Zoa Pox.. Its that time again!

Fall has finally hit and its Zoa Pox season again... I have just started reading on forums that people are losing their zoas already. As some of us already know Zoa Pox starts attacking our zoa colonies mainly between the months of October and December.

Some way to help prevent Zoa Pox

1 - Use a turkey baster to blow the detritus off of you zoa frags and colonies, at least once a day

2 - Wet skim / over skim

3 - Keep your water clean by doing water changes

4 - Keep the temperature stable in your reef

If by chance you are noticing zoa pox (white colored pimples on your polyps) then be prepared to do a Furan 2 dip. The process of dipping your zoas is far from fun but in reality its about the only way to save them.
Gary

 

Nice informative and to the point post. Thanks

 

Good info. I don't know much about zoa pox so why does it pick up b/w Oct. and Dec.?

 

only thing I can think of is the temperature generally tends to drop a few degrees . . . .but dont quote me on this one . . .

 

Thats my guess as well. I dont think there is any proof of this but it makes since to me as well.

 

OK, I can understand it being a temperature thing in the wild but in our tanks we keep the temperature stable all year long, or at least I know mine stays at 78-79 every month of the year.

 

A lot of people in colder climates will drop the temp of their tanks by a few degrees to reduce electric costs.

 

You have to think in terms of viral. Since pox is a virus, virus like the flu or cold for humans need a certain climate of factors to spread and reproduce. Just like our cold/flu season.

Everything living thing gets pox. There is pox for plants, pox for grass hoppers and Sea Lion pox, while all designed specifically for it's host they all seem to hit the same time of year.

Honestly I do not think researchers have the exact answer to why does it tend to occur at the same time each year ? What influences it's increase in cases? And why do you see it aggressively some years and hardly at all other years ?

Great stuff Microbiology.;D

 

Many people do not have heaters / a chiller running in there tanks all year and all it take is for a couple cool nights for the tank to have temp swings. Especially smaller tanks where its easy for the water to cool down fast.

We have about 4000 gallons and the water temp will start to swing within a week or two. A couple weeks ago the low was around 55 and it dropped 4000 gallons about 3 degrees overnight. Then the following day the temp was back up again.

No one is sure that Zoa Pox is caused by temp, its only a guess due to the time of year. Like many things that are wild, Zoa Pox could run a yearly cycle and it happens around the same time each year and in reality has nothing to do with temps.

 

Great Information!
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