What is killing my zoas?

I have:
Crabs (Emeralds, boxer, porcelains), snails (astrea's, nassarius, conch), shrimp (fire, pistol), brittle Star, midas blenny (I'd pick him over any zoa/anything in the tank lol), melanurus wrasse, jawfish, yellow watchman, clownfish. I feel like I am forgetting someone but I am not at my apt this weekend.

I haven't noticed anyone targeting these zoas, which have been in there since the day the tank finished cycling over a year ago. All of these fish and inverts have been in there for at least 4 or 5 months except the brittle star, nassarius snail, and conch, which were added a few weeks ago. Probably wasn't the conch because he has spent a lot of time under the sand. Plus the jawfish which was added after I started noticing anything.

 

This is good to know, and pretty much my only choice for now. I am starting a 90g in 7 or 8 months when I graduate and move to a new apartment. I will not be moving this rock into that new tank, along with any other rock that seems to be affected. I will probably set up a quarantine as well to prevent this type of issue in the future.. Lesson learned!

 

have you checked those for zoa eating nudi?

 

+1 on the zoa eating nudi. I know they can be quite small and difficult to see. Even if you dip them, they have often laid eggs under the polyps that hatch out and begin munching again.

I'd recommend some kind of coral dip (like coral RX) every few days for a few weeks. Also, if you have a magnifying glass look under the polyps to see if you can see any ring like formations of eggs. Those I believe you can remove manually without damaging the polyps. Continue the dip/inspect routine for a few weeks until you do not find any more. Then let it go and see how it recovers.

 

As I said before, I cannot take that rock out. I then said I had looked at them but didn't anything that looked like them. If I take that rock out, it will stir up all of the sand and collapse the 50 lbs of rock structure on top of it. I also said that I am starting a new system in a few months. I have learned from my mistakes. These cheap zoas are not worth all my time/sps.

 

Right...I do remember you saying that. Sorry!

 

Its a sponge!! i brought it into the lab and looked at it under a microscope. No doubt its a sponge.





I've heard that sponges aren't so fond of flow, so I suppose I will point a powerhead at it.