Zoanthid Pox

So its another exciting episode of that Crazy Saltwater Disease with this months contestant the Zoa Pox. but no really i have taken some zoas under my wing and i am attempting to treat them for zoa pox a terrible disease that slowly spreads on and degrades zoanthid tissue.it appears as little white spots that protrude ever so slightly on the stalks and base of the effected zoas.like other problems in the coral kindom there are several claimed methods to treat this but some have happier ending than others.its time to play the game.

in preperation i had to remove all my zoas and such and drain off some water for the treatment.[img][/img]
nevermind the floating tuperware.that is a shrimp i was acclimating right before this whole deal.
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here the tank is with the zoas removed and the water level low for the new rock and such.

you have my attentions...

the info i have read says to do a dose of furan 2 to combat the zoa pox.i am also going to dip these guys in mela fix to make sure there are no flatworms or nudibranchs that might be hidden.[img][/img]
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so i dosed accordingly by the packets directions.one tablet per 10 gallons or in my case i divided it up proper for the gallonage and placed a circulation pump in with them.[img][/img]

so here they are after a day or so to shrug off some of the medications effects as well as the nasty disease.some look better than others but only time will tell as far as the full treatment goes.
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any saved is better than none...

theRedSkull wrote:

any saved is better than none...

Sooooo true! and any knowledge gained is an added bonus!

some of the zoas have returned as good as ever from what i can tell.some not so good and i still need to go through another pretty harsh treatment or two before this thing is done.we wll see i have to grab another pic before i go for another dose.

how many times do you have to dip? how long are the dips? how often? what are you using? Pox look like zoa ich correct? TEACH ME!!!!

so these zoa pox do resemble a large ich looking white bumps on the outside of the zoanthid stalks and sometimes skirt.i will try and get a better camera to snap a shot of the damage.

i have done some research and there seem to be a number of claimed fixes for this ailment but in my opinion after doing some thought is to go with the furan 2 as stated above.just follow the packets instructions as 1 capsule to 10 gallons or in my instance i weighed the capsule up in half and used the half a capsule for a 5 gallon bucket wich i then poured off what i didnt need and then put the infected zoanthids in the treatment with a pump to not have it stagnent.some sites say 10 minutes some say 20 so i went with 15 minutes just for fun.these zoas really needed some intervention so i figured some extra down time may be needed.this procedure is supposed to be done three times over the period of three days then given a weeks recovery time minimum before reinspection and possible retreating the pox.not that much is known about the zoa pox as far as its actual life cycle or other causes.there are alot of strange treatments that sound like BS to me such as the fresh water dips...or drying out your zoas...or just doing a massive water change.

so i cant seem to get a good macro picture of the little nasty things but i did some searching and found this nice write up on the good old coralpedia.its pretty sweet and shows you exactly what i am dealing with. http://www.zoaid.com/articles004.php

i did another dip and here are some of the zoanthids that are very unhappy with me.things seem to be getting better but much slower than anticipated.all in good time.[img][/img]

here some of the more sensitive zoas are out...sorry about the crappy pic but you can see the polyps are open.i think everything is working so far.[img][/img]

and i believe i am done.i have done several succesive dips and each time allowed them to recover then did another round of dips.the remaining zoas are starting to look real good in my opinion.anotyher triumph. [img][/img]

bravo...