'da thought I'd learned wouldn't you? But no, I went & bought Green and some Purple Palys too. Sometimes, I just don't know about me....