What's going on with my Zoa's..

[ilektrik22]

Hey

I have a few different zoa frags spread around my tank, some seem to be doing alright while others haven't opened for a while. I've read somewhere that they will "clean" themselves and stay closed for a while but I'm starting to think that this is not the case.

Tank Parameters
Salinity 1.025
calcium 390
alk 11.2 ( dropping slowly)
nitrates <2 ppm
temp 78
flow mag 3 sump return (300gph) seio 610
20k MH ( waiting for new bulb to come in)
30g tank, 25g fuge

Any ideas as to what's going on? and what I should do?

 

[ilektrik22]

Any help would be awsome, please....

I've tried the hydrogen peroxide dip for all of the above frags, the third frag (pic) never opened after it, the second one did though, but now it has all this weird stuff on it.

 

[spongebob lover]

what weird stuff ?
yes they clean themselves it takes about a week for them to do that , how long has yours being like that?
how long have you had them?
in the third picture it looks like they got some white spots on them but i can't see that good and it also looks like they got a little bit of algae on them .
i hope they get better dood

 

[tike]

I don't see a ph in your specs. I once had my zoas do the same thing and i couldn't figure it out until I checked the pH and it was high (8.6).

HTH

 

[ilektrik22]

Sorry my ph is 8.0

the first frag (1st pic)has been closed for a few days now, so maybe it's just cleaning itself.

the second frag ( 2nd pic) isn't really closed but has that stringy beige stuff on it...so it's a type of algea, sorry the pics aren't that great, i'm still learning to use my new camera

the third frag (3rd pic)has been closed for 3 weeks now, just looking at them I can't see any of the white spots that appear on the pic. I will try and get a better pic later.

I've had these frags for a little over a month, when I got them they all looked good.

my tank is doing alot of weird stuff lately and it's getting very depressing

 

[spongebob lover]

are the zoos at the very top?
some zoos don't like to much light and so they melt .
they could also be stressed from the dip you did (next time you should try the lugols dip first ).
i'd definetly do big water changes ...i don't know how big your doing them right now but i think its help if you do big ones .
I'm not sure what Anthony would say but if i was you i'd lower them and put them somewhere where they can't get to much light.
I'd also check for zoo eating nudis (look very close as i believe they tend to blend with the color of the zoos)just to make sure you don't have them if you didn't quarantine this zoos dood .
i hope they start opening for you dood .

 

[ilektrik22]

thanks spongbob

I really hope they open aswell

I haven't been quarantineing stuff, really going to start doing that, I've now learned my lesson. I'll check for nudi's to.

there at the bottom of my tank, and i do a 4 g water change every week.

this week i'll do a larger one and see if it helps.

how do i get the algea off the one colony? and i'll go get some lugol's ( where do you get that?)

thanks a bunch

Yvonne
( oh i'm a doodette)

 

[spongebob lover]

haven't been quarantineing stuff, really going to start doing that

don't worry you're not the only one .
if i was you i'd do a bigger one ...like around 10-15 gal ...make sure you warm the water and all that stuff so the fishes don't go feeling it to much...then keep it up for a few water changes and slowly start doing smaller water changes if that's what you want ....to me this helped me a lot .

how do i get the algea off the one colony?

tooth brush doodette ...don't use yours, use a new one and since you're gonna use it on the zoos, get a soft one .

and i'll go get some lugol's ( where do you get that?)

you can get it at the fish store (no the general one for all the pets ), that's where i got mine, even if they start opening i'd still keep this solution if you're planning later on getting more zoos .

by the way my middle name is Ivonne .

 

[Llarian]

Take a look at dusk/night for astarina starfish eating them. I've been trying to chase down issues with my zoos for a while and I finally caught one of these stupid starfish in the act. Zoo polyp was fine, came back to a starfish sitting on it, and now its pretty well dead.

I now have a pair of tweezers I dub Echinodermsbane, Slayer of Starfish.

-Dylan

 

[ilektrik22]

thanks I'll look out for starfish tonight


if i was you i'd do a bigger one ...like around 10-15 gal ...make sure you warm the water and all that stuff so the fishes don't go feeling it to much...then keep it up for a few water changes and slowly start doing smaller water changes if that's what you want ....to me this helped me a lot .

I use IO salt and have recently discovered that it has really high alk, it's sitting at 11.8, which i'm trying to decrease ( I did a few big water changes recently to try and get my calcium up) I've read the best thing to do is 1. waterchanges, unless your salt has high alk, 2. do fewer waterchanges to try and get alk down, So many problems!

 

[Anthony Calfo]

I once had my zoas do the same thing and i couldn't figure it out until I checked the pH and it was high (8.6).

Yikes... 8.6 is not only "not high" but it is natural, safe and recommended for better overall calcification, inhibition of nuisance algae and many more benefits. Please do check avg NWS levels (8.45 for reefs of principal hobby export species)... recognize that the daytime pH goes higher, and overall its quite good.