Wow, Grandis, you feed me a lot of good info, appreciate that. please see my answer as below:
My pleasure!
Originally Posted by A. Grandis
No, I think there could have more to it, but basically would be low light or low flow for long stalks.
The fact they are closed is normally another story, but could also be related to low flow when exposed for long time, assuming there is no irritation or predation.
Duke:they are not fully closed, just not widely open as others, also the frags are doing the same thing. i think you hit the point, maybe my water parameter has something wrong. I am still not 100% sure if there is no predator. I don't see other zoas did that. only tubbs mother colony and two frags.
Could be alkalinity or other chemical related issue...
If you have more flow than before and if you see the polyps gently moving that's fine and it probably shouldn't be the case.
I assume your lights are good because the other zoa colony next to it doesn't look like that. Unless you just got that colony there.
Duke: my lighting is not weak, it is 140W LED on just a 34G tank although i only ramped to 60%, my SPS even bleached. all corals were shocked by this light at the beginning. It took few month to recover.
Ok, not the light then...
The first picture shows the polyps from above and they normally grow like that if there is no more room to expand the colony and when the rock goes downwards, yes. The top of the colony should show a flat mat of polyps, even if they grow and look like that underneath.
Duke: I have a similar concern, when I bought it and clued frag on a tip of live rock. after the tubbs covered the plug, it has to cover the bottom of plug to mitigate the live rock.
Yeah, that was a bit too much, but they still do that in the ocean.
The more flow the less long is the stalk. Flow needs to be increased very slow, if you wish!
If they're closed for long time already and looking weak without their normal colors it could be related to nutrition and target feeding would be my advice.
That's just what i believe and do here.
Duke: I am thinking to buy reef chili as i found a lot of good review today after you mentioned reef odis to me. Another thing is i have a overrated skimmer, Deltec MCE600 on 30G water volume, maybe it pulls all nutrition out of water? but why other zoas are fine?
No, skimmer is good for the system, even overrated!!! No problem. Just like water changes, they are very good for the system! If you want to feed your polyps do so once a week small amounts, target feeding. Make sure not to overfeed. Offer only what they can ingest, very small amounts for their sizes. It takes a while to see the difference it's going to make, perhaps 3 weeks to a month. They are not used to eat, so they will ingest only tiny amounts for the first attempts. maybe the first time they won't even respond closing their skirt because their not used to.
I think Reef Roids would be stronger and better for your polyps. The small zoas I've got like Reef Roids a lot!!! It's about the taste and size of the food particles, I guess. I assume Reef Chili to be similar to Coral Frenzy. I'm sorry if I'm wrong.
I also assume that all the params are ok. Please post them here so we can take a look:
Lights?
alk?
pH?
Ca?
Mg?
Maintenance...
Duke: my tank parameter is okay, not perfectly stable,
lighting: 140W LED half half blue and white, six 3w UV (purple), dimmable.
alk: my pita, i am using a 3 channel doser to control it, so far, it is still not stable, bump from 6.8-7.8 in last couple month. I am still trying to figure out why my tank consumes more than recommended dosage. as i only have few sps, one LPS and several zoas.
PH: has not monitored for a while
CA: 400-440ppm
mg: 1200-1400ppm
maintenance: weekly 10% water change with Neomarine salt for last six or more month, not very happy with this salt, going back to IO soon.
Yep, the params are ok...
pH should be around 8.0 to 8.4.
Never tried Neomarine salt. Instant Ocean will help to keep Mg in check right after the water change.
I like Red Sea salt.
One more thing: many agree that blue zoas are hard to keep.
Hope others could chime in for more specific advices on that species, perhaps?
Grandis.
