An experiment with H2O2 and Bryopsis on Zoanthid frags

[jdavid]

This is a simple documentation of how hydrogen peroxide dipping affected my zoanthid frags with a heavy bryopsis infestation.

Procedure:<ul>
<li>6 small zoanthid colonies (and one purple favia attatched to one frag by the bryopsis) were removed from the infested tank.</li>
<li>2 parts tank water to 1 part H2O2 were measured and poured into a tuperware container. I used 20 oz tank water and 10 oz H2O2.</li>
<li>I set a timer to 5 minutes and placed the coral frags in the tank water/H2O2 solution</li>
<li>A syringe was used to blast the corals throughout the entire 5 minute duration</li>
<li>At 5 minutes the corals were picked up and moved to a new container with only tank water</li>
</ul>

Notes:
The bryopsis was not immediately affected by the H2O2 dip.
Within the first 15 seconds of the dip I noticed several floating zoanthid nudibranches, an infestation which started around the same time as the bryopsis (QT coral, I didn't, and look what I got).
No manual removal of the Bryopsis will be performed throughout the experiment. The experiment is to determine how effective the H202 is at destroying the Bryopsis, and how the coral frags are affected.

These frags will go back in to the infected frag tank. I will continue to update this thread with the results. I plan on treating the tank with Tech M in combination with the H2O2 dips, but will not start dosing anything else until I have determined the effectiveness of the H2O2 alone. If I do not see any progress in the next 72 hours I will try a stronger solution and double the duration of the dip.

Pictures
Infested frags

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Supplies needed: Tupperware container, Hydrogen peroxide, syringe, measuring cup (I used a gatorade bottle)

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Pre dip

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Post dip

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Will update progress, I'll try for every 24 hours.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

As a note, you need to remove as much of the bryopsis as possible PRIOR to dosing/dipping. Otherwise it will be ineffective (at least that's my experience). I had an infestation in my frag tank that was worse than what you show here and by mechanical removal and TechM dosing for a 2 week period, I completely removed it from the tank.

 

[clay4au]

H2O2 is my favorite dip for Zoas.

Be sure to shake the frags good before removing from the tank so the heads all close.
I usually use 50/50 tank water/h2o2 for about 3 minutes.
In extreme cases, I've used straight H2O2 but for no more than 1 minute.
Good luck!

 

[jdavid]

porpoiseaquatics;877129 wrote: As a note, you need to remove as much of the bryopsis as possible PRIOR to dosing/dipping. Otherwise it will be ineffective (at least that's my experience). I had an infestation in my frag tank that was worse than what you show here and by mechanical removal and TechM dosing for a 2 week period, I completely removed it from the tank.

I thought about that, But I figured it would present a better visual for the sake of the pictures to leave it on there. It isn't difficult to tear off, and manual removal turned combined with a 2 day lights out turned my frag tank from this

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to this

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The second picture was just snapped, notice how the bryopsis on the zoa frags (the ones that I dipped, far right in the picture) came back worse than before manual removal. I don't doubt that manual removal in combination with Tech M would would be effective. But Since I have tore the bryopsis off of these specific frags several times and it comes back thicker and meaner every time, I wanted to try something while taking an opportunity to document the effect. I do plan on removing everything manually the best I can and starting with Tech M at the end of this short experiment.

 

[ralph atl]

http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=72717&highlight=h2o2">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=72717&highlight=h2o2</a>

fyi:

 

[jdavid]

mysterybox;877133 wrote: http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=72717&highlight=h2o2">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=72717&highlight=h2o2</a>

fyi:[/QUOTE]

Not a whole lot of information on there, but it made me realize I forgot to mention I used
[B]<span style="font-size: 16px"><span style="color: Red">3%</span></span>[/B] H2O2

 

[ralph atl]

JDavid;877135 wrote: Not a whole lot of information on there, but it made me realize I forgot to mention I used
<span style="font-size: 16px"><span style="color: Red">3%</span></span> H2O2

3% without mixing with water.....

 

[heathlindner25]

for what it's worth I've dipped a zoa plug in a 100 percent h2o2 3% , for half an hour and they were fine.. of course I wouldn't suggest that, just letting you know I've done it.

 

[jdavid]

That is correct, but 3% hydrogen peroxide was the strength that I used used to make the dipping solution.

Edit:

heathlindner25;877163 wrote: for what it's worth I've dipped a zoa plug in a 100 percent h2o2 3% , for half an hour and they were fine.. of course I wouldn't suggest that, just letting you know I've done it.

Good to know!

 

[ralph atl]

I've been using H2O2 since January 2012 with great success, albeit I have not applied it in months.....

90% was done outside the tank...

Here's the original thread from Brandon:

 

[1mbrews8]

cool experiment! keep the info coming..

 

[jdavid]

Quick update:
Some of the zoanthids are opening back up, but the tissue is all pale. I have a side by side with an undipped frag that I took earlier when I placed the frags back in the tank (shortly after dipping)

The bryopsis has started to turn white. When the lights go on tomorrow I will start a "time lapse" of photos starting from immediately after placing the corals back on the rack, then the next photo tomorrow, and so on.

here is the side by side with an undipped frag. The dipped frag is on the left. On the undipped frag you can see a nudibranch, and if you look closely, on the bottom left side a little spiral of eggs. *******s.

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More pics tomorrow when the lights are on.

 

[jdavid]

Okay so these pictures are of the coral frags immediately after placing them back in the frag tank around 6:30 PM yesterday after the first H2O2 dip.

close up of coral tissue

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Amount of bryopsis on the frags

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Notice that in the previous pictures the bryopsis is thick and dark green, and the coral tissue is pale and white next to its purple and plump undipped counterpart. These next pictures were taken immediately after cutting the lights on, so most of the polyps would still be closed regardless of the H2O2 dip. You can notice that the bryopsis is much thinner, it is no longer dark green but light green at the tip and white closer to the frag. Also note that the CUC has taken an interest in the weakened bryopsis. When I cut the lights on a blue leg hermit fell of the frag and down to the bottom of the tank, but you can see a turbo snail munching happily on what was the most heavily infested frag.

Observe, 20 hours later.

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Please note that for the sake of the experiment no manual removal of the bryopsis has occurred. Please check back for the next update

 

[ralph atl]

:up:

That stuff works great!

Great updates!

 

[glxtrix]

The only down side I have noticed so far with H2O2 is on zoas and trumpet coral....may have left it too long or the heads didn't close up before dropping in....but the polyps bloated and thus made the frags float. Not an issue, though they looked horrific for a few days, but all survived. SO if anyone sees that, dont worry about it...just weigh down the frag (if it's not heavy enough) and let them be. Keep in mind with all zoas, use proper hand and eye protection...you don't want any of their toxin on you.

 

[jdavid]

mysterybox;877342 wrote: :up:

That stuff works great!

Great updates!

Thanks, I thought it would be nice for anyone who isn't experienced with H2O2 to be thorough with the process and results. This is my first time using it, and I couldn't find anything like this. There's plenty of posts on different forums saying this method or this method works, but is backed up by little to no evidence or follow-up.

Edit:

glxtrix;877343 wrote: Keep in mind with all zoas, use proper hand and eye protection...you don't want any of their toxin on you.

I thought about wearing gloves after the fact, and I would definitely recommend doing so. While palytoxin tends to be more in palythoa and less in zoanthus sp., I had to admit that I had a weird episode of my face twitching after handling them. Probably just random, although I can't remember the last time that randomly happened to me. I was fine the rest of the night and all day today (the three and a half hours I've been up, it's my day off )

There is speculation that toxins from different zoanthids cause skin cancer, and proof that they irritate skin in some individuals. Protection is always recommended when experimenting with chemicals or any kind of coral.

 

[jdavid]

Update. It's a shame that the color balance is off in the pics, under 250w phoenix 14k with iphone default camera app. It's a shame because how white the algae is. In comparison to the before pics under the same conditions, I suppose it will make little difference to one viewing this thread.

These pictures were taken about 25 hours after the dip.

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I'm not claiming to have invented this method, or saying this is an original experiment. That does not make it any less of an experiment! I'm just trying to document this well, so in the future it may help others. Note that the favia is doing well, and the zoanthid polyps are beginning to open.

 

[jimmystephens]

Great job on the details josh. Ive used h202 as well with 100% sucess. Never thought to do a step by step. Curious to see if the death comes off be its self or not. Ive always picked it off. Cont to update. Thanks

 

[jdavid]

JimmyStephens;877384 wrote: Great job on the details josh. Ive used h202 as well with 100% sucess. Never thought to do a step by step. Curious to see if the death comes off be its self or not. Ive always picked it off. Cont to update. Thanks

Thanks Jimmy.
I'm wondering the same thing. My CUC has a hard time on the tall frag rack, but they seem to want to eat the dead algae. It's interesting, nature is designed that way. If something is dead or dying, it will usually become a food source for something else.

I bet if the corals were on the bare bottom, they would have eaten it all up already. I'm tempted to place the crabs and snails on the frags but haven't wanted to interfere with the experiment that much. I'm pretty sure that the algae is not coming off by its self, at least not yet.

I was expecting more trial and error, but I suppose 1:2 (H2O2:tank water) for 5 minutes while blasting the solution at the frags with a syringe to get in the crevices is working fine. Next I plan on trying it with some less hardy corals, after waiting a few days to see if the favia continues to do well.

I never planned on proving that H2O2 is the solution to bryopsis. The tank needs to be treated with tech M. However, if I had one contained spot, I could dip that frag and move it into QT and save myself the trouble of treating the whole tank. Unfortunately, that is rarely the case. It gets out of control fast. With hydrogen peroxide cheap and available everywhere, you can run to the store when you notice a small spot of it and destroy it. Not everyone (myself included) has Tech M ready to go at the first sign of Bryopsis.

 

[jdavid]

Emma, my girlfriend who some of you have met, rarely takes interests in my tanks. Just now she walks over to the frag tank and says "Whoa! Have you seen this? The algae turned white! No more photosynthesis going on there!" and then continued to make interesting remarks about the rest of the corals. It really is a cool fun experiment, and although she remains oblivious to what happened here, the results so far are clearly very noticeable.