dipping zoas

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by canadianbudz604

I bought 15 zoa frags a few weeks back and just chucked them in my tank. Now I am paying for it, nudibranches are everywhere. I took the frags out of the tank and dipped them in a RO/DI bath. One thing I didnt do was check the ph of the RO/DI water. I dipped the frags in for like 2 mins each frag. On a good note all the nudis fell off and are long dead. Now hopefully the zoa frag come back to life because I didnt just dip the 15 I bought, I dipped all 20 different types I have. None are open and none are looking too good. Looks like my first mistake in this hobby is gonna be a costly one.

dude im going to give you the crash course for zoanthids that everyone should know, first off, most lfs do not dip for corals , if they did, dipping once is no good as they need to be dipped weekely as dips do not kill eggs. the eggs hatch i think its like every week or less.most stores dip their new arrivals at best only when it first comes in. although alot of stores are smart to keep some predators in these tanks.


the nudis are strong to dips be it fresh water or stronger, most are just stunned by the dips not actually dead.

you have to attack them in several ways in order to get rid of them, and even then its a lonnnnnnnng process.


manual removeal has to be done as often as you can.

freshwater dips are harsh on zoanthids , use coral rx ten mins and flatmorn exit for 30sec is all i do.

youll want fishes that hunt for these type of things if you want to keep zoas.....wrasses are your friend.


the dips need to be done weekly , so do the manual removeal or more often then weekly.


they are strong....they can live through lengthly dips, its rarely dips do anything for most of them but stun them cold for a while, they need to be dipped and thrashed to get them off the zoas.


all your zoas are going to have to come out of your tank, as you need to treat them all in a seperate container, adding them back to the origional display is pointless and will take twice as long.


always dip your own corals no matter what, its something you can do as easily as adding it to the bag the corals in, keep the zoa on a shelf for a few weeks while you repeat the dip.

without doing the above its going to be very hard to get them gone

[Myka]

I use Coral Rx too...good stuff. I actually rinse all my new Zoas under a strong tap water jet after they are done the Coral Rx dip. I haven't had any trouble with this, but I'm not sure I would recommend it for some of the more sensitive Zoas. Try at your own risk!!!

[chandigz]

I use a dip of 10 parts tank water to 1 part 3% hydrogen peroxide for 10-15 minutes for all my zoas/pallys. It seems to work great for nudis and their eggs as well as zoa fungas and algaes.

[Enigma]

Originally Posted by chandigz

I use a dip of 10 parts tank water to 1 part 3% hydrogen peroxide for 10-15 minutes for all my zoas/pallys. It seems to work great for nudis and their eggs as well as zoa fungas and algaes.

I do the same. I've become a big fan of H202 dips. It also kills bristle worms. They basically eject themselves from the frag.

The zoas and palys I've dipped have also really aggressively grown new heads: particularly my Mohawk Palys.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Enigma

I do the same. I've become a big fan of H202 dips. It also kills bristle worms. They basically eject themselves from the frag.

The zoas and palys I've dipped have also really aggressively grown new heads: particularly my Mohawk Palys.

h2o2 does not kill the eggs trust me , even at 100% it wont kill even a small fraction...the zoos will die before the eggs do.

i experiment with every mixture of h202 i can , i use it for many things.i choose the coral rx because it promotes growth, heals tissue and kills pests.there are alot of other dips you can use on the market , but none are 100% in killing eggs.



mohawks are the fastest growing paly available i use to get on average 20-30 polyps a month from my pinks:P

[reefwars]

i use 3/1 solution as my reg mix , anything after that is hit or miss if it can make it.


ive had zoos and palys survive 100% h2o2 and some die in less. i find with 3% a 3:1 ratio of tank water to peroxide works well for me.

ime palys do better with the peroxide dip then zoos do , micro zoos have an even lower tolerance to it then the others do.

[Enigma]

Holy smokes. 3:1 is a pretty aggressive dip. How long do you dip them for?

[Timbits]

I made the mistake once and didn't dip either when I brought home sum zoa frags. My zoas were closed one day which was strange, after further inspection I saw nudis roaming around. Pulled the frag out right away and got the sucker out! Luckily there were no eggs and they never came back.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Myka

I use Coral Rx too...good stuff. I actually rinse all my new Zoas under a strong tap water jet after they are done the Coral Rx dip. I haven't had any trouble with this, but I'm not sure I would recommend it for some of the more sensitive Zoas. Try at your own risk!!!

i find its not only good for dipping but it also brings new life to zoas so great after a long transit ride or fragging