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Zoas shrinking/melting

jmags080307

jmags080307

SPS Grow Out Winner
Came back from vacation and some of my shrooms had melted and zoas were shrinking and heads coming off. i added a few shrooms before i left from an online live sale (dipped them and nothing came off). When i got back two of them had melted. i'm thinking it spread something because my small colony of gonzo goldend dragon shrooms melted (they were in my tank for 9 months). first i tested parameters -alk (hanna) - 7.4 (that's consistent for me), phosphate (hanna) - .021, nitrate (salifert) - @3, calcium (salifert)- 470 - not sure how it got so high, salinity (ice cap) -1.025/33.9. parameters seem fine to me. i inspected all my zoas with a magnifine glass and see zero pests or eggs. i also removed everything and dipped in coral rx and no pests came off (some brittle starfish and pods). i lost about 7 to 10 different zoas/shrooms? no changes to lighting/flow or anything like that. anyone have any ideas?
 
Mrx7899x

Mrx7899x

jmags080307 said:
Definitely no leak. Stray voltage? How would I check for that. Wouldn't that hurt my fish and snails? They're 100% fine and doing great.

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Click to expand...

You need a volt meter set it to AC put the ground probe on metal or in the ground side of an outlet and the red probe in the water. If there is stay voltage it will show on the screen of the meter. It wont hurt the fish because they are not grounded.
 
Mark_C

Mark_C

Staff member
Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
Moderator
Sorry, by current leak I meant voltage. I had a prob a few years back that was caused by a malfunctioning heater putting electric current/voltage into tank, I had been mysteriously losing zoas.
Just a thought. There are a number of vids out there on how to test. Basically a voltmeter, an outlet, and care.

Probably not the instigating factor, but worth a look.

So, the base of this...
Electricity travels though saltatory conduction, and our tanks are about as salty as water gets.
Any electric equipment we put in the tank is insulated so its current/voltage runs through itself.
If there is a leak/tear/split in a unit, no matter the size, the current voltage will happily jump through our salt water instead, its actually preferred.
Our tanks are also closed systems made of glass, plastic, and rubber, so no escape and the current just sorta flows through the tank.
Corals don't like current. NOR DO PEOPLE.
Dont stick hand in tank if current/voltage problem suspected. NEVER STICK BOTH HANDS IN TANK AT ONCE, that completes a circuit that runs through your chest.
 
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jmags080307

jmags080307

SPS Grow Out Winner
Thanks everyone. I'll test for stray voltage over the weekend.

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David

David

Do you run carbon? If not it might not hurt, Incase it’s an unknown contaminant, something in the tank is giving off toxins.
 
jmags080307

jmags080307

SPS Grow Out Winner
No carbon, but I have it so I can run it. I saw this guy on my rocks. Thinking it's a stomatella. Thoughts?
e1a2c4bd64cbe21bfe605d30e80ef672.jpg
2b0fd5172659037b537524e5006a0410.jpg


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Mark_C

Mark_C

Staff member
Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
Moderator
Thats a stoma. If you want to get rid of them I'll take them off your hands by the dozen. :)
 
David

David

It looks similar to what I see all over my tank at night. Some consider them pest mainly because they can supposedly jam pumps. I haven’t had that problem. I’m happy to have them.
 
meherbas

meherbas

Things I would check out are temperature, PH, and algae/debris. Depending where the tanks located I found that temp sometimes gradually rises varying day to day. Even a few degrees can cause coral to stress/ lead to death, PH can also be a factor as in if your PH were to drop stress once again, alk plays a factor in PH stability. So if your alk might be low good chance that your Ph is low/swinging from day/night. As for zoas I always find that it’s dust/algae/critters just irritating them if they are puckered could be just needs a good cleaning(soft toothbrush) and a little shade to recover.
 
jmags080307

jmags080307

SPS Grow Out Winner
meherbas said:
Things I would check out are temperature, PH, and algae/debris. Depending where the tanks located I found that temp sometimes gradually rises varying day to day. Even a few degrees can cause coral to stress/ lead to death, PH can also be a factor as in if your PH were to drop stress once again, alk plays a factor in PH stability. So if your alk might be low good chance that your Ph is low/swinging from day/night. As for zoas I always find that it’s dust/algae/critters just irritating them if they are puckered could be just needs a good cleaning(soft toothbrush) and a little shade to recover.
Click to expand...

I have an APEX on the tank and temp and PH are fine. My temp stays between 76.5 and 77.5 consistently and PH stays between 7.90 and 8.18. I test Alk 3 times a week and it's been consistent between 7.2 and 7.5. I removed the filter sock from my tank 6 to 8 weeks ago and detritus has definitely increased. My tomini tang keeps my algae in check. Gonna put the filter sock back on.
 
Sponge

Sponge

Man. I gotta tell you. With all that gear. All that experience and all of today’s resources. And your having what I would call a fairly serious issue. Sometimes it makes me feel like I don’t have a chance. Maybe I should have made a terrarium :confused:
 
DangerDave

DangerDave

NJRC Member
Mags what you’re describing has happened to me before. Shrooms and zoas/palys shrinking and melting. Mind you this happened while other shrooms and zoas/palys have stayed at perfect health at the same time. i have my sump grounded, there are zero cords in my display. It’s was extremely frustrating, and I’m afraid I may never know what the cause was.
 
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