WtF is happening to my Palys?!?
 

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Is this from asterina stars or WORSE???

I dipped them last night but they are still getting worse.

have you had them long pat?? what are they?? looks like they are in direct light just making a guess but maybe they cant handle the light?

have you checked for nudis?? they are very tricky to find but i know you know what they look like so maybe get a red flashlight and check them around 3-5 in the morning??

def sucks bro:(

Four years I've had them. Nothing new in tank.

Same spot in rank almost a year. Two days ago they started this.

thats insane for sure, ill say this though i never had much luck with zoas in a mixed reef ive had some that done fine but it was hit or miss like you some lived for a long time and died and some never made it a week.

it could be the stars ive been reading mixed reviews on them but its funny that they target the whole colony at one time, and for them to melt so suddenly, have you had any luck on the harlequin shrimp???

Have you added anything new? What did you dip them in, if it like zoo spiders the only thing that can get them is a peroxide dip.

i didnt know that cool info learn something everyday, i have been blessed as i havent had to deal with them yet :):)

I have not either as i always dip learned that from rc

My harlequin is presumed dead. Have not seen it in a few days.

I used Revive. Nothing new has been added.

Its weird I had the exact same thing happen, looks identical to what mine did. The slightest touch and the polyps just tear off the base, and when I finally knew they were gone and I took them out they stunk like bejesus!!!

I doubt it's pests, same thing happens to me all the time. Zoanthids/ Palys are funny this way, all of my SPS is doing stellar but I have reoccurring fungal/bacterial/ something infection which makes whole colonies melt away to nothing. In the last two months I have lost a massive dragon eye colony, my massive Bam Bam colony, Nuclear greens & Purple deaths + Magicians.

I have a theory that some sort of irritant (Astrinias, fish, moving the colonies...) causes a break in there immune system. As soon as there is a cut infection takes place and it's a fast demise for our little zoa friends.
Frustrating but at this point I would throw that colony out, what ever is causing it could be contagious.

Try a peroxyde dip and try adding a bit of vitamine C buffered to your tank (sodium ascorbate).

I had a few do this and after a week or two, sometimes even a month of looking like pine needles they started to unshrink and get to their full size again. No idea what is causing it, as they can look healthy and have huge beautiful polyps one day and look like that the next day. One thing I have noticed is that they always start this cycle when the metal halide (main light) goes out and the actinic led is coming on, somewhere not long after the actinic come on.

A theory I read is that sometime the zooxanthellea inside the coral produce oxygen and that oxydize inside the polyp making this toxic for the coral. Maybe that is true since vitamin C seem to help and it is an anti-oxydant.

Did you change the light recently?

Another question...did you introduce a clam or do you feed clam, oyster or mussle to your tank recently?

Was there any shift in alkalinity?

What is even more puzzling in my case is that sometime the same coral on the same frag plug, but unconnected with the other, start to shrivel like that and the other polyps that are attached to a different matte are not affected. This is really wierd since it is the same specie of zoanthids, same variety, same condition etc...yet only part of the frag is affected. That has to be something attacking them or a process that is internal and local, either a bacteria, virus or this oxydation theory. It does not seem to be contagious obviously. I now have a frag of magicians doing this..3 polyps that were separated from the main colony are just fine, while the 20 or so other are all shriveled like yours.

I separated the colony in 4 and have put them all in different lighting and flow, to see wich condition help them regain their health better. I am dosing with vitamin C and did 2 dip in revive (to no avail).

If you have zoanthids or paly that you really like, then fragging them and splitting colonies is the best bet to prevent losing them all.

My armor of god pally's did this in my reef tank I moved them over to my fowlr tank and they recovered and are doing well now. The odd thing is both tanks are plumbed together so the water quality is the same, however I have MH over the reef and T5 over the fowlr tank. Maybe move them to a darker spot in your tank and see if it helps.

I would say it is slime algae or something similar like a fungus

do a large water change and brush them with a baby toothbrush imo

Has happen to me alot, it could be a # of thing's, zoapox etc which is from, sudden changes,climate change,water clarity/quality change etc

Not algae. Tank is stable.

I had some of my green ones do this a while back. I siphoned them off, but some of their base was left. After a few weeks, they started growing back again. I have no idea why they did it as I had no tank changes, but there are a lot more of them after they came back.

Pat, my colony of those did the same thing to me after about a year. I had a nice big vibrant colony and they melted away like yours are doing now.

pat try fragging them since they are a close to a goner anyways , splt the colony up and give out a small frag to someone or put it in another tank yourself maybe the mandarin tank if anything you may be able to get a frag back .just a thought;)

Really lost at what you are saying Patrick.
What is the relationship between stability and algae?