Help! Why do my Zoas look bad?
 

This has been going on for the 3rd day. I have done 3 partial water changes, been running my skimmer, dosed MG, Cal, and check all params. All should be in order. PH and all chems are in range.

I did notice what "appears to be 2 very tiny Brittle Stars" with read and white legs, but this is the 1st time I've seen them in the 2+ years this tank has been running. Can not get any pics of them since they hide in the coral and have not been seen with the lights out at night. I have not introduced any new items to my tank in over a year.

Any thoughts on what's causing this? Have not changed lighting either. Running automated LED's. My other corals, fish, crabs, and snails all look healthy.

Thanks in advance.

Going through something similar.
This is really common when the temperature starts to change.

Clean your heater(s). My main heater (I think) was no longer efficiently heating the tank and my secondary titanium unit was completely encrusted with calcareous material. A good vinegar bath for both, but I purchased a new 300 watt heater and cleaned them one at a time.

I also removed and cleaned out my refugium. I saved only the healthy part of the algae. There was an inch of muck at the bottom.

Check everything, but try not to harass the corals. Stressing them more can cause them to recede.

Good luck and post what you find.


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Thanks for the response. Keep them coming! I live in Texas so I have not had to run a heater. It has just started to get cool at night here ( 50's and 60's ) but the house stays between 78 - 84 all day/night.

I did place me heater back into the tank 2 days ago and set it for 76. Still waiting to see if that helps.

It's a 34 gal tank with only 2 fish ( Tomato Clown and Damsel ). My other coral do not seem to be impacted. I just don't want to lose the colony I have as it's quite large.

Saw the critter today and was able to get a pic of one of its arms. Can you identify it? Red and white striped arm. I have only seen 2 of them in my tank. Never seen them before this past weekend.

That’s a brittle star. Not your culprit.
They’re probably all over your tank.

Keep in mind that if your house is 78-84 all day, and it dips down to 50-60 at night, you could have a temp swing.

Trust me on this.

It could be something else, but think about it... you’ve probably done nothing different to your tank in months. Then, one day, your corals start to behave badly. If you’ve changed nothing, then why would this happen.
Unless it was something you could not stop from changing, the seasons. You may not have a big swing in temp, but a few degrees can easily stress your corals.

Keep in mind that most people that deal with the zoa pox typically deal with it at the same time of the year.

Again, it could be something else, but it’s usually the most obvious.
Especially since you only just put the heater back into the tank.


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Thanks for the I.D. Reef Junkie! I will keep an eye on it and pray they bounce back!

Good luck, bud. Like I said, I’m having a similar issue. Had one of my favorite Acropora colonies RTN, but I’m not too stressed out...


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My Zoas are looking a bit happier now.

You might want to dose some amino acids, zoa's seem to appreciate it.