First coral - first mistake?

sf_kevin

New member
I just added my first coral - zoanthus - to my tank yesterday, and while I was accllimating the coral, the cup I was using to scoop water out of the bag with collided with the coral...

The coral is now (mostly) happily living in it's new home, but there's a section that's not opened, and I suspect these are the animals that were hit and perhaps killed by the cup.

Should I remove this section, as I've got a brand new tank without a whole lot of bioload, yet? So far, 1 3.5" maroon clown, 1 1" maroon clown, a banded coral shrimp, 5 nassarius snails, and 6 algae-eating snails (sorry, forgot the name)...

Testing now for ammonia, etc... will post again with results.

Thanks for the help!
 
I wouldn't worry abou it... if they haven't opened after a week then you might want to trim them off. When you're working with it, don't forget that zoas are actually extremely poisonous, so use rubber gloves.
~Brian
 
ya, don't worry if it happened only yesterday. same thing happens to me when I knock into a coral when scraping glass, or moving things, it happens. the coral seems to get 'shocked' for day, but usually ok the next day. like said above, worry after a week
 
They may be bruised, and may heal. Just give them time for them to repair a few cell walls and they may be just fine. Give them good flow, and run carbon for a few days in case there is any dieoff---also, wounded zoas and leathers spit chemicals, and taking them out of the water [carbon] will help it calm down and open. After a few days, remove the carbon: carbon can 'saturate' with what it absorbs and then starts dumping it all back into the water, undoing all its good.
 
place your zoos low in the tank and gradually acclimate them to the light eventually moving them up the reef to the brighest light--brings out awesome colours in them.
 
Re: First coral - first mistake?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10425549#post10425549 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sf_kevin
I just added my first coral - zoanthus - to my tank yesterday, and while I was accllimating the coral, the cup I was using to scoop water out of the bag with collided with the coral...

The coral is now (mostly) happily living in it's new home, but there's a section that's not opened, and I suspect these are the animals that were hit and perhaps killed by the cup.

Should I remove this section, as I've got a brand new tank without a whole lot of bioload, yet? So far, 1 3.5" maroon clown, 1 1" maroon clown, a banded coral shrimp, 5 nassarius snails, and 6 algae-eating snails (sorry, forgot the name)...

Testing now for ammonia, etc... will post again with results.

Thanks for the help!

corals are not big draws on the biofiltration--alot indirectly because you are not overfeeding them.--so I don't think you will see an ammonia spike

You have an excellent cleanup crew so you are starting off great
 
I've done far worse to variouis zoanthid colonies and they all ended up just fine. I wouldn't worry about a cup bumping into them at all. If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say it was just being a new addition that is bumming em out, give em some time and they'll probably open up just fine.
 
I did some moving around of the rockwork and did not realize the zoa colony was attached to two pcs of rock, moved one and ripped the colony apart. Easiest frag I ever did. Both parts survived.
 
I think the water's fine: I ran an ammonia test and it came in at 2.5 (yikes). Did a 4 gallon water change and re-ran ammonia just for kicks - and the 2nd reagent bottle was empty - which was odd, as I've only performed 3 tests total with this kit (decided the Red Sea Master Kit was too innacurate; it always read .25 - so replaced it with this Tetra Kit - and this one is DEFECTIVE - D'OH!).

The clowns don't appear stressed. Nitrite is 0, Nitrates 5. It was time for a water change anyway - I'll keep an eye on the zoanthid colony per everybody's (EXCELLENT) advice. Will see if I can post a pic somehow...
 
Tested with the new kit just to make sure all is good - no ammonia... thanks again, everybody, for your advise.
 
Good advice from everyone. I'll add to be sure you inspected them for nudibranches and sundial snails. The nudis are especially hard to spot at first and the snail are good at tucking between the polyps and hiding.
 
sf_kevin...

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

instead of posting to your gallery - you could post it in this thread for easier use.

162087Zoanthus_rs.jpg
 
DAMMIT! I was wondering what that little snail was that I saw crawling across the rock a couple hours after I took that pic... it's a sundial snail... argh. I assume this is bad I need to find it and remove it?
 
They don't seem to be that hard to find and remove. I made the same mistake when I got my first zoas.
 
Sundials suck. I thought I had all of mine and the other day I found a big fat one munching away. I think my wrasse got most of them. If he didn't then my trigger should.
 
can anyone post a pic of a sundial and nudibranch. Both a buddy of mine and myself bought about 10 good size colonies of zoos from another hobbyist 6 months ago. For the first two months they were great and now they are dying off in both tanks. Water parameters are excellent in both tanks so I suspect hitchhikers
 
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