Zoa pox

[Doberman13]

Does anybody have any experience dealing with zoa pox? This small colony of palythoa grandis has had it ever since I got it a few months ago and never realized what it was. It hasn't bothered these polyps until just recently when I saw pox on another zoa colony. I am going to try API furan 2 just wondering if there is a better way.

 

[bhodges82]

I've heard furan 2 is the best way to go. Best of luck, be careful with those palys.

 

[jcook54]

There are a few folks that have experience with zoa pox but I thought it was a slow decline-type thing. I believe when you and I talked, the zoa colony went from doing great to losing quite a few overnight or within a short amount of time. I just went and irritated some of my paly and they have white spots on them too and it's definitely not a problem for them.

 

[bhodges82]

The white spots on palys is normal from what I gathered at the zoa/paly meeting, it's what differentiates a zoa from a paly. Zoas have smooth skin, palys have rough looking skin that can absorb debris which could be what the spots are.

 

[Shawn]

@FutureInterest do you have any insight here as the Zoa Master?

 

[Doberman13]

There are a few folks that have experience with zoa pox but I thought it was a slow decline-type thing. I believe when you and I talked, the zoa colony went from doing great to losing quite a few overnight or within a short amount of time. I just went and irritated some of my paly and they have white spots on them too and it's definitely not a problem for them.

Actually from what I can tell the cluster that I lost half of last night doesn't have any white spots on it. After I looked up Zoa pox and saw the palys I thought that could have been the problem. It's the jungle juice zoas that have one white dot on the mat and have been looking irritated.

Last night when I got home I noticed my sunkist bounce was at a third of it's typical size and the dragons eye zoas I have looked decimated. Almost like something went down the center of them and scrapped/pulled about 7 polyps off.

 

[FutureInterest]

The white spots on palys is normal from what I gathered at the zoa/paly meeting, it's what differentiates a zoa from a paly. Zoas have smooth skin, palys have rough looking skin that can absorb debris which could be what the spots are.

Nice! Bobby is right. Glad to hear that some of the info has been useful. Having some spots like that is very normal for palys and especially with proto paly types such as the one pictured. Zoa pox looks very different as it presents as more like an infection of the zoa... you'll see blisters under the skin with small white nodules inside the blister... and as the name suggests it only infects zoas specifically. Furan 2 is a known remedy that does work but please be careful with it as it also a known carcinogen. Use gloves and tongs throughout the many dipping processes. That being said... since this isn't zoapox no need to dip furan2 right now.

Zoas are animals and they can get sick... If I had to guess, I would assume that the zoas have contracted a bacterial infection. The most common culprit is the vibrio bacterial strain... which is present in all our tanks... It is unusual though for this strain of zoas to get sick as the radioactive dragon eyes are typically bulletproof having been in captivity and aquacultured for decades now. If they are valuable or rare zoas there are a myriad of different dips and procedures you can take... with these though since they are very beautiful yet common place I would not recommend taking action other than monitoring them. Typically some of the zoas will make it and be able to fight off the infection and I find that they will be more resistant to future infections. Sometimes you will see the infection pop up in other colonies as well so keep an eye out for it. If that happens, I typically recommend just cutting out infected polyps.

I think you mentioned that you upped your intensity of lighting or duration which could have stressed them some thus leading them to be a bit more susceptible to infection. The light increase seems to be fairly significant, at least to the coral, because the sunkist bounce there is expelling quite a bit of zoox which they will do when lighting intensifies.

In any case, if you do lose them entirely please do let me know. I'd be happy to give you freebie of them.

 

[Doberman13]

Thank you all for the information and help. I will continue to monitor them. I guess I should have been slower and more methodical in increasing the lighting schedule.