coral collision

[sooju]

I had a minor collision between two corals last week. The finger leather went limp while the lights were off and one "finger" rested on top of a colony of red zoas. I've since moved them farther apart but a few heads of the zoa have small white specks on their "faces." At first I thought it was sand, but they don't come off with increased water flow. I read through the chapter on coral diseases in my Aquarium Corals book and I can't find anything. Any idea what's wrong with the zoas? Is this likely a result of the collision, or a disease?

 

[melosu58]

I know leathers wage chemical warfare so I dont think it has anything to do with the touching but stranger things have happened.

 

[Innovator]

Allelopathy, chemical offense/defense, is the main arsenal for Octocorals (soft corals) and only Erythropodium caribaeorum is recorded to produce sweeper tentacles. It is probable that the interaction caused the leather to quickly excrete chemically that caused a minor irritation or burn to the zoanthids.

 

[sooju]

I took a closer look last night and there are some white spots on the stems of a few zoas (only in this colony - the others look fine) as well. It almost looks like eggs. Are there any parasites that lay white eggs on the surface of zoas?? I'd like to get this figured out before it gets any worse. It's a beautiful colony.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Not sure what nudibranch eggs look like, but that's a possibility. There's also a "disease" of sorts that zoanthids can get that some refer to as "zoa pox" that kind of look like white pimples. I had a colony once that had that and it just kind of withered away. I don't recall there being any treatment for it, since folks didn't really know what it was. I'd just watch them carefully.

 

[sooju]

I have a canary wrasse coming out of QT tomorrow so if it's nudibranch eggs hopefully he will take care of them. Where do I find more information about this "zoa pox" if that's what it is?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Google is your friend...

zoanthid pox - Google Search=


CoralPedia.com! :: The definitive repository for named Corals!

 

[sooju]

Thank you, that was helpful.

 

[Ziggy953]

Are the white "eggs" you are seeing in a spiral shape on the Zoa? If so they are probably Aeolid Nudibranchs. When the Nudi eats on the zoa it will actually turn the color of the zoa it eats so they are hard to see sometimes. If you notice your zoas closed up a lot chances are pretty good you have them. The wrasse will certainly help in controlling them!

 

[sooju]

Thanks, Ziggy. There are random white spots on the face of several zoas and lines of white spots on some of the stems. All of the zoas are opened, though, so I'm still perplexed as to what is the cause. I guess I'll just keep watching to see what happens. If I could get my camera to focus that close I would post a pic. :-(

 

[sooju]

I'm pretty sure at this point that my colony of red zoas have "zoa pox." I treated them to a 20 minute furan-2 dip the last three days and will give them a week to recover before trying it again. Has anyone had success with this treatment? I can't search for zoanthid pox on this forum because it ignores the word pox (too short) and I get every post having to do with zoanthids...

 

[nanoluvr]

I know leathers wage chemical warfare....

Mel, any knowledge of leathers attacking torch, frogspawn, and other LPS? I don't keep any leathers so I haven't researched them much, but my
friend has some LPS dying in a tank w/3 leathers, and I wqas figuring the leathers were the culprit.

 

[Innovator]

I don't have time this morning, but as a very quick answer, yes they can. Sinularia is far worse than Sarcophyton. This is why carbon, water changes, and proper flow are required in mixed reefs.

 

[nanoluvr]

Yeah...he's got both in there. One Sinularia and 2 Sarcophyton. He's been extremely lax on his water changes (which I harp on to no end, lol), and He's got a canister (another thing I don't really like), and I'm not sure what he's running, as far as media, in the canister.

 

[melosu58]

I don't have time this morning, but as a very quick answer, yes they can. Sinularia is far worse than Sarcophyton. This is why carbon, water changes, and proper flow are required in mixed reefs.

I totally agree.